Raise your hand if you have ever felt insecure or anxious about whatever is next in your life. It might be something big like your next career move or project assignment. It might be something you are passionate about bringing into the world, and you want to increase your Grit Scale per Angela Duckworth’s research. Or it might be something that sounds logically small but emotionally big such as an upcoming meeting with someone who seems to have it out for you, a sales call, a meeting that’s bound to bring conflicting points of view, and the list goes on. You may be saying to yourself that it’s not a big deal, but your thoughts and emotions are not bringing out your best most brilliant self. In essence, what this is all really about is raising your positive thinking. Positive psychologist Dr. Barbara Fredrickson calls this your Positivity Ratio. Her research, along with that of many others, has proven that a positive to negative ratio of 3 to 1 is key if you want success – success in almost any life endeavor.

Good news! There is a process for preparing yourself for wonderful and/or tricky life events. Or for repairing whatever is chipping away at your confidence and causing your negativity.

Heather Monahan, in her TEDxBocaRaton talk entitled “Me Too’s Mis-Step or Me Too’s Mistake” about female to female bullying, outlines a brilliant process to combat insecurities and destroyed confidence. She explains that a personal advertising campaign helped her regain confidence. The outline below, with some additional thoughts of my own, is not just for recovery from bullying but can be used as a method for building your brilliance no matter what the circumstances may be.

Your Ad Campaign

  1. Who is the customer and what do they need? This is the most important part of every campaign.  My husband and I recently went to a travel agent to help plan a big trip. She found out our general geographical trip preferences and then quickly threw a bunch of travel books at us. Or so it felt. When I asked questions, she cut me off before I finished asking the questions. How often do you stop and listen to yourself? What is it you are looking for? What does brilliance for you look like? What is blocking that brilliance? This important first step means doing some research on who you are and what you need. We might assume that the campaign is me and I know me, and yet self-awareness is a never-ending activity if we want brilliance.
  2. The right platform for your ad campaign In the case of your personal self-concept it only makes sense that the campaign is run in your mind. This campaign involves interrupting your regular self-talk with your new ad campaign messaging.
  3. Messaging – develop a strong, powerful and frequent message. Otherwise known as affirmations. You construct one to three affirmations to be repeated several times a day to qualify as your message. Affirmations typically begin with, “I am . . . .” They are said in the present tense and outline what you want to be true. I suggest connecting a feeling word to the messaging as well. Example: I am loving, lovable, and loved. I have enough time to accomplish all that I need to make my life meaningful and joyful. To help you remember to say the messaging, connect the act of repeating them to activities at various times in the day. For instance, say your affirmations when you brush your teeth and before or after each meal. I would also suggest writing them down to bring in additional senses and thereby increase the power of your messaging. Write them down in your journal and say them in conjunction with your daily prayer/meditation time.
  4. Music or jingle Pick a song to play that will elicit the emotion that you want for your ad campaign. Download it and play it over and over and over again. Or if you are a musician, write and record your own jingle. Someday you may want to share it with the world.
  5. Call to Action – What feeling or event is going to be your call to action? Heather explains in her talk that fear was her call to action. When she felt it, she stepped into action. Steven Pressfield in the War of Art explains that for artists–and I believe we are all artists in some way–resistance is what needs to be overcome. According to Pressfield, “Resistance (self-sabotage, procrastination, fear, arrogance, self-doubt) is inside you. No one inflicts it on you from outside. You bring it with you from birth.” Are you too tired today or too busy or just plain old too distracted to work on the goals that fulfill your passion? The War of Art explains that it’s not an excuse, we need to get to work, and we need to do the work.
  6. Visual – Find a picture that shows you in all of your power. I recently went through the branding process for my book and business. The photographer I used to take my headshot, Jen Kelly of Kelicomm Headshots, takes the time to find the feeling that you want to promote with your brand within the photograph. I encourage you to take the time to find a self-portrait that strongly brings out your brilliant brand.

You now have all of the components to a strong ad campaign, at least as I see it. When researching successful marketing and ad campaigns, I found multiple practices. If you have a different process, use it. The point is to do whatever it takes to market you to you! Successful campaigns are about letting the world know the brilliance of a product. It’s time to let yourself know the brilliance of you!