This is step 3 (Defining Your Passions) from Defining Who You Are from The Complete Guide to Building Your Personal Brand and this is where my A.D.D. really kicks in.
Here’s the straight-up, actually written on paper list of what my passions are (I will elaborate on those passions that require it):
- My husband
- Business
- Graphic Design – All Things Digital/Computer Related/Internet
- Education
- Self Improvement
Now, for the elaborations.
Business: I have been a total geek for anything related to business (in general) for as long as I can remember. I love just about everything about the topic of business (except taxes). I even have a diploma from a technical school (which is worth less than the paper it’s printed on but cost me $5,000) in Small Business Administration (I learned Lotus there … yes, LOTUS lol … in my defense, it WAS 1992). From day to day administrative duties to marketing, I love it (heck, I even loved working with one office manager to develop the standards and practices that enabled the company to become ISO certified).
Graphic Design: So, the other day I stumbled onto this wonderful podcast (that I obviously can’t say enough about) Fresh Rag. I began to browse through the podcasts when I noticed a theme (yeah, I’m a bit slow sometimes): The site focuses on artists (anything creative)… then he mentions Graphic Artists. I decide to look up exactly what the term Graphic Artist is and that’s when I hear the angels sing. 🙂 Just about every area of interest I have falls under that category! Take a look at the courses offered at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh and you will get an idea of what I’m talking about. I really had no idea that everything I’ve been learning (or wanting to learn) fell under one category!
Education: No subject is safe from my interests. Anywhere from fiber arts (knitting, crocheting, weaving, etc.) to rebuilding a car engine, I have learned it and will continue to as long as I enjoy doing it. This past year, I have strayed from my typical “only if it’s practical I can learn it” education to pushing more creative pursuits. I completed (framed and hung) my first ever water-color painting and now that I’m sitting here, contemplating creating a logo that represents me, I guess I should learn to draw (I currently can draw a mean stick figure, though in high school I once read that the human hand was the most difficult part of the human anatomy to draw correctly so I spent months on that one subject).
Self Improvement: This really could fall under the subject of education but this is more personal. We all have issues/hang-ups and if we do not learn to overcome them, we will never move forward in our lives. So, looking at this more in-depth, I have been on the quest of “Personal Branding” for over two years. I’ve been working on breaking through the self-built walls in my life, pushing past my comfort zone, and learning to embrace not only who I am but who I can (and will) become.
So, that’s where I am today. Step Four of Defining Who You Are from The Complete Guide to Building Your Personal Brand is Identify Your Ideal Traits. This should be fun! I will begin this today so, hopefully, it will be ready to post tomorrow. This will be posted today.