Personal Branding Outside your Comfort zone
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- Bouncing Back From Adversity
- Personal Branding Salad Bar
- 10 Steps to Personal Branding Success
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- 7 Habits of Highly Effective Personal Brands
- Personal Branding Outside your Comfort zone
- Personal Branding for Rich Men
Real growth is only experienced when you step out of your comfort zone. Going out of your comfort zone does not guarantee success by itself. However, staying put at your comfort zone only guarantees getting similar results, not more. Today’s blog post is dedicated to people who have recently or are planning to step out of their comfort zone.
I have experienced a few big changes in comfort zones in my life. I will share a couple of those experiences with you in the hope that you may see some parallels in your life. I hope you will be able to learn a thing or two about branding yourself outside your comfort zone.
In 1998 at the age of 18, I left Kenya to study in Perth, Western Australia. I had just finished high school and had hardly ever spent a night away from home. Up to that point I had outsourced the thinking about life to my parents. I had been living under their roof, eating their food, wearing clothes bought by them, being guided in everything. Then I found myself in a new city where I did not know anyone. I had to learn fast. I had to survive.
Who was Daniel Ngari in 1998? I was an international student with an attitude. I always told myself that Australia came looking for me, not the other way round. In my young mind, I was a valuable international student that brought in the much needed foreign exchange. I could vividly remember the Australian consultants selling the country (and universities) to us in my high school in Kenya.
That attitude helped me navigate the new city with confidence. Some of the people I met in Perth in my early days were under assumption that all Africans in Australia were asylum seekers funded by the government (not that there is anything wrong with being an asylum seeker). I met and made friends with a few African international students that were living so meekly, it was not funny. They had allowed the society to intimidate them. Here were international students paying top dollar for their education, yet they were being forced into submission by society’s perceptions. I was not about to let that happen to me.
You may be called upon to leave your city or the comfort of your environment. Whenever you go, decide in advance how you want to tune people’s perception of you (personal brand). You are the master of your own ship my friend. Do not let others tell you who you are. Decide for yourself then package yourself as you would like to be perceived.
When you step out of your comfort zone, find something about yourself that will give you every inch of confidence. You will need it. It may be something in your background, your looks, your charisma, your education, your attitude etc. Find something within yourself and use it as the springboard to branding yourself in the new environment.
Becoming a Blogger
I launched this blog six months ago on 5th of January 2009. On that day I wrote a short blog post that I will re-post below. It took me another week before I mustered the courage to post a second blog post. I was getting out of my comfort zone and it felt really strange in the unfamiliar waters.
This is what I wrote on that first blog post:
For the better part of 2008, I was thinking of starting this blog as a way of connecting with my friends online, not as an anonymous advertiser that I have been for the last 7 years, but as a human being with a name, as a friend, and as a family member.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This blog post is the beginning of this site’s journey. A site dedicated to bring out the best of you through the power of positive thinking
I am not some sort of guru, philosopher, psychologist etc. I am just a regular guy trying to improve my life, and eager to share my lessons with others with the hope that it will inspire you.
Although I have known about blogging for a while, this is the first time I have dived into the blogging waters, if you notice some missteps, please let me know and I can improve with time.
Is there anything you have been postponing? Is there something that has the potential to change your life, that is within your power to do, but you have been putting off? In that case, my friend, just do it. Everything that you see around you started as an idea. You can create tomorrow’s reality by turning your ideas into actions. Ideas without action are not worth much.
I wish you all the best for 2009. Please post a comment below to let me know you visited.
Cheers.
Though I had been making a living on the internet for 7 years, I had no personal brand on the net to speak of. I had previously been making a living as an anonymous affiliate marketer and advertiser. But I knew that for me to build something of value, and to grow as a person, I had to launch this blog and build from here.
My friend, the first trick is to take action. The second trick is to take small bold baby steps. Don’t wait to have all the answers. Get started and learn as you go. I am still learning the ropes when it comes to blogging, inspiring people and build online communities.
If you are still operating in your comfort zone because of fear of failure, I encourage you to take action. Apply the power of Kaizen (baby steps) in your personal branding efforts outside your comfort zone. A little here, a little there, you will find yourself with a powerful and effective personal brand.
Summary
Staying at your comfort zone may look attractive in the short term. However, real growth only comes to those that step out of their comfort zones. Do not be afraid of testing new waters. Find something within you or around you that you can use as a springboard for confidence into the new zone. Start small but grow through taking action and active baby steps.
Other articles you may enjoy:
- 10 Steps to Personal Branding Success Today’s blog post walks you through 10 simple steps that guarantee personal branding success....
- Personal Branding for Rich Men Most of my theories on personal branding would not resonate well with people in...
- 13 Personal Branding Mistakes There is a right way for building a personal brand, and there is a...
- Personal Branding Salad Bar In today’s post, you will be able to fill your personal branding plate from...
- What is Personal Branding from Within? The truth outs. The truth about who you really are eventually comes out. You can...
- 10% of Your Actions Define 90% of Personal Brand Transform your personal brand by identifying the key 10% of your actions and habits...
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Dan. keep this up cos it gonna to greater heights beyound what u expect.
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humans dont like stretching….we like familiarity. big mistake. we can only achieve bring out the best in us when we get out of the comfort zone…Thanx Dan, nice one.
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Dan..i appreciate those baby steps u took bcz it gave birth to this many posts on this blog….. Despise NOT humble beginings… Though thy begining was small, thy latter end shall greatly increase…
Thank You.
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harsh reality talk…cosign Mercy 100%
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MOVING OUT OF YOU COMFORT ZONE
Thank you Ngari for sharing your story with us,i like how you have put it;”staying put at you comfort zone only guarantees getting the same results”.I was reading a book by Robert Kiyosaki and he calls this INSANITY,if you need change you have to move out of your comfort zone and try to do things different,repeating the same thing always and expecting somthing different will never happen.
One thing we need to understand is that “Any change,or even an atempt to change anything you are doing,makes you uncomfortable.By attempting to change you move out of your comfort zone,You will often feel as if you are on an emotional roller-coaster-expect it anyway!”.I belive this will be able to help someone out there who wants to move out of their comfort zone:
1)Raise your internal starndards.
Just like the attitude Dan Ngari had;he belived he was the best and he was needed.For anyone who wants to move out of the comfort zone you need to believe your capable,you must raise your aspirations,set higher goals and make detailed plans to achieve them.You must take charge of developing a new self concept that is more consistent with what you realy want to acomplish.
2)Build your self-concept level of expectation.
Your self concept determines your level of performance and effectiveness in everything that you do.You have your self concept of knowledge,management,motivation,people around you e.t.c.in every case you will always perform in a manner consistent with your self concept.
3)The key to peak performance;
Wherever you have a high self concept,you perform well.
When you feel tense or uneasy it simply implies that you have a low self concept ask youself this”what are you going to do about it?”
N/B Always see yourself,imagine and visualize yourself as if you are already good at what you do.Create within yourself the feeling of success and acomplishment”
AS WITHIN,SO WITHOUT!
see you out of your comfort zone.
Goodbye!
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We got to move with change and to put away fear and refuse to listen to discouragements.also having confident with ourselves is the spirit of true success
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