Ladies and very few gents, do I have good news for you! You are who you say you are. And who you say you aren’t. You are those things and no one can take that away from you. The other side of that coin is that you decided them, so love it or loathe it, it’s all on you. Now isn’t that interesting.

I work a lot with businesses on their branding. Not the design side of things but the actual nutting it out and talking to people through that branding on social media. These conversations always start with knowing what people say about the brand.

Branding folks seem to say the same thing, your brand is what others say about you. It’s nice to have some input, but in the end it’s not up to you. Then we work from there and develop a strategy to change or maintain that perception depending on how aligned it is.

So maybe that’s the case with yourself too?

Nope. As far as personal branding (not the business kind, the being who YOU are variety) it’s different. Yes, people are still going to comment, weigh in and give their two cents. They will have an opinion of who and what they think you are. Let them, your personal self isn’t dependent on them.

When it comes to being yourself they don’t have the final say. Really, they don’t have any say if you don’t want them too. You are the head of the super powerful, well-dressed, crime family that is yourself and no one in their right mind would consider bumping you off.

Do you know what is so powerful about being the one who says who you are? It means that if you said who you are you can un-say it. You can change your mind anytime you like and say something else. And given enough time and repetition, that is exactly who you will become. The ball is in your court. All the balls are actually in your court. Every. Single. One.

So take a look at who you say you are. Think about it now. Who are you?

Most of us come up with a list of items we do such as our job description or relationship status. Look deeper team, who are you? Start to look at the traits that make up your personality. Happy, joyful, short-tempered, smart, loving, loyal… Then you get a little closer. Start to listen as well to who you are saying you aren’t. When I said smart, what did you think? Yes or no? What about loyal?

You decide who and what you are. Self is pretty much a declaration with a bit of action behind it. So think about it and choose. You want to be easy-going and loyal this week, excellent. Next week you want to add ambitious to that mix? Even better. That’s the beauty of being your own boss when it comes to saying who you are. You decide.

And you know what that means right? You are responsible for the conversation around you being a loser, not something, not enough. You are in the ongoing source of those conversations. For most of us, we didn’t start them, but we sure as heck picked them up and ran with them. It’s time now to stop doing that. You could be standing in your own way when it comes to something that means a lot to you!

So start listening. Get clear on who you are or would like to be. Start declaring who you are. Then get out there and live it. You’re the boss. Take those reins and lead the way. You will never, ever be sorry that you did. I promise you that.

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you are who you say you are - suger coat it

So tell me, who are YOU?  

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