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

CEO, Your Life.

If you are a professional, whichever chosen field of work you are in, the aspiration is to become the CEO of an organisation. Day in and day out, every step as a professional, we work hard to reach that place. Some reach there, whereas many don't.

As in any game, the difference between the one who reached there (CEO) and the one who could not make it is just the equivalent of that one ten of a centimeter, in a 100 m dash, or something like that. Ceterus paribus (all things remaining the same), the person who reached the CEO position gets there by that little extra he gave in terms of every single effort of his, all through the journey of life.

Now, cut to the personal front - which is any-day more important than the professional front - I can see some of us murmuring that how can you have a joyous and happy personal life if you don't get to the top in your profession?! In reality the opposite is mostly true - there are hordes of people who have reached the 'top' in their profession, leaving behind just about everything - family, friends, happiness and what not. And once they reach there, they realize it was not worth kicking off just everything that really mattered in life.

The better choice to make would be - aspire to be the CEO, your life.

This will be so much fun, and work/career will be one part of this whole. By consciously seeking to remain CEO of your life, you get the priorities of life right, a great balance between all the elements of life - which include family, friends, parents, society, your continuous learning and your contributions to all the facets of your life.

You always remain the CEO of your life, and every thing you do in that position is a well thought out choice - how much you should work and grow, how much you will spend time with family, what social causes you will spend time on, what will you do to make you a better person, what new skills and qualities you must develop to be a better CEO everyday... and so many thing which are truly important, and will remain wildly important now (WIN) all through the life journey!

The core of being CEO, your life, will encompass the truly relevant priorities for you, which are so unique to only you. A life that is unique and will not justify any comparisons whatsoever, with anyone else!

So, now on, aspire and be one thing - CEO, your Life.

Beat that pink slip (REPEAT)

If there is a singular thought you MUST equip you with, when faced with a pink-slip, it is to reiterate to YOURSELF that what happened is owing to extraneous factors – the event per se is no reflection of your own professional or personal capabilities. Embedding this deep down in your mind will keep you in a great shape to steer and move forward. This is the time for some introspection no doubt, but this is never a time for self defeating sympathy.

Think about this…. This employer, whenever they decided to make you the current opportunity/position, clearly did that on the basis of your personal/professional credentials. In most cases, it could be even probable that you were offered the coveted position only a few months back. And when the employer did so, it was clearly on the basis of merit and merit alone. So, the pink-slip was an occurrence owing to the global happenings that have had a cascading effect that has had a bearing on your organization too.

And whole bunches of your own colleagues and peers, and those in the professional fraternity have been affected. All of them are competent and capable in some way or other. So are YOU too… You were a clear choice for a said role and responsibility. You have been doing a good or even a fabulous job. You have contributed so much to the top-line and bottom-line, directly or indirectly.

(In the rush to manage changes in such times, most organizations seldom even communicate in this way… guess you need to take it in your stride and move on…)

So, even remotely connecting the event – pink slip – to your capabilities will be doing gross injustice to you as a person. Never ever do that. (Just in case you are reading this as a fortunate not-pink slipped, now you know what is to be told to your mind and heart….)

When you have not been responsible for the event, you only have to ACT now on what can be done to make things better…… And steering clear of any negative thoughts and self sympathy gives you so much of positive energy and mind space to FOCUS on WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW.

The future holds so much more than the present. You have all the knowledge and power to do whatever you chose personally and professionally – and for that just make sure that there are no energy leaks – from your mind and body.

You are even more capable now, with more time to do and plan your future. Choose that mindset and it will do all the good to YOU.

Look only for the positive….. Shun the bad vibes, and all the negativity……

Thanks to the nature of our lives and work today, most of us are hooked to the internet, 24/7. This makes us sort of vulnerable to news. News spread fasts. And bad news spreads even faster. And thanks to the fierce competition for viewer eyeballs and readership, television and the print media have a liking to cover news about jobs lost and ‘pink slips.

(if you are connected now, just Google for the words pink slip or job loss, and there you get all gloom and negativity right at your table; but what I suggest is precisely the opposite – resist the temptation to hunt for the bad news…)

What the media does is to spread a sense of gloom all over… You can’t help much, as they are doing their job. But here is what you can do.

Don’t pay attention to any information that will feed to your sense of uncertainty…. You are capable, and all the more certain as to what you want… a great opportunity, a better way of living, all the positive energy possible, and a great mental make up to keep you happy when things seemingly are not at their best.

So, make it a point to read only information about growth plans, good things that are happening, which are the industries that will do well, what are the areas that you could re-skill yourself in, where inspirational, good speeches and well-being seminars are happening etc. That will make you feel good. And in turn you will be an ambassador of good news.

The unfortunate thing that happens in such times is that wherever you are – your desk, at the office cafeteria, or in the public transport – a vast majority of the discussions are only around what is going wrong…. Seldom do most of us realize that all this talk of recession and slowdown spreads negativity all over… It is just not possible for you to focus on the good things of life, when what you hear and see is all not so good.

And that is the precise reason you need to discipline yourself only to be inclined to hear and see good news. Spread cheer. Talk more with your spouse and kids. Play with them. Teach you kid and ask him what happened at school today. See if your spouse needs any support at her work or in home-making. Abhor watching television – by doing that, in all probability you are catching what you avoid outside right at your drawing room!

You could connect more with your hobbies for which you seldom had time. Read books you like. Write to your friends and well-wishers, and those in your professional network. Attempt to connect with old friends and relatives. Connect with an NGO where you can be of some help.

Go ahead and do something that will make you feel good or make you a better person. As most personality gurus’ would say, like attracts like. Good attracts good. So, make it a point that you will attract ONLY the GOOD. Or one step ahead, ONLY THE BEST.