Make your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard!
A recruiter spends an average of 6.25 seconds on your resume, Twitter allows you only to post 140 characters. Our attention span has gone from playing Disney's Aladdin VHS tape on the loop to a swipe on Tinder. So how do we impress someone, let's say, for a new job? You might believe that you're an exception to the rule and people will always make time for your shining personality, but reality check: the world is just not that into you.
Times have changed, unfortunately. We take less time to get to know each other, to show sincere interest or just being polite to each other. And with the scarcity of available jobs with a growing educated population, society asks us to stand out from the crowd. I believe that we all have a unique trademark that makes us worth listening to and appreciated for. Sadly, we are not raised to be proud of our personal differences or to be extraordinary.
Society has raised us to be boooooring!
School and media has taught us to be a dime in a dozen, being the perfect student including the perfect job, family, golden retriever and so on. But by doing things that are far removed from yourself for the sole purpose to be accepted, you will only get so far. Worst case, you could end up like the younger me.
For 28 years I have tried to live up to the standards of society: Study hard, make a career, don't bother others, just fit in. As an female engineer with an Asian heritage I was physically incapable of becoming the ideal white collar business man. On top, with my talents in creativity and people skills the world of cold numbers made me all too insecure. My behavior to live up to something I was not got me burnt out. Now starting my own business, I can't just be like everybody else. To stand out I needed to be a unicorn.
How to become a unicorn?
The key for a good milkshake is authenticity. We all have different personalities, experiences and talents, which makes us instantly unique. Before you can create a personal brand (like carry a name as Puff Daddy), you need to figure out what your identity is. Therefore, your first step is to question yourself. What do you do that really suits you and gives you positive energy? And what do you do to make you feel accepted in society, but drains energy? Doing things that we don't like is not wrong, as long as you know why you do it. Sometimes "we gotta do what we gotta do" to get some dough: remember, our jobs do not define us.
Ready to create a killer elevator pitch or personal brand? Join my class "Shine bright like a diamond" at 3310 - School for Millennials!
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