The need to understand who we are and where we are going is vital in life but aligning that with a clear sense of why is critical for fulfilment. It is no surprise that great champions of life share common traits as to how they go about keeping their professional and personal lives optimally aligned and optimally balanced. While the Covid-19 pandemic has created exponential opportunities for those who position themselves right, it is still taking and disrupting lives. Read about how the personal brands of greats like South African-born Elon Musk manage to steer clear of all the pandemic potholes. – Sharidyn Rogers
By Rob Opie*
Have you ever driven a car that has taken a few too many knocks from potholes and pavements?
When a vehicle’s alignment and balance are out, the ride is never pleasant.
Fortunately, sophisticated engineering equipment exists to correct this scenario.
What happens in real life when your life and personal brand have taken a few too many knocks?
South Africans are renowned for our high levels of resilience and our ability to always bounce back stronger, yet, many will admit they are feeling the effects of ‘pandemic fatigue’.
Investigation reveals that globally people have been able to ride the Covid-19 waves in a very different way in what can be termed ‘Exponential stories of sustained success and significance’.
Nobody more so than South African- born Elon Musk.
We could argue that during a pandemic, one has to be in the right place – in the right industry – at the right time.
However, further investigation reveals that the pandemic has created many exponential opportunities for those who position themselves right, those who engineer their personal brands for.
Performance, growth and contribution.
Human greatness leaves footprints, and the study of all the great champions of life reveals they share common traits in how they go about keeping their professional and personal lives optimally aligned, and optimally balanced.
Let us take a closer look at the personal brand of Elon Musk. We know a brand has two distinct building blocks: outer image and inner identity.
Musk has certainly had his outer image scrutinised at length but little is understood about his inner identity – the part that fuels human greatness, defined as sustained success and significance.
It is important to note that Musk’s seemingly overnight success has been a long time coming. The Tesla journey dates back to 2004 while his Space X journey began way back in 2002.
By taking heed of what the great champions do with alignment and balance, we can better engineer our own lives to do life better in 2022 and beyond.
How alignment plays a key role in driving human greatness?
Studies reveal that the great champions of life all engineer their lives:
- They set up right.
- They align their professional and personal lives.
Alignment means achieving a very high level of congruency between one’s purpose, priorities and performance goals: the three critical Ps of a high- level personal brand .
Therefore, the greater the level of congruency, the greater the level of performance, growth and contribution.
P #1 PURPOSE
Musk’s outlook on life reveals a man on an unrelenting mission – he is constantly striving to find out what is and what is going to affect mankind the most in the foreseeable future. His aim is to find out what is not working and to fix it.
Musk is a man inspired by his mega- powerful purpose in life: to elevate humanity.
He needs near zero motivation to get out of bed in the morning. His vast personal wealth is a great resource but it has little to do with what drives him.
P #2 PRIORITIES
Research shows the great champions set up their Big Five priorities in hierarchical order, while average people often find these difficult to articulate.
Priority #1: Yourself – invest wisely in yourself to be able to help and give to others.
Priority #2: Your purpose – invest wisely in your purpose as it is what will inspire you to do more.
Priority #3: Your family and friends – invest wisely in your inner circles.
Priority #4: Your health and wealth – invest wisely as both of these are great resources, – and both can so easily be lost.
Priority #5: Your lifestyle – invest wisely in your desired lifestyle to ensure you refuel yourself to be able to vigorously pursue your purpose in life.
Consider the following wisdom from Bob Bulford:
“Champions recognise that self-interest is central to one’s human design, but count the greatest gain as the goodwill of fellow humankind.”
Through their relentless focus on their hierarchical priorities, the great champions empower themselves to do more.
P #3 PERSONAL GOALS
Performance goals must be very closely aligned with purpose and priorities.
This ensures they will be achieved.
The primary focus is placed on the process, not the results.
The focus and congruency of Musk’s 3Ps is the key driver for his exponential ride of sustained success and significance.
How balance plays a key role in driving human greatness?
The most powerful universal principle of balance reads as:
“Too much or too little of something – for too long – will create a state of imbalance (a state of disease called illness) – as opposed to a state of balance (a state of ease called wellness).
Most of us usually think of balance in the form of work/life balance but it is much more than just that.
Think of balance as creating and maintaining a state of ease – wellness.
Human beings have one energy well and it comes with three vital energy buckets.
At any given moment, we are either filling or draining our human energy well via the three buckets.
It is our task to make sure these three buckets are ideally managed so that we have the optimal amount of energy to fulfil our purpose.
Bucket #1 is the physical energy bucket (what we put into our bodies)
We are pretty good at this one. We know how much sleep, exercise, etc we need and we usually find some form of optimal balance most of the time.
Bucket #2 is the chemical energy bucket (what we put into our mouths)
We are usually fairly good at this as well, as our bodies are quick to tell us what they do not like through our mouths.
If we habitually or unwittingly do not achieve an optimal acid/alkaline balance via the chemical bucket, we soon find ourselves in some kind of trouble.
Bucket #3 is the emotional bucket (what we put into our minds)
This one presents a far greater challenge for us as human beings, and it is also the bucket that has played a crucial part in driving ‘pandemic fatigue’ and numerous stress- related illnesses indirectly linked to the pandemic.
We need to guard the door to our minds if we are to maintain balance via the emotional bucket.
Then there are the Big Five negative human emotions: hate, resentment, guilt, criticism and futility (self-pity).
Most people have little or no idea how these five highly toxic emotions – if and when held long term – can and will self-sabotage their best-made plans for success and significance in life.
Fortunately, the Big Five positive human emotions are far more powerful and will emotionally empower you to drive your performance, growth and contribution in 2022. These are unconditional love, gratitude, acceptance, forgiveness and joy.
Elon Musk knows this.
The great champions of life know this.
They play the game right.
They steer clear of all the pandemic potholes by optimally aligning and balancing their personal brands at all times.
You could say: they ‘Musk’ it.
Go great in 2022.
Rob Opie
If you would like a complimentary copy of any of my published eBooks – including my eBook on personal branding, please CLICK HERE to read more and request your FREE copy.
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Read more: www.thegameplan.co.za
Rob Opie is a brand strategist, author, keynote speaker, performance coach to business and sports teams – and life coach to those on a journey to self-actualisation.
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- How to invalidate and demotivate – Rob Opie
- Rob Opie on the recent Quinton de Kock ‘debacle’ and the importance of knowing when to give up
- Rob Opie on emerging stronger from the Covid tunnel
