The Personal Brand

Before I write this, I just want to say that this will be the last post ever on this blog. I have bought a domain name and will be creating an entirely new blog before late summer/September. Thanks to anyone who read this blog.

Personal branding is so important now, ironically even to get a job in corporate branding, that I have been having anxiety attacks. I knew that something has been wrong with me for the last six months and it hit me this morning like a lightning bolt. I have no brand identity. I have an identity but so does that one minnow swimming in a school of other minnows. Does it mean anything? Does that one minnow get noticed? Probably not.

For years my personal brand identity has been that I don't need one, and that anyone who has one is a conformist idiot. Now I realize that even to be recognized as a non-conformist you must be recognizable first, and this usually requires some form of conformity. This is actually quite philosophical and I don't feel like getting into that right now, but it's something to think about.

I used to think that blogging was emo and idiotic - now I realize it's essential. Social media is turning the way of swimming in that school of other minnows, so a social media brand identity is a must. Once a person recognizes you as a "brand" and thinks that it's something they would be interested in adopting into their psyche, they will demand the full experience. They want a personality to interact with. They don't know you, so you have to completely create the illusion that your brand "personality" is sitting in their living room, chatting with them, and genuinely cares about them. A website is a must to achieve this, even a personal one. This cannot be stressed enough.

There are so many brands that even personal ones are hard to pick apart from each other. Does it come down to appearance? I used to think that was disgusting and superficial, but now we live almost entirely in a world where people will pay only if they identify with a "friend." Appearances, then, are essential – they are the first thing that people notice about another person and the first thing that draws them in. Not only do you have to have an enticing product to offer, you better have an attractive store-front.

The part that gets me isn't the requirements of self-branding, because I know that I can be successful on that front. What gets me is how to create one. Are brands better when they're recognizable or when they create stereotype conflict? If I wanted to sell hotdogs, let's say, is it better to adopt the red-and-yellow shirt-wearing, ballpark personality or something completely off the mark, like a surfer who just happens to be into hotdogs? And, similarly, if I want to be a writer (and get paid for it), is it better to adopt the all-black wearing, chain smoking, scarf-wearing coffee-shop sitter persona (I'm pretty much already this, except more frumpy), or would it be better to be a 4'11 pin-up girl type with 6" hills and a killer writing portfolio?

This is tough. If someone has some experiences with self-branding, let me know so I can at least start. I feel like I'm too far behind now to catch up, even at 25. I feel like I let the opportunity slip-away during adolescence.

Cereal is the most important meal of the day

I am probably poorer than I've ever been – school and age will do that to a person. So I'm editing all of my negative thoughts about money into positive ones.

In no way am I bitching about being impoverished because I can afford basic needs that many others may not and I count myself lucky every day (disclaimer: I'm not a moron).

Negative thought a) I can't afford take-out anymore.
Positive thought a) Mini Wheats are awesome. I will eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner because they are THAT awesome. Sometimes I will eat them without milk to switch it up a bit. They also come in about 17 different flavors, so when I finish this box of regular frosted I can eat any other flavor from the frosted rainbow.

Negative thought b) I can't afford to go to BOTH a movie and out for dinner.
Positive thought b) I will go to the movie and eat popcorn for dinner. Popcorn is awesome.

Negative thought c) I can't afford new clothes and all of my old clothes are frumpy and ugly
Positive thought c) time to clean out the closet. If your clothes look ugly they were a waste of money in the first place. This will teach you fashion sense for the future.

Negative thought d) I hate the bus. It stinks and it's gross and I don't want to take it.
Positive thought d) This may be the last 20 years where people will interact with each other. Make the most of seeing people.

Negative thought e) My wallet is empty
Positive though e) There is more room for bigger bills

Negative thought f) my job sucks
Positive thought f) thank goodness that you HAVE a job, and now you know what you don't want to do for the rest of your life.

Negative thought g) I can't get that new technology thing
Positive thought g) that new technology thing will be outdated the second you buy it anyway. Like a car.

Negative thought h) I can't afford to drink and smoke anymore
Positive thought h) that's probably a good thing?

Negative thought i) I can't afford to buy my cousin's niece's cousin's cousin a really nice gift for her birthday
Positive thought i) who exactly are you trying to impress again? save your money, she's not impressed.

Negative thought j) I can't buy coffee anymore
Positive thought j) Do you know how much of a rip-off coffee and tea are? A tea bag costs 10 cents maybe. Coffee made in a pot costs maybe 25 cents. And you're going to pay $4.50 for it? Coffee is essentially a roasted bean broth. If I put "bouillon de grains de café torréfiés" on a menu, you would probably pay $15 for it.

Negative thought k) I think like an old person now
Positive thought k) you will eventually anyway, might as well get it over with now

Editing a habit

I have two habits I hate...smoking and coffee. I recently cut coffee out almost entirely and cigarettes are more difficult. But I have quit smoking before so I will tell you how I edited out coffee and cigarette addictions.

1) drink a lot of water (like 3 L a day)... Not only is smoking dehydrating, I'm pretty sure it takes nutrients out of your tissues. That craving goes away when you're at your optimum fluid capacity. Same with coffee...coffee is acidic so drinking tons more water will make you crave it less.

2) exercise...nothing is grosser than when you're doing a really hard exercise and you puke from dehydration or choke up a lung. Have some goals and the other two will get less and less.

3) just don't buy any...there's the whole, "I just want one cigarette but then I have to try to get the individual cigarettes and it's just easier to buy a pack and smoke one and keep the others for an emergency.". That doesn't work. Buying extra large coffees because you think you're getting value is a bad idea as well.

4). boredom is a killer. It's what gets be every time. Being over stimulated gets me too, like when I read a book or eat too much or watch a movie and get bored halfway through. You pretty much have to reboot the mind by disciplining it. "no, just because you're bored doesnt give you the right to smoke a pack in one sitting."

5). Be conscious...sometimes the act of buying these things is more unconscious than the act of ingestion. Make sure you're on top pod your thoughts...try not to let your prions get the better of you and take power over you in certain situations that would make you buy these thongs.

Editing your Perceptions of Yourself

This may be dangerously close to Brian's post, but I guess we had the same wavelengths going on this week.

I used to think that I totally sucked at everything. If I wasn't perfect the first time, I as a person just wasn't any good. When I was little and I colored outside of a line in a coloring book, I would throw the whole coloring book away. I would Hulk rip it in half. Which is quite an achievement for a 4 year old, now that I think about it.

Now that I'm older, I find that I'm really good at a lot of things that I never would have imagined. It all comes down to editing your perceptions of yourself and just not caring what anyone else thinks. Ultimately that's what it comes down to. Don't doubt yourself before you've even tried something because we're all just empty vessels, if you really think about it. The only thing holding half of us back is perceptions and negativity.

A) High Interval Training -- I never ever thought of myself as athletic, and no one else ever did, so I never tried. Then one week I started jumping rope and I lost 10 lbs in 1.5 weeks. I didn't put much thought into it until I tried it again. Now I've been doing high intervals every day for the last month and I love it! My favorites are any of the Jillian Michaels' workouts (particularly the 30 Day ones), P90X Plyos and any of the Shaun T Insanity workouts (which are very hard, by the way). Jumping rope is still fun, too. I actually enjoy doing high intervals and they can take down the average athletic person. Now I don't particularly care what others think of me because I'm doing something healthy that I enjoy doing. And I lost weight.

B) Twitter -- Sometimes with Twitter I'm really on with it. If I don't have anything witty to say about a current event I usually just avoid it all together because I think Facebook is the place for status updates. I'm not really that bad at Twitter. I hated Twitter; I had a Twitter account for 2 years before we were forced to use it in school. If we hadn't have been forced to do it, I would have never found out that I'm semi-witty.

C) Baking -- One of the first things I ever baked was zucchini chocolate cake, and it won first prize in the fair 3 years in a row. It even went up against my sister's identical cake. I love baking much more than cooking, even though I love that too. I make pönnukökurs quite often, which are Icelandic pancakes rolled up with brown sugar. Sometimes I make vinarterta, which is an Icelandic cake made of sugar cookie layers filled with prunes (it sounds kinda gross but it's like a big Fig Newton, and everyone likes Fig Newtons). Apparently no one has the patience to make them so you can sell them at Christmas time. I mean I also make pies and bread and doughnuts and cupcakes, etc etc, but the funny thing is that I don't like sugar so I never eat my own baking except to taste it.

D) Video Games -- I think I started playing video games when I was 4. First game I ever played was Super Mario (pretty obvious) but then I graduated into Battletoads, probably one of the most challenging games on the NES. My grandma bought me a Playstation for Christmas (coolest Grandma ever) and I played that a lot. I saved up my money from my first ever job to buy a PS2, and I played that a lot. Then it was onto the PS3. And between all that was computer games. I think I made a Sim City with 1 million people once, which was a challenge. I don't have time to play video games very often anymore, but I beat LA Noire twice and Portal 2 so I guess I have enough time lately.

See? Even I'm good at some things. There are things I want to try but I'm not scared to even try them because I'm not afraid to try things anymore. Anyone can be good at anything if they just edit out other people's perceptions and projections and just work at it. So what is everyone secretly good at, come on, share.

P.S. Sarcasm isn't a talent.

I need to edit my closet

I know this post is probably lame, but I have no idea how to edit a wardrobe.

I know I need a whole new wardrobe. I've been rich, poor, a bit richer, a bit poorer, then basically in poverty for the last year.

Do I throw things in bags and let them sit for 2 months before I send them to Goodwill in case I need to wear something in there? Do I let things sit for five years and then go closet digging and find things that look brand new and get excited? I don't know!

The thing is that I'm turning into a new person. The clothes that I have don't match who I am becoming. So now I'm stuck hanging on to these things that remind me of a time I don't particularly want to remember. Clothes are truly a first impression of the person that you are trying to communicate, which is why it is very important to edit your wardrobe to fit that person. People are truly that superficial. I never wanted to believe it, but I believe it now.

So I guess instead of doing the whole write and delete that I usually do for everything, I'm stuck with what I've got and I have to edit it.

I have major issues with editing, which I just remembered from writing this. See, if it's not working for me, I lack the ability to just edit it until it does. I trash the whole thing and start from scratch. This includes pretty much everything; I'm very black and white. It's a dangerous lifestyle.

Usually what I do when I don't like something anymore is I a) burn it or delete it; b) throw it away, no matter what it is; c) give it away; or d) ignore it, hoping it will go away.

But you can't always do that. Sometimes you're just stuck with what you have. Which includes ugly clothes.

I think I've figured it out, though. Just buy things that you can't get sick of in the first place. In certain colors. Buy shoes that can't ever go out of style. Buy a nice purse and never put Rollo's in it to melt (true story). I mean these are pretty obvious things, but not for me I guess. Oh, and no impulse buys. Those are the worst. They always end up getting the boot.

Editing Perfection

I had about 15 different editing topics to choose from and then it dawned on me: what standard are we editing toward, and doesn't this standard continuously evolve anyway?

Please define perfection for me...ok, you can't. I can't. So if we're constantly editing ourselves, products, cars, houses, etc etc...I just get lost in it. Are we aiming for perfection? Obviously corrections are supposed to get us that much closer to perfection, right?

The perfect house keeps evolving, the perfect car keeps evolving, the perfect foods keep evolving, the perfect looks keep evolving. I get that the standard of perfection is set to keep us from getting bored, to keep us interested as consumers, to make us feel like something is wrong with us so that we must get better by using new and improved products. Those people who have edited themselves "to the standard" and broke their backs for it, those people who quite possible remortgaged their houses 3 times for it, are going to have the things they worked so hard for edited in the future anyway. 30 years from now whatever that thing is will be changed, bulldozed down, discontinued or "improved" to the standard of the time.

I guess my point is to just keep things as natural as possible and keep things simple. That's about all you can ask for. Nothing will be considered perfect because perfection is an elusive standard, but there are simple and consistent principles that make this constant editing and evolution unnecessary. Everything is pretty perfect the way it has always been available to us.

For example, food is consistent if you keep it simple. Vegetables, fruits, animals and grains have evolved very little, if at all, over hundreds of years. Maybe instead of fad products, just eat very simply.

Some old school products such as some soaps, perfumes, lotions and makeup have evolved very little over the years. Maybe it has everything to do with the ingredients and nothing to do with improvements. Improvements are obviously a sham: we weren't born needing synthetics, so why would improving a synthetic that we already don't need justify an extra $50 price tag? Don't fall for it. And the synthetics that tend to work are replicas of things that are found naturally anyway.

Houses are going to evolve constantly, so why not just live in a house that you enjoy and not one that will impress your neighbors? Cars will constantly evolve, so why be car poor? All of these things will constantly edit their standards over time, and so will people. Why break your back for that?

There will always be the issue of medicine but the main ingredients in synthetic medications have been used for thousands of years anyway. Many medications cause side effects, which then create more necessary medications to treat those side effects. I'm not arguing that medications aren't necessary for some, but they are a way of editing perfection as well. Countless people use and abuse them because they think whatever they are medicating themselves for will go away and bring them that much closer to the standard of perfection.

My philosophy is that the more complicated something is, the more editing will be necessary. Complication and amount of editing are directly correlated. Just let things flow naturally (and I don't mean aim for the bare minimum) and you will probably find that you'll be happy and have a lot less work cut out for yourself in the end. If you're feeling bad about not reaching the standard of perfection, just remember that a lot of it is made up and about 90% of it is your own projections. Edit that out and you'll be golden.

I'm not saying not to buy or do things that you think are perfect; those small things that will make you very happy for years. Just don't buy things or do things because you think they'll make you look perfect. That's never a good standard because that standard isn't fixed.

Editing and the Mind

If writing were a psychic apparatus, the writer would be the id, writing would be the ego, and editing would be the super-ego.

Sometimes good editing goes beyond basic syntax and grammar. Writing is a conscious effort often heavily influenced by the unconscious: the writer's emotions and drives often slip into their writing, unbeknownst to the writer. The writing that they produce is an attempt at balancing the desires of the writer with the demands of the editor. The writer and the editor are opposing forces, with the writing being the only thing really joining the two. A good editor should take the writing and transform it to communicate the writer's overall intentions in the most organized way possible.

Writing doesn't necessarily have to conform to societal morals and expectations, but I believe that out of fear many writers restrain themselves in their writing by trying to please both themselves and the editor. This is actually quite damaging, because now not only has the ego (the writing) repressed the desires of the writer (the id) in a disorganized fashion, the super-ego (the editor) will further repress the writer until there is no underlying soul left in the work.

I like to think that the best writers in the world don't have an ego and that they are their own editors, in every sense of the word. These writers' super-egos and ids communicate directly, without having to go through the ego: this would probably explain why so many of the best writers in this world are depressed, self-conscious, and riddled with anxiety. The writer's super-ego can directly edit, judge and bring forth what lies in the id, without repressing or losing any authenticity in the process. The writing, then, becomes part of a strange emptiness - a nirvana, if you will. The author constructs an ego(the writing) without having an ego-construction themselves. This direct editing and communication transcends the id and brings forth something instinctual and beautiful, pleasing to both the writer and the editor.

I believe that good writing becomes its own entity through the struggle between writer and editor and their ultimate synergy. I believe that authenticity in creativity is born out of struggle and moments of transcendence. If anything, rules and technicalities should only help to communicate this in the most advantageous and recognizable ways possible.