What have your tatooed your mind with?!

All of us keep seeing body tattoos on the youth icons of the day, and also many youngsters seeking to convey a message or even trivia….  Body tattoos are in vogue and indeed a fashion statement all over the globe… But what we tattoo on any part of the body for others to see is not as important as what we tattoo in our minds….  And positive, successful, energetic mind tattoos are a must to attain success… 

The story goes, as I read somewhere,  that Dr Norman Vincent Peale was walking by a tattoo shop when a confused looking young man came out of the shop with a tattoo in his right arm that read “Born to Lose”. Dr Peale asked the tattoo artist about it and the tattoo artist replied…. “ I did ask the young man if he was sure that he wanted to state “Born to lose” in his arm and the young man was pretty stubborn in that. A surprised Dr Peale asked the tattoo artist – “Is’nt that surprising?” For which the artiste replied “Not really! Much before he tattooed it on his arm, he has firmly tattooed it in his brain, and his body tattoo act is just a reflection of his mind tattoo”. 

That brings us to our topic, the power of mind tattoos’. Every single act of us, big or small, positive or negative, winning or losing, good acts and deeds or otherwise are a sheer reflection of the cluster of small and big thought tattoos we keep etching in our mind, be it consciously or unconsciously,  And this mind tattooing process is the most powerful in determining what the outcome is in reality. 

So, it should be our conscious and subconscious endeavor to keep tattooing our mind with thoughts that are ONLY about winning, what we want be, want to reach, want to achieve, that perfect day as desired,  and about that ideal job/career and all that wealth that we would want to accrue in our lives….. ALL THAT IS SOUGHT BY US FOR A GREAT LIFE. 

Call this positive mind tattooing…. And our effort here MUST BE to continuously and consciously strive to tattoo our mind, ONLY all that is desired in reality…. And what else do all of us desire than the very best in all walks of life…  Let us tattoo these desires in mind in as much positive detail as we can….   With the smell of victory, with love and affection for the near and dear ones, for winning at the work place, and for recreating the hearts’ desires to the mind… and creating an ideal life in our own terms….. 

While doing this positive mind tattooing, it is quite but natural that in the mood swings we have, there will be situations when negatives get tattooed in the mind too…  The easiest way to persist on our terms of life is to quickly erase this negative mind tattoo with a more and say bigger positive mind tattoo. And when we perceive the negative tattoo is close to affecting our success/life agenda, we have to be ruthless and aggressive is working on creating positive mind tattoos, only resting when we are thoroughly convinced that the positive tattoo has erased and prevailed over the negative. 

All of us are born to ONLY win, and none of us are here to lose in Life.  If anyone of us is losing it is because we are etching our mind with unnatural negative tattoos, rather than etching it with positive tattoos, which are natural, easy and a part of the flow of life….. 

Now on, be a consistent positive mind tattoo artist… not only for you but do that bit of positive mind tattooing on all those around us…  Inside each one of all us, there is a spectacular positive mind tattoo artist…..  

Cardinal LIFE rule.... Family first

In all of our facets in life, the most ‘taken for granted’ side is our relationship with those in the family. A lot of times, the need for each one of us to ‘behave’ or ‘conduct’ ourselves in a professional or social situation is compelling – due to the position held, power perceived, and also the compelling need to be ‘correct’ in these facets of life.

All of us take for granted one crucial and most vital facet of life – the family and the relationships there… Our life, sure I am true is littered with instances, where we vent all our frustrations and feelings to those in the family – the loved spouse, the wonderful kid, and the most precious father and mother to whom we owe so much for being what we are in the social milieu.

Family, for today’s hi-flying pro, is the place to rationalize the most disgusting and condonable behavior, in the guise of being stressed at work… and also the lack of the ability to assert at the work place and draw lines with bosses, peers, subordinates, and make reasonable demands with all the professional stakeholders!

And as a result, one exhibits irrational, unacceptable, and downright disgusting behavior, with our own families… little do we realize that the bedrock of our happiness, wellbeing, prosperity.. is the Family….

It is essential for each one of us to realize this, and display the best of behavior, conduct; with all in our family – to the loving spouse, great kids, parents and everyone at home… it is only they who accept us unconditionally, day in and day out! Lets redeem this commitment to the most precious place in the world.. our home!!

Brand YOU... the journey!!

Building a brand you is just a beginning of a long journey. Its so important to take stock of your personal brand time and again. And most of us seldom do that.

With a thorough insight of our own competency and skills circle, and added to that our formal degrees, work experience and other paraphernalia, each one of us must be able to articulate what our personal brand statement is!

Almost entire careers or work-lifes get squandered in the absence of a personal brand statement - and a personal brand statement just mens that you are sold to yourself. Only when you have been successful in selling to you, will you be able to sell to the outside world... the outside world would mean anything, just about anyone of your stakeholders - family members, client, employer, workplace, society and so on.

Another notion which we all cherish, wrongly but, is to think that our personal brand remains the way it is for the rest of our life. This is far from true.

In a world where even product or service brands re-position, re-jig, and re-invent them in appropriate phases of their life cycle, it will be foolish and rather suicidal to think that you can do with a static personal brand.

Whether your personal brand works or not at any point in time, is not just dependent on who you are and what you stand for, plus your competencies; it is, more importantly, how the brand is seen to be, by the end user - it can be the job market, employer, and strangely even a spouse. For your brand to win in the 'marketplace', the users have to feel the relevance of the brand and a need for the same. If it's an employer or someone who has to invest capital in your personal brand, they need to see a value add by "brand you" to them.

So, as you can see, the brand you as seen by others can be so much different from what it really is. The essence will be to communicate and clearly articulate the value of your brand to the relevant stakeholders - by making the right noises - your brand communication.

As we see many times, choice of the personal brand which an employer makes is purely his perception of the brand. So, success in the employer market could depend immensely on reducing the gap between your brand in reality and the perception of your brand. Its all about effectively creating your brand speak. And communicating it at the right time, in the right place, in the right quantity.

The most important part of the brand you, is to make sure that you also must do a reality check of the brand. Is it relevant to what you aspire for? Are you honing yourself with the right competencies, soft skills, knowledge etc, to be in the race for mindspace (with your stakeholders)....

In todays times of upheaval in the global economies, which does not spare any nook and corner of the world, and any individual, the probability of your brand taking a beating or being battered over time is very high. It is times like these that dictate a re-jig of your personal brand.

The key ingredient of your brand, irrespective of how you reposition and re-invent is - the brand must have persistence, and stay afloat against all odds. The brand must keep going. The brand must possess and live a never say die attitude. The brand must stay relevant and must be at the right place. The brand must be a powerhouse of knowledge, and niche skills, which could be transferable across different industries, timezones, and geography.

Ensure that you evaluate the credentials of your personal brand, and see how it must be re-invented or if need be re-born, time and again