"The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear." -Socrates
Are you reaching your full potential? Do you want the success of leaders in your chosen field? Imagine having their success; imagine doing the things successful leader do; imagine being successful: being one of their friends, being a leader others look up to.
So, you're imagining, but how do you get there? Are there any practical steps you can do to move toward your dreams?
Jimmy Davis, an expert on personal branding on the Internet, offers an simple exercise in personal transformation. It comprises of three basic steps on three sheets of papers.
1) On the first sheet of paper, research the top leaders in your field or a small group of people you would like to emulate. List their common characteristics until the sheet of paper is full. Keep this paper.
2) On the second sheet of paper, at the top of the sheet write your name and list all your characteristics. Be brutally honest. Do this alone where no one can see it. Is there a difference between the leaders and you? What is it? What do they have that you don't? What do you have that they don't? When you have finished the second sheet of paper, throw it away.
3) On the third sheet of paper, create your true character, the person you have been hiding all these years. At the top of this sheet of paper write down a positive characteristic along with your name. Describe the person you want to be in six months. What are your characteristics? Describe this person in detail. List your characteristics, accomplishments and possessions. Keep this paper and refer to it daily.
After you have done this, each day review the paper and be the person on that third sheet of paper by acting as that person. Write like that person, talk like that person, dress like that person, walk, eat, laugh, sleep as that person.
Is this too simple? It's not a new idea. Try and see what happens. What do you have to loose? You might just become the person you're supposed to be.