Identifying your Self as a foundation to personal branding.

“I am irresistible, I say, as I put on my designer fragrance. I am a merchant banker, I say, as I climb out of my BMW. I am a juvenile lout, I say, as I pour an extra strong lager, I am handsome, I say, as I put on my Levi jeans”

John Kay

Self-identity

Knowing one’s self is an essential starter for personal branding. The success and failure of most people have been closely linked to how they become aware of their capabilities and potentials.

Most of us however hardly find time to identify our capabilities and develop our potentials resulting in loss of self-confidence, failures and frustrations in life.  In the bid to build a strong unique selling persona and image, it is important for you to identity yourself (self-awareness) cultivate positive thinking, develop your abilities and talents, set and accomplish goals and recognize personal values.

It is sad some people are not prepared to face the truth about themselves, and pretend to be what they are not. I am sure you ever met people who may want to show off that they come from rich homes; others may speak locally acquired foreign ascents, or act and dress like celebrities when they are not and cannot live up to it financially and charismatically. This is a portrayal of a false self-identity or image. These people are mostly people with low self-esteem, lack self-confidence, failed to discover their individual capabilities and are very much bent on covering this up by making people perceive them differently for their own personality.

               

The self-concept

“Consumers know how to ‘connect’ with a brand that has character, they know what it stands for and they also know what it’s not trying to be.”

Mark Kingsbury, Research International

The idea, perception and knowledge that you hold to be true about yourself consisting of a   combination of values, beliefs thoughts, abilities and feelings is termed self-concept. Even though we are born without knowledge about ourselves it is vital to always strive to learn and understand ourselves and other people around us better. Knowing your self is not an event but a process. The concept develops throughout our lifetime starting from childhood, improving through everyday life experience and relations with other people we meet in our homes, communities, schools, and workplaces.

Components of the self-concept

To further explain and arrive at a good understanding of this concept let’s look at some core components of the self-concept.

-              Physical self

This is how you see yourself, it is how you think or know you look like. For instance, you may be short, tall, fat, slim, fair or dark in complexion, white or black, physically built etc.  This forms the bases for describing you. We describe people with some of the following expressions; James is a tall, physically built man. He has big, brown eyes.  His Dark colored skin is very attractive. 

At a glance one can form a perception of your personality. These perceptions can portray you as weak, or strong, healthy or sick etc. it is therefore important to have a critical assessment of your physical self and work on creating a positive impression in the minds of anyone who comes into contact with you.

-              Psychological self

This is the kind of person you think you are in your subconscious mind. This however is built on an individual orientation and therefore comes from your own thinking.  For instance you may perceive yourself as intelligent, stupid, a good or a bad person etc.

In other to build a strong unique selling persona and image, it is very important to cultivate a positive psychological self.

-              Social self

Society plays an important role in determining who you will perceive yourself to be. Your social self is what you think other people, such as family, friends, subordinates and superiors think of you. For example you may ask people if they think you are beautiful or handsome, if you have a good sense of humor.

-              The ideal self

This is future oriented. It comes in a form of a dream of who you would like to be, consisting your aspirations, desires, and ambitions. The ideal self is however not static, it evolves as we grow. For instance what you aspire for as a child might be different from your aspirations as you grow into adulthood.

-              The real self

This is the natural reality in the presence. It is a description of who you really are right now.  The real self is the genuine, natural, undiluted and honest aspect of your identity that distinguishes you from others. This is the ultimate in knowing yourself. In the bid to establish a personality that is valued by yourself and others, your real self is a must to recognize.

There are many ways to examine the self-concept. Two of the most widely used terms are self-image and self-esteem.

•             Self-image

Self-image is how you see yourself or you think others see you physically or perceptually. It is the personal view or mental picture you have of yourself. 

The self-image can be very positive or negative. With a positive self-image you become aware of your abilities and potentials whiles being realistic about your limitations. This gives a person confidence in his thoughts and actions.

A negative self-image focuses on your faults and weaknesses, making you feel uncertain of your capabilities, beliefs and actions. This is because how one feels and thinks about oneself affects the way one acts.

-              Importance of self-image

Developing a positive self-image is important because how you think about yourself may affect how you feel about yourself which in turn affect your relationship with others. A positive self-image also affects your physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.