What's Your Brand?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and that a wonderful week is coming to a close for you.

Earlier this week I was dropping my 8-year old little Tender Warrior off at school. As he was getting out of the car I said, "I love you, I believe in you and I am so proud of you." His precious little eyes looked at me and in his little voice he said, "I am proud of you." Those 5 words sunk deep, deep into my spirit.

The Free Online Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) defines authentic as:
1. Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief
2. Having a claimed and verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit or copied

This week I was reading a leadership book and it was speaking about being authentic - as a person, the importance of authenticity, how authenticity builds trust, etc. I then Googled quotes about authenticity to share that day on Twitter & Facebook. It was interesting to me the number of quotes that talked about the importance of authenticity from a business perspective - to establish your brand, so customers will believe in you and your company. The emphasis on being authentic in what we do as opposed to in who we are was paramount to me.

Here is a question for you; are you proud of who you are? Another quote I absolutely love; "would the little boy (girl) you were be proud of the man (woman) you have become?" Just like a precious little 8-year olds words spoke deeply to my spirit - I pray today that I can be the man he thinks I am! - this quote cuts to the core.

Sadly, for many of us, I believe the answer is no. We would not be proud of the men and women we are because we have gotten so, so far away from who we were created - perfectly equipped for great purposes - to be. We have listened to the lies the world has told us, we are trying to be successful from a worldly perspective and, in the process of doing these things, we have veered far from the truth we knew deep in our hearts when we were little children. We can't be authentic if we are trying to be something we are not.

It is interesting to me that we spend so much time trying to prove our authenticity in the things we say and do at work, in the "masks" we put on for others to see when all we really need to do to be authentic is to embrace who we are, who we were created to be and then strive each and every day to be the best we can be. Deep inside your heart, your spirit you know - each one of us knows - who we really are, what are goals, hopes & dreams are, what our values & beliefs are...we know! The unsettled spirit comes from a lack of integrity between those things and the things that we do each and every day. Many of us are worn out and tired, running a race to prove we are something we are not, to only lay our head on the pillow at night and find a restless spirit waiting to talk to us. This is the little boy, the little girl you were waiting for you to slow down enough so he, so she, can finally remind you of who you were created to be, what you knew to be true before you "grew up" and became the man, the woman you are today.

You are not a mistake. You are not flawed. You are not broken. You were created on purpose for a great purpose. You are perfectly equipped to be everything that little boy, that little girl dreamed of being. You may have made mistakes, you might find yourself this morning a long way off the road to where you know you are supposed to be. Please get your eyes off of where you are and catch the precious vision you had as a boy or girl. You can't change the things you have done up until this moment however you can change what is going to happen in the next moment. It is up to you. You only have to answer to yourself and the little boy or little girl who will meet you at your pillow when you lay your head down tonight. While the world will believe the lies you tell/live, he or she never will...even if you die telling and living them.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families and friends.

Kev