Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Be the Brand

I've been so out of balance lately, as I sat down to start writing this, I couldnt remember if I had already written it or not. That thought "Be the brand," has gone through my head so many times in the last few months, I feel like I'm seeing and hearing it everywhere. If you've seen me, it probably wasnt standing still, which is why I feel so "out of balance." I havent been to yoga in over a month, and one busy season has turned into another busy season.

Not complaining about being busy... but sometimes we need to stop and breathe.

However, in all my rushing around, I've found a love for audio books which is great because I'm not a very quick reader anyway. So now I'm able to "read," a book in about 2 days driving time vs my usual 4 weeks of reading time. Recently downloaded Eric Thomas' mixtape "The Blue Print For Success." A really great mixtape format of some of his speeches and interviews. In it he tells a story about his son forgetting to pick up his little sister from school, when that was his only direction and chore while his father was out of town. He made the mistake twice. So Eric says he sat him down and said "While I'm gone, you need to make decisions and behave as if I'm here." Be The Brand. \I think he must've been speaking to a corporation because he followed the story with more business type analogies about how to behave on the road and how to carry yourself in social type business meetings.

So "Be The Brand," has been a point I've been hammering home to myself for a long, long time with this Blue Chip vision. And in hearing Eric, it stuck even harder. I feel it carries similar feel as when I've used the word "intent," when heading into a workout or session, and now it carries into the work place and all over life.

To me, they're both about pride and self worth. If you work a job that you dont care about... does that say something about how you see yourself? I think it does. Because if you dont care, how much are you going to care to go above and beyond for the company? Yes, you care to keep your job, but just keeping the job shouldnt be good enough. Eric said something like "walk into work everyday and say 'my work is going to change this company for the better on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then I can take a break on Saturday," and I truly feel that in many situations. I truly work with the intent of making any and every situation, job, opportunity better and to be remembered. If I'm in a situation where maybe they dont care... I struggle. Then I feel like an alien and its time to go find more suitable "home."

Now I look at the Blue Chip landscape... and no doubt it is home. And by "home," I mean where I choose Blue Chip trains, who it trains and trains with.

However, there are some who need to figure out what their "intent," is and whether or not they want to "Be The Brand."

I've always been very open with those who train with me to let them know how appreciated they are for the work they put in every single time. I ran a Boot this evening and while they took off on a circuit, I thought "This is amazing... how driven they are... how hard they push... how bad they want hard work," and it motivates me to never let them down. There's an expectation now. A BootCamp is on the schedule and everyone knows, "It's going to be intense and unique and memorable." If it wasnt, I wouldnt be delivering the brand.

So from Boots, to the Yoga room, from Mentor to Downtown to wherever we are and in your own life and work place and home and everything you touch... Be The Brand at all times, BE YOUR OWN BRAND and come with an intent to deliver something great every single time, every place you go, to everyone you meet.

This Is Blue Chip