Every once and awhile I think about whether I am at a place in my life that I want to be. Most of the time I am happy with where I am. Although there are times when I consider what it would be like to re-brand or re-invent myself. As a matter of fact, I have done this a number of times.
If you are considering re-inventing yourself, the trick is to do it subtlety. In fact, you will know if you have done this well when others start to comment that you either seem different, or that they can’t figure out what is different about you.
Let’s consider you have reflected upon your personal brand, and have determined it isn’t the one you want to have. Or, perhaps you want others to have a different perception of who you are. Is it possible to make either of these changes on your own? Yes, it is. However, you will need to factor in having a plan to do so.
As a former marketing executive, I have spent decades perfecting the art of re-crafting the images of companies and products. I enjoyed doing this. It’s partially due to the fact I embrace change, but really because I love the challenge of re-invention. Do you need to have these same characteristics to alter your image? No, but without experience in doing this, the path to doing so might be slightly more challenging.
To decrease the challenge of re-inventing yourself, I will provide you with some suggestions below about how to approach doing this. If this is in fact your goal.
Before we dive into how to go about changing others perception of you, first consider why you want to do this. This is important to think about, as you might not need a complete overhaul of your image. In fact, there may be some minor tweaks you can make to have a similar outcome from a more aggressive self re-branding experience.
One thing I want you to do before we proceed, is to critically and genuinely rate yourself on your ability to gauge how others perceive you. Is it possible your perception is off? In my experience, many people have not what I refer to as “held a mirror in front of them”. What I mean by this, is that they do not truly understand how they come across to others. Worse, their perception meter is way off, or completely broken.
When someone is challenged with a faulty or broken self-perception mirror, it often will create other problems for them. One of them is that they are essentially blind to how their actions, words and persona comes across to others. How is this possible? One of the reasons this occurs is that people have not developed their self-awareness level enough. Age is independent of this factor, as I have seen very young and self-aware people, and people who are well advanced in their decades who are completely unaware of how others perceive them.
Popping back to the concept of subtly changing your image, what I mean by this is that there are minor things you can do to shift others perception of you. However, you first need to commit to wanting to make these subtle but impactful changes. If you do, here are some ways you can go about doing so.
- Have you ever genuinely asked someone you trust to tell you how you come across to others? Keep in mind we might in fact need to ask people who see us in different roles in our lives, as it is possible we alter our image in certain situations (e.g., at home vs professionally, with friends).
- Sometimes it is our exterior image (e.g., what we choose to wear) which impacts others perception of us. Have you ever tested or felt differently when you feel you look a certain way? Possibly you felt more confident. This is a subtle way of being able to shift others perception of you, simply by altering your outward appearance .
- Altering your outward appearance whether by clothing, or perhaps by a new haircut, getting in shape or eating healthier and looking and feeling more energetic are other ways to shift both your own perception, as well as others of you.
- When was the last time you either recorded how you speak, or listened to a recording of yourself speak? How did you sound? Did your voice come across the way you think it comes across to others?
- I have had people listen to how they speak to others and realize they are always coming across aggressively, when in fact they had no awareness of doing so until they listened to themselves.
- Listening and seeing are different. Consider video recording an interaction you have with someone. Are you able to see or recognize body movements you didn’t realize you do when you are interacting with someone (e.g., you bite your nails as you listen to them, you defensively cross your arms all the time, you appear to not be listening and look distracted when you are engaging with someone, you always appear to look like you are angry or in a bad mood or you look nervous or afraid).
- The point is, you are going to see lots of body movements you need to be aware of. All of which you can alter to help with your external image re-branding. The first step is being aware, and then doing something about your new awareness of your outward perception.
If you are considering re-branding or re-inventing yourself this year, be kind to yourself, as it isn’t easy to do. However, if you believe you will benefit from doing so, I encourage you to also think about the goals you will want to be associated with the effort towards this journey. Otherwise, it might not be worth the effort you will need to put in to accomplish this.
TAGS: #Image #Confidence #Self-improvement #Reinvention #Newselfimage #Howtorebrandyourself #Howtorebrandyourimage #Business #Success
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