We all know that there are tips, techniques, systems and tests that you can follow to establish a strong personal brand. Yet two people can follow the same set of directions while one becomes infinitely more successful than the other. What is that edge? Some may call it confidence, I call if belief.
When we truly believe in the power of our capability and brands, we imbue them with an alchemy that allows them to develop beyond even our expectations. It’s positive thinking in its highest expression. To allay the notion of positive thinking being ‘airey-fairey’ let’s take a look at the research that propositions the notion that when you think and feel positively, positive things happen;
- There’s the Placebo Effect: It’s known that people get better both physically and emotionally when they believe in the treatment. Studies show one-third to two-thirds respond positively to placebos. This is even stronger in experiments where the physician believes as strongly as the patient (1955 Beecher; 1983 Cousins; 1985 White, Tursky, Schwart)
- Positive Affect: Positive emotions increase the capacity for learning, creative problem solving, social helpfulness, and effective decision making (1975, Seligman; 1981 Isen; 1984 Bower)
- Internal Dialogue: Successful people have internal dialogues that explain success as permanent, universal and internal while failure is temporary, specific, external. Unsuccessful people have the opposite dialogue (1890 James; 1949 Ryle; 1975 Seligman)
- Interpersonal Dialogue: Successful interpersonal relationships are based on a ratio of at least two positive statements to one negative statement. The words and images we choose intentionally actually create the interpersonal situation; positive words and images lead to positive interactions (1987 Sloterdijk; 1997 Royal)
- Pygmalion: The teachers image of the student affects the students results . When teachers are told that certain children (randomly selected) are gifted, those children perform better—because the teachers behave differently with students they expect more from. This is a better predictor than IQ, home environment, or past performance. Studies have also found that successful managers often had a strong mentor as their first boss. (1974, Brophy & Good; 1978 Rosenthal & Rubin; 1986, Jussim)
- Affirmative Competence: Using positive imagery and then monitoring success rather than failure increases competence in golf, Olympic athletics and life (1974, Nicklaus; 1979, Ostander)
Go ahead and prove it to yourself. Create a strong mental image of your brand, Believe it. Think your brand successful.