What drives you?
What Drives You?
What fuels your top performance? If you were spontaneously asked what it is that drives you, will you have an answer easily? Or maybe people around you know what drives and brings the best in you. It could be the need for promotion, recognition or career growth.
Whatever it is, what drives you is critical to your personal brand building. You will be asked many times at interviews, meetings, networking events about why you are doing what you are doing. Why you are seeking a new position or why you are establishing that business. The answer you give will determine the success of your pursuit. It is not a bad thing to want a promotion, salary raise or relocation to another office or country or to start a business. It is about The Why and if your why is in line with your vision, values, personality, and strengths then there is nothing to worry about.
There could be other drivers of influence in your life currently, but think about Purpose for a moment. Your purpose is one of your underlying Whys, it fuels your motivation, energizes your every move and propels you towards greatness.
Purpose is the reason why we exist.
So how do you identify your purpose?
1. It a journey - Unlike your goals and targets for the month, your purpose is endless. An example could be that you want to be a teacher when you finish school Goal, but when you look deeply at this goal, you find that you always had the desire to bring out the best in children. This is deep.
2. It evolves - Unlike your goals which remain the same once accomplished, your purpose on the other hand evolves. Now that you have begun to unleash the potential in children, after years, you also start to think about how you can do that better, faster and on a larger scale.
3. It expands beyond your reach - You now teach faster, better and on a larger scale. Suddenly people want to learn from you and how you managed to do what you do so well. Your purpose can touch lives in ways that you cannot imagine.
4. It lasts forever - Your long-term satisfaction with life or your career is fuelled by your purpose because purpose will continually bring meaning into your life and everything you do. Goals will be reached, money will be made eventually but your purpose will live for a lifetime.
Your why matters. It fuels the purpose of your existence and energizes everything you do. Once you discover your why you will be empowered to live a more meaningful life more than those who don't. Every day will matter because you know who you are, where you come from and where you are going.
Here are the top three elements we hope your why will help you obtain as you begin to define your personal brand :
1. Focus: What is the one thing you need to focus on this year or this moment in order for you to reach your goals, whilst still working within your purpose. Choose to simply focus on things and activities that matter to you.
2. Clarity: Get clarity on what it is you really want out of your life and your career. The clearest brands have a simple but consistent message. Everyone knows what to expect from them. The same applies to our daily lives and work. Is it clear to everyone what services you provide? Is it clear that, that is what you focus on? Once you have gained clarity, everyone will follow suit.
3. Trust: The element of trust is core to your success as an individual and service provider. When people trust you they will do business with you. What is also critical is learning to trust yourself from the inside. Trust in the idea that you are great and that your services are a true expression of your creativity.