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| https://parallelcoaching.co.uk/fitness-business-names |
Titles are good. To some, they define who they are and give them meaning. To others, it’s a weapon to frustrate others. To some, it’s what gives them what they want. You’ve heard people ask, “Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are talking to?” The minute you have to remind people who you are in such a manner, there is a big problem. As we know, titles some of them may go away. The only constant everywhere you go is your name. A good name gives credibility to the title.
A good name is more desirable than great riches. If you have great riches and also a good name, you become credible. You become someone everyone admires. Your success is sustainable. The only sustainable legacy you can leave your children is a good name. A name they will be proud to associate with. A name they will want to pass on to the generations after them. To the people who love you for who you are, a good name means a lot for them. Working on gaining more titles is good and if you get a chance, please go for it, but a good name is eternally beneficial and I’d rather we spend a good amount of our time building a good name that will survive us.
Many people love to do things because they are craving for recognition. They are looking for people to know who they are. I meet a lot of people who struggle to market what they are doing but really looking into it, it’s all air. They work hard to blow their horns and they want to be called Director, Founder, CEO, Mheshimiwa etc. All these are good but if it’s just for a show, to prove a point to some people, then it’s empty and useless. I’d rather people know you for who you are, then discover in the course of your interaction that you bear the title instead of a title being forced down their throat. Remember if you enjoyed the sound of your title at the expense of your name, the day the title will go, you will have nothing to be proud of. Building pride in your name is what matters.
Someone who knows themselves well enough to know that they are not their title is a secure, confident and humble person. This is someone who even if they move from one place to another, will still be admired by those who know and love them for who they are. They will be consistent and this will inspire many who want to be like or better than them. I don’t know about you but I know a number of people who I often forget what their current title is but I cannot forget what their names mean. A mention of their names turns people heads. People wonder, how do you know that person and they wish they would know them or access them too. I want to be like such. I want to be someone who people know their name and love them for who they are not for the title they hold.
A lady who was a senior staff in the government of a country I will not mention was very busy. Let’s call her Jane, not her real name. She had a lot of people coming to her, a huge number of staff working for her. She was never alone as someone was always a few minutes or a sound a way to attend to whatever she needed to be done. She had so many invitations to choose which event to attend and which one not to. Jane was having a wonderful life that others envied. She was successful. Her personality was that of, let’s get things done, we have no time to waste. If you can’t make it happen, stop wasting our time. When her term came to an end, she walked out of the office alone. Little goodbye party and fake “we will miss you” comments. All of a sudden her busy phone was not ringing, she had no need for extra phones. Only one silent phone and no one to screen through her calls if anyone called. The invitations went to zero. No important emails, just spams. She got depressed and very lonely. It then hit her that all the experiences she had were due to her title, not her name, not who she really was. It was too late for her to correct this. Wishing for another experience to do it differently didn’t help much. Jane’s story could happen to any of us. But why wait till too late. You can start right now to focus on not being like Jane. It’s not easy because titles have a way of getting into our heads but I believe with consciousness and intentionality, it’s something possible and worth committing to. It’s all about focusing on people and having soft-skills. It’s about acting in the long term best interest of everyone around you. Let the title that is here today and is gone tomorrow not dominate your life.
From my experience with student leaders, I see a lot of them getting into confusion when their calls go unanswered by the people who used to look for them while they were in power. All they can say is am a former student leader in XY University and clearly, it means nothing to someone who has no idea what that is. I have committed myself through AYLF to provide a platform for these student leaders to build something that goes beyond their university life. Something they can build on and be leaders worth following in community and beyond.
If this resonates with you, seek to build your name. Look for a small community of friends who you can do this together with. Being accountable to a few and practicing with a few. It’s about building a community of friends to share each other’s journey of building a name that goes beyond them. You have to be deeply committed to each other and desire to see each other grow in this journey. You have to create support, encouragement and accountability platform for each other. The community has to be a small as possible so that there is active engagement by all involved.
Find a community around you and see if these conversations make sense to you…
Gabriel Achayo.
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