miruskina.com - Random Blog

If You Can be TRIGGERED, You Can be CONTROLLED

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:35:00 +0000

You’ve probably noticed – people today get offended so easily. One sentence, one look, one word slightly off, and you're witnessing an emotional explosion. And it’s not random. Because when someone can trigger you instantly, they can control you easily.

I heard this quote by former Secret Service Agent Evy Poumpouras that says: “If you’re easily offended, you’re easy to manipulate.” And that… is a truth most people don’t want to hear. Because it calls out something deeper than emotion – it calls out emotional dependence.

I’m a great fan of emotions. They’re not the enemy. They’re our internal army that is staying on guard for us – each one showing up to tell us something we need to see. But when that army starts fighting you instead of fighting for you – it means that someone else is giving the orders.

And that’s what being “easily offended” really is. It’s not just sensitivity. It’s the moment when your emotional wiring becomes public property.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
Let’s unpack that.

Feeling offended feels reasonable and right – as if protecting your dignity. It gives an illusion of strength: “I won’t tolerate this!”

But in truth, that reaction doesn’t come from power – it comes from insecurity. Being offended means something in you has been touched that you haven’t yet made peace with.

And the moment that spot is touched, your clarity disappears. And it is instantly replaced by the need to defend yourself. Even if you don’t say anything back, but if you felt an imaginary defence system activated in you the moment you heard it, it means that the trigger worked. And that’s when the door for manipulation opens up. Because when you’re defensive, you’re predictable. You’ll rush to explain yourself, to prove your worth, to correct the position. And whoever knows that button, that trigger – owns you.

HOW MANIPULATORS READ YOU?
The best manipulators aren’t the loudest ones. They’re the quiet observers. They study what makes you flinch, what makes you raise your tone, what makes you justify yourself. That’s where your wounds live – and that’s where they look.

They don’t need your consent. They just need your reaction. Because the second they have that – they can steer your behavior, your loyalty, even your opinions.

It’s the same principle entire industries run on. Marketing, politics, entertainment – all of it thrives on emotional bait. Anger sells. Outrage trends. Offense keeps people scrolling. And every time you engage, you’re feeding someone’s algorithm – emotional, political, or digital. That’s not freedom. That’s remote control. And you’re not the one in control here. Do you know who is?

THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CARING AND BEING OFFENDED
Caring is awareness with compassion. Being offended is emotion mixed with ego – and ego is not looking for truth; it’s looking for validation.

You can care deeply about fairness, justice, respect – without turning into an emotional puppet every time someone crosses a line. Because strength isn’t in reacting. It’s in CHOOSING when and how you respond.

When you’re centered, no one can force a reaction out of you. You might still feel anger, disappointment, sadness – but you don’t become those emotions. You use them as information, not identity. That’s emotional freedom. Not a cold distance, but clear ownership.

Think of the last time you got offended...
Maybe someone questioned your ability, your looks, your intelligence or whatever. What did your body do in that moment? Tension. Heat. Racing thoughts.

Now look beneath that reaction. What were you actually protecting?

Usually, it’s not about the comment itself – it’s about the hidden belief of yourself that this comment touched. The part of you that still doubts your worth. And that’s where manipulation hooks in – not into the event, but into the belief that you still need to prove yourself.

See how sneaky it is? It’s not the insult that controls you – it’s the inner uncertainty that answers it.

EMOTIONAL FREEDOM
Once you see that link, and now you do – everything changes. Because when you know this, offense weakens. You realize that being offended doesn’t elevate you – it exposes you. It shows where you still take your value from other people’s opinions. And the moment you recognize that – awareness itself begins to neutralize it. You stop taking the bait. You start to see how many messages are designed to make you react.

Headlines, comment sections, debates – all engineered to make you feel personally attacked. That’s a basic formula of populist parties all around the world, and I have those in my country, Latvia, also. Because if you feel attacked, you’ll stay engaged.
And if you stay engaged, someone profits – either it’s in power, attention, or money.

But when you’re no longer reacting, you become unprofitable to manipulators. You can still care – you just don’t perform your caring on someone’s command. You stay free, calm, and clear-headed.

Imagine a life where no one could push your buttons – because you’ve already disarmed them yourself. Where disagreement doesn’t threaten you. Where criticism doesn’t shake you. Where emotion still moves through you – but doesn’t move you off-center.

That’s emotional freedom. That’s sovereignty. Because when your emotions belong to you, they become your agents again – not liabilities.

You can listen to a harsh comment, and instead of reacting, you simply observe and think to yourself: “Interesting. That touched something in me.” And in that moment of noticing, you’re already free. Because you’re no longer acting under the spell – you’re seeing the mechanism. And with that you CHOSE how you want to respond to that – not react, but to respond.

Here’s the irony: The less offended you are, the more connected you become. Because offense builds walls, but clarity builds bridges. You stop needing to silence others to protect yourself. You stop demanding validation to feel seen. And you start to understand that no comment, no opinion, can define you – unless you hand it that power. That’s the moment emotional independence begins – when you stop outsourcing your peace.

So, yes – emotions are powerful. They are the pulse of your humanity. But if you let them take over, it’s easy for someone else to steer you, because they see your buttons and they know where to push next time. But when you learn to recognize your emotions clearly, they become your inner compass – loyal only to you.

The world will always test how calm you can be. But whether it breaks your calmness or not – that’s on you. That’s your choice.

You don’t need to fix yourself. You just need to start hearing yourself again, and see the things for what they actually are. 🤍

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One shift that makes you UNSHAKABLE in the world which runs of fear

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 17:42:00 +0000

If you look around carefully, it becomes difficult not to notice how much of modern life seems to run on fear. The news, social media and even ordinary conversations often pulse with it – fear of being wrong, of missing out, of saying the wrong thing, of hurting someone or of being hurt ourselves. Yet we collectively treat this as something normal. We call it being “informed”, “responsible” or “realistic”.

But in truth, much of what people call “reality” is simply fear masking itself as logic. It wears the language of reason, while quietly steering the way entire societies think, react and decide. In such a world, fear begins to feel like safety – not because it is safe, but because it is familiar, and familiarity always tricks the brain into believing it is secure.

There is, however, one realisation that can change everything:

TRUE SAFETY NEVER COMES FROM CONTROL, IT COMES FROM PERSPECTIVE.

When your mind has been trained by fear, it will constantly search for something to protect – a person, a plan or an outcome. Your nervous system remains on duty twenty-four hours a day, scanning for potential threats even when none exist. You might call this “being careful”, but what it really means is being trapped in vigilance.

Fear hijacks logic by promising peace through control. It convinces you that if only you could understand, predict and prepare enough, you would finally relax. But that moment never comes, because fear doesn’t end when the threat disappears – it ends only when your perspective shifts.

And that shift is simple: safety is not found in control but in clarity and trust in life itself. When you see clearly, the illusion of danger fades – not because the world has changed, but because you have stopped viewing it through fear’s narrow filter.

HOW TO DEAL WITH FEAR
To understand how fear operates, it helps to look at it directly. Fear rarely presents itself honestly; it wears masks. Fear often hides behind a false sense of being reasonable – it shows up as worry that sounds logical. It sounds intelligent, cautious, even responsible. It tells you, “I’m just being realistic”. But realism guided by fear always paints life darker than it truly is. It trains your perception to expect loss before it happens, to interpret silence as rejection and uncertainty as danger.

The result is exhaustion – an endless effort to manage outcomes that haven’t occurred and, statistically, are unlikely ever to happen. We drain our energy trying to control imagined futures, instead of using it to enjoy the present or address what’s actually unfolding.

Once this pattern takes hold, it creates a familiar loop:
Fear → Control (the illusion of control) → Tension → More Fear.

Inside that loop, we stop noticing the subtle ways we remain on edge. The body never truly relaxes. The mind never fully lands. Life becomes a state of “almost peace” – one message, one headline, one silence away from distress. That isn’t living; it’s surviving, disguised as normality.

SALVATION = PERSPECTIVE
You most probably haven’t noticed this loop because it just sounds so reasonable. It often begins with phrases like:

“I just want to be prepared”.
“I just don’t want to make a mistake”.
“I’m just doing it for my children”.
“I just need to be sure”.

The phrase “I just” always hides a contraction – a microsecond of tension in your body. It isn’t clarity speaking; it’s the nervous system quietly trying to stay alive in a world that isn’t actually attacking it.

So, what happens when you move from control to perspective? You start to notice that fear’s strength depends entirely on your angle of vision. Zoom out, and fear shrinks instantly because it cannot survive context. A single sentence taken out of context can destroy peace, yet once returned to its full picture, it loses all its weight. That – precisely – is perspective.

Think about a time when something you feared actually happened – a breakup, a job loss, a failure or the death of someone dear. At the time, it may have felt unbearable. But if you look back now, months or years later, the same event probably looks very different. Nothing about it changed, except you. Distance – especially distance in time – reveals truth.

Perspective is not detachment; it’s presence with understanding. It allows you to remain present without panic, to see fear attempting to hijack your mind and to recognise it for what it is – bait you no longer have to take.

Fear’s control is sustained by illusion. The moment you truly see it, its authority collapses – not because you fought it, but because you stopped mistaking it for truth. It’s like watching a film you once believed was real and suddenly noticing the camera crew behind the scenes. The movie continues, but the spell is broken. That’s what perspective does: it reveals the frame around fear, and once you see the frame, you’re free from the story.

The calmest, most unshakable people you’ve ever met aren’t fearless. They simply keep their perception wider than the situation itself. They don’t drown in the noise. They notice the mechanism, and they choose their angle. And those people become almost impossible to manipulate, because they no longer react from fear.

That choice – to see clearly rather than to control – is what real safety feels like. Fear may be contagious, but so is clarity. When one person remains centered, others instinctively remember what calm feels like (or at least, what it looks like). That’s how awareness spreads, and that’s how a fear-driven world begins to shift – one clear mind at a time.

If you’ve been living in constant alertness, always trying to predict, prevent or perfect your way into safety, what you’re actually searching for isn’t certainty – it’s peace. And peace isn’t built externally; it arises when you stop confusing fear with protection.

DO YOU TURST LIFE?
There’s also a deeper layer to fear that we rarely admit: it’s our lack of trust in life itself. I know that well. I spent years as a control freak – not just organised, but emotionally attached to outcomes. It began early. I remember crying because someone overtook me for the highest grade in school. That pattern grew with me, and the need for control followed everywhere, disguised as discipline but fuelled by a silent panic.

Preparedness itself is not fear – it’s respect for what matters to you. But there comes a point when control turns into obsession, and that’s where fear sneaks in, pretending to be care. Trust, then, becomes essential – not blind faith, but a quiet understanding that life knows how to unfold in ways that ultimately serve you. Even the seemingly unfortunate events often make sense in hindsight, sometimes after years or even decades.

The moment you realise that your perspective – not circumstances – is the real source of safety, you become unshakable. No matter what happens outside, you can always return to clarity within. And that kind of freedom doesn’t need to prove itself. It simply exists – quiet, steady and deeply secure. And once you have that – noone can take that away from you, because that’s something that lives within.

Hearing and feeling yourself sets you free. Enjoy it! 🤍

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Invisible Script that Makes You DOUBT Yourself

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 11:23:00 +0000

Most people don’t live their life – they perform it on autopilot. That performance usually runs on invisible programmes. Let’s deal with this one – self-doubt.

If you’ve ever replayed a conversation, wondering if you said something wrong or held back a truth because you didn’t want to sound too confident, too harsh, or too much – you’ve met it.
If you’ve ever second-guessed a well-thought-out decision, that’s it again.

Self-doubt is silent, familiar and convincing. It feels like you – but it isn’t. It’s learned behaviour, trained early and rewarded by a world that profits from your hesitation.

This article – together with the video – unpacks how self-doubt forms, why your brain mistakes fear for logic and how inherited guilt and social conditioning keep you small.
The goal isn’t to “fix” you. It’s to help you see clearly – and start hearing yourself again.

SELF-ANALYSIS vs. SELF-ATTACK
Replaying conversations in your head isn’t bad by itself. The difference lies in WHY you do it. Reflection builds insight; overthinking builds anxiety. Next time you catch yourself in that loop, ask: “Am I analysing to learn – or punishing myself to feel safe?”

When the review ends in calm understanding, it’s self-improvement. When it ends in self-blame, it’s the script of self-doubt doing its job.

Nobody chooses to mistrust themselves. It’s a social habit. From an early age, many of us learn that:

Being good means being agreeable.
Safety comes from being approved of.
Authority belongs to those who speak louder.

Each time you silence your gut feeling to avoid disapproval, you reinforce that rule. And over time, your inner clarity grows quieter.

The hidden messages sound like:
“Don’t be selfish.”
“Don’t make a scene.”
“Who are you to think you know better?”

That conditioning once helped you to survive in the society – now it simply holds you back.

HOW FEAR PRETENDS TO BE LOGIC
Self-doubt isn’t only emotional; it’s neurological. Your brain craves predictability. Every time you ignore intuition to stay “safe,” your brain rewards you with a tiny sense of relief: “Good,” it says, “you fit in.”

That’s how it mistakes obedience for safety and self-betrayal for comfort. Soon you get trapped in a loop: FEAR→ COMPLIANCE → TEMPORARY CALM → MORE FEAR. It keeps you manageable – to yourself and to others.

Psychologists call it the predictability bias – your brain would rather repeat familiar discomfort than risk unfamiliar freedom.

Guilt is what keeps the self-doubt cycle running.

REAL GUILT = When you genuinely harm someone. When something needs to be repaired.
INHERITED GUILT = When you simply choose yourself. When it feels that you need to ask for the permission or apologize.

We were taught that good people don’t put themselves first. So, you feel guilty for resting, for saying no and for wanting more – even when no harm was done. That’s not emotional maturity. It’s inherited programming. It trades your inner peace for other people’s comfort.

If guilt helps you grow, learn life and become a better version of yourself – it’s real guilt. If it keeps you small and obedient – it’s inherited guilt.

Recognising this difference is the first act of emotional independence.

THE FEAR OF BEING “TOO MUCH”
Have you ever heard yourself think:
“Tone it down.” “Don’t stand out.” “Don’t make anyone uncomfortable.” That’s not humility – that’s the survival instinct of belonging. You learned that safety equals being liked, not being real. But authenticity creates genuine respect; approval only creates temporary peace.

I once joined a facilitated dialogue circle with strangers on the topic of how we feel in life. Most participants spoke about fear, anger, disappointment and being in negative anticipation. When it was my turn to share, the scared part of my mind that still has a lot of old programming was screaming and begging for me stay likeable:
“Don’t say how you really feel! You just heard that no one here thinks like you. Just keep your position to yourself, and they will keep thinking that you’re somewhat normal and keep liking you.”

I said it anyway. Because speaking your truth doesn’t destroy safety – it redefines it.
Every time you do it, your nervous system learns that honesty and safety can coexist. That’s biology, not idealism. That’s is building your mental resilience in real-life action.

Self-doubt is the silent cardinal. It hides in those small “maybes”. And tt shows itself as being rational: “Maybe I should wait a bit.” “Maybe now’s not the right time.” “But what if I’m wrong?”
And because it sounds reasonable – you believe it. That’s how self-doubt survives – not by convincing you that you’re weak, but by convincing you that caution is wisdom. Except for some rare “it being right” moments, it’s mostly just fear disguised as logic.

When in doubt, ask: “Am I being wise, or just afraid?”
That single question exposes the script and restores mental clarity. Wisdom moves you forward; fear – freezes you.

Society still praises the “nice, modest person” who never offends anyone, who stays in the line and doesn’t bother others – it rewards obedience. Even relationships can depend on you being agreeable. When you stop playing that role, some people will feel disturbed. You’re not only changing yourself – you’re changing the system around you. Those who value truth will adjust. Those who value control will leave. Both outcomes serve your growth. And that’s a filtering process that is supposed to help you.

There comes a moment when you notice: Every time you follow your inner knowing, something inside relaxes. Even if the outside world doesn’t approve, you feel lighter. That’s not rebellion – that’s alignment.

You don’t defeat self-doubt by fighting it; you outgrow it. When you realise it’s just an outdated safety mechanism, it loses its control, and your mind becomes quieter. That’s emotional strength – calm, independent, unmanipulatable.

TO SUMMARIZE
Real guilt is when your action harms someone and calls for repair. Inherited guilt is when you harm yourself to keep others comfortable. One builds connection. The other builds walls. When you name the difference, self-trust starts to rebuild itself naturally.

Think about it – how many times have you stopped yourself not because you were wrong, but because you didn’t trust your own judgement? That hesitation is the invisible tax self-doubt charges on your potential.

They way around it is two-fold:

1. Trusting yourself is the same as trusting life.
2. Once you trust life (and consequently – yourself) you know that whatever happens, that’s a “weird shortcut” towards what is best for you in this life.

The invisible script of self-doubt may have shaped you, but it doesn’t define you. You don’t need fixing. You just need to start hearing yourself again and see things for what they are – learned patterns, not your truth. Once you start hearing and feeling your own truth, the next step – trusting it – comes naturally. And when you trust it, life stops feeling like a test and starts feeling like something you own.

Hearing and feeling yourself sets you free. Enjoy it! 🤍

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Build strength that doesn’t break when life happens.

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:25:00 +0000

Life isn’t easy. Many of us or someone we know lives in a some-level state of fear or unease, constantly bracing for the next thing to go wrong. World events, financial worries, health anxieties, strained relationships – modern life throws a lot at us. We’re not alone in all of that since to some extent we’re all in there. But there’s always some good news, too – like this natural skill that can be your personal lifeguard in any – and I mean ANY – future hardships. “Mental resilience” is a complex collocation that sums it up the best, but let’s see behind the curtain to understand what it’s really about and why it matters so much.

What if the difference between a life filled with anxiety and a life filled with peace wasn’t your job, your relationship or your bank account – but your mental resilience? We hear about strength. We hear about toughness. But very few of us know what it truly means to be mentally resilient – what it looks like, how to build it and how it can quietly transform every aspect of our lives (in the best possible sense). Especially now, when fear seems to creep in through every crack of daily living – from the personal to the global – it’s no longer just helpful to be mentally resilient. It’s essential.

How to know your level of mental resilience? Well, it’s actually only guessing and presuming until a real storm hits. Because it can only be tested in real-life action, meaning, when the trouble is already on your porch. Otherwise, there is no way to know for sure. Just like with relationships – strength of a relationship is determined by how we deal and interact during a rough patch, not when it’s all just sunny beach, cocktails, glitter and unicorns.

WHY MENTAL RESILIENCE MATTERS MORE THAN EVER
For many of us, a quiet tension runs in the background of everyday life. We’re not always panicking, but we’re rarely fully at ease. Whether it’s uncertainty in the world, personal stress or the weight of “what ifs”, it all adds up. But the real challenge isn’t what happens to us. It’s how we handle it internally and how we respond. Exceptionally encouraging thing about mental resilience is that it is not a personality trait – it’s a skill. A learnable skill that can quite literally save your life.

When fear runs unchecked, it makes us vulnerable – not just emotionally, but cognitively. It clouds our thinking, closes off our creativity, weakens our decisions and opens our subconsciousness up to manipulation. Mental resilience gives us the ability to stay grounded, clear and conscious – regardless of the chaos around us. It empowers us to reflect instead of reacting. To choose our response instead of being hijacked by our emotions. To face pain without collapsing under it. In a society of resilient individuals, fear can’t spread like wildfire. Mental resilience is the firewall.

SO, WHAT IS IT, REALLY?
Mental resilience isn’t about being tough or emotionless. It’s not suppressing your feelings or pretending everything is fine. Not even close! Emotions and feelings are great, and we need the whole spectrum of them. Amond other things, being mentally resilient means also:

✔️ Seeing the truth of your life situations clearly, even when it’s uncomfortable.
✔️ Being willing to meet every experience – joyful or painful – with curiosity.
✔️ Knowing yourself deeply enough to pause before reacting.
✔️ Finding strength not in control, but in adaptability.

It’s the ability to meet anything that comes your way – not with panic, but with presence.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE THAT
The transformation isn’t just internal. It ripples into every area of your life. Here’s what people often notice as they strengthen their mental resilience:

✔️ Less stress and emotional volatility
Because you’re no longer hijacked by every trigger – you see the emotion, understand it and choose your response.

✔️ Improved relationsips
When you stop reacting reflexively, you start listening more deeply, communicating more clearly and connecting more authentically.

✔️ Better decision-making
You’re not just acting out of habit or fear, but making conscious, aligned choices.

HOW TO BEGIN: THE ART OF SELF-OBSERVATION
WARNING: if you have never asked yourself something along the lines of ‘Why do I feel this way?’ with the intention to see your own baggage lurking out – meaning, looking within, not pointing at the villain who hurt you, thread carefully! If you’re only considering for a second to try out the steps described further, make sure to remain kind to yourself at all times.

The first and most important step is seemingly simple: observe yourself. Start noticing your reactions. Not your thoughts (unless you’ve got endless time to spare). Thoughts will not tell you as much as your reactions, feelings and emotions.

✔️ Why do I feel this way?
✔️ Where is this reaction coming from?
✔️ Is this really about what’s happening right now?

This is the shift from autopilot to awareness. This way we begin to see that many of our responses were built long ago – often in childhood, often unconsciously – and we’ve been running them like default programmes ever since.

BREAK THE PATTERN. RECLAIM YOUR POWER.
As children, we learned how to navigate life by observing others. We absorbed their beliefs, fears, rules – thinking that was “the way it is.” But many of those beliefs are outdated, false or simply not ours. Resilience starts with going back and asking: Is this true for me? Or was it given to me by someone else – maybe even someone I love and with the purest intentions at heart?

It takes courage to do this. It means confronting inherited stories like: “Life is hard.” “I’m not enough.” “I can’t handle failure.” and many others – we all have several of our own upon the sleeve.

So, how to rewrite them?

Recognize what’s not yours (a story that is keeping you from living fully).
Replace it with what’s true for you.
Repeat with as many stories as needed.
Congratulations! You’re free!

IT'S NOT EASY – BUT IT'S WORTH IT
Let’s be real: this isn’t a five-minute fix. It’s not a “hack” or a clever life trick. It’s deep work. It takes consistency, honesty to yourself and a willingness to sit with discomfort instead of avoiding it. But once you start, something incredible happens. Life no longer feels like a series of threats to brace against. You stop hiding from pain and start meeting it with strength and curiosity. You don’t become immune to stress – you become responsive, rather than reactive. That changes everything.

You become someone who can:

✔️ Breathe through uncertainty without losing centre.
✔️ Pause in the face of conflict and choose your next move.
✔️ Stay open and kind, even when things get hard.
✔️ Experience joy without fear of it being taken away.

And as you grow, the world around you begins to feel less chaotic. Not because it’s changing – but because you are.

FINAL THOUGHT: THE FUTURE NEEDS YOU
If you’re up to it, you wouldn’t be just building resilience for yourself. You’re doing it for everyone around you – for your loved ones, your community. A resilient person doesn’t just survive – they inspire and are able to help others, because they have done the homework of sorting out their inner mess and building the muscle of remaining reliable during a storm. They hold space when others panic. They create calm when others crumble. They spread clarity, not fear. And right now, the world needs more of that.

So, if you’re ready to step into a different way of living – one that feels more grounded, conscious and open – it starts with one small, brave decision: starting to ask yourself all sorts of WHY questions about your feelings and reactions.

And if this speaks to something inside you – if you feel the pull to explore this more deeply – you’re not alone. There’s a growing wave of people who are choosing awareness over autopilot, peace over panic and growth over fear. I have called it THE RESILIENT SOCIETY CLUB. We’re just starting; therefore, it’s just some people there at this point, but it’s opening up when there are more knockers behind that door. You can sign up here.

NB! Remember always – you are capable of way, way more than you think.

I hope this helps! ❤

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The way you communicate tells personal things about you that you, probably, didn't want people to know

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 17:06:00 +0000

Photo: Lauma Kalniņa

Research shows that non-verbal communication and subtle cues can reveal much more about a person than they might consciously intend. It goes for both positive and negative communication, but the picture that negative communication paints about you is the most astonishing to watch. However, it’s not all pleasure. If you’re dumping your dirt on someone emotionally intelligent, that person might feel secondary shame – that’s the feeling of embarrassment or discomfort that arise when witnessing or learning about someone else’s shameful or humiliating experiences. It better not be you, because it’s painful to watch.

In short, all of you that are raining on someone’s parade, should presume that you have been exposed. It’s like in that tale by Hans Christian Andersen with a king parading through the city in his underwear.

How? What? HOW?!

Spending decades in analysing my own feelings and emotions in the context of in-person interaction, and continuing with analysing the cues by others, has resulted in so much accumulated knowledge that could fill an entire book. I’m not writing another book at this moment, just laying it all out there for grabbing.

You might have heard the phrase that only people that are hurting inside are capable of hurting others. That is true to some extent. However, if we consider all negative communication as hurting, then the truth is lying beneath the many onion peals. Negative in-person communication is any interaction that makes either of the participants feel unpleasant. Sometimes it's just a basic power move. At times, also blunt objective truth and facts can be unpleasant to some people and make them upset, but here we’re covering real negativity; the sensitive souls that are taking themselves too seriously are topic for another time.

There are 2 reasons a person is upsetting someone in in-person interaction.
It’s either the lack of basic manners, politeness and respect.
Or it’s discomfort caused by pain (I'm beting on unresolved emotional pain).
Usually, it’s both.

The method of ruling with an iron fist and making others feel lower is in decline. As it should be, since it’s not making your team better and is not good for business results in a long run. It only puts YOU in a BAD LIGHT.

Being a negative cloud in the team, diminishing others and spreading negative and degrading gossip about someone are not a sign of a power position. Those are signs of insecurities and a pile of unresolved personal clutter.

Let’s uncover both of the above.

Manners and respect

Being polite and kind always, and I mean ALWAYS, will take you further and higher in the long term. How about respect? Too often I get to hear the absurd phrase of “How could I possibly respect that person after doing the thing X!”

Oh, grow up!

And I don’t mean “Be a bigger person.” No, I’m all against shutting down feelings and emotions. It’s like trying to close a volcano – there’s no point in doing that. In turn, why not turning it into a wealthy life for yourself. That’s a metaphor for gaining more from forgiveness than from the damaging power of hatred.

To respect ANY person you must look beyond the unrespectable action that person might have taken. For your own sake, stop identifying people with the things they have done in their life. At least in terms of robbing yourself of the upgrade of your personal interface which you get upon the complete realization of that.

A person being the same species as we all are, is all you need to respect a human being. You might not like actions, inaction or decisions of that person or you might even not like that person per se, but you should still be able to respect that person for being one of your kind.

Let that sink in, and then let’s uncover the second reason on the list.

Settle your internal mess

There was a time when I wanted to hear the thoughts of other people. Thankfully, I’m still not able to do that. Now I see through people in the way they communicate, and this power ranks million times higher than hearing what people think (which, I presume, is mostly predictable and would decrease my sympathy for some of them). At least for me it does.

I have a sense which tells me the pain that the negative person is holding within – the reason behind a negative expression towards someone. It’s never pleasant. Seeing it, somewhat hurts me too. Worse than presuming that your garbage is invisible is actually being blind to your internal mental mess. That’s sad, if not tragic.

There are three ways forward.

1. Ignore and proceed as you’ve done up to this point.

2. Pay thousands of euros for psychotherapy (highly recommended and potentially the most effective method for some).

3. Start communicating with yourself.

The third one is my favourite, since I always prefer the most efficient solution for everything. It doesn’t imply talking to yourself aloud when walking along the street. It means asking yourself the hard questions you’ve been avoiding for too long, then – listening to yourself for answers, and then – being honest to yourself and acting on the answers you get from yourself. This will upgrade your life on so many levels. In fact, probably, on ALL levels.

Action steps

So, how to do that? Firstly, you become aware. Notice how you’re coming about to other people – listen to how you sound. Imagine how could you possibly sound to other people. Observe the person you’re talking to – it will give you clues. Do this when talking to an actual person, not in solitude. Be present and observe yourself. See what’s happening, how your next sentence comes about and what are the instant implications of it.

Once you’re alone, reflect on that. Why did I did/said/sound like that? The instant answer might be “Because that other person is an idiot!” Well… dig deeper.

Firstly, check for being unsatisfied with something either at work or in life in general. It can be big or small. Or check for your insecurities. It can be related to the person or the topic or it can be something totally different.

Once you pinpoint the underlying reason, ask yourself why exactly does it make you feel that way? And then – what should I do to change it into my preferred circumstances? From where I am to where I want to be.

Follow the steps every time, and your personal interface will get upgraded to unprecedented levels.

For additional motivation, note that this magical power of seeing through you is more common than you think. I personally know several people living with this gift or curse – it depends on the way we see things. And the numbers are growing.

You were supposed to deal with the metaphorical emotional garbage you’ve been sweeping under the rug for years at some point. This is as good of a moment as any. I know I would prefer getting all that sorted before it rains down on everyone in my circle uncovering things about me I would never ever, ever, ever want to be uncovered. Once they’re sorted, you’re free!

What’s Trending in Branding?

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 18:47:00 +0000

In two-word short – it’s personalised communication.

In branding, personalised communication goes far beyond addressing customers by name – it’s all about crafting a distinct brand language that speaks directly to the emotional and intellectual nuances of your audience. It means creating messages that resonate on a deeper level, balancing authenticity with emotional intelligence to grow trust and loyalty. This strategy isn’t just a trend; it’s becoming a necessity, with 86% of consumers saying authenticity is a key factor when choosing which brands they support (Stackla, 2021). Even more so, since customers are getting tired of most brands sounding like one another.

Does your brand also sound (written and spoken) like every other brand? If you’re serious about this all business game you’re in, you should find a way to SOUND just and only LIKE YOUR BRAND.

A well-developed brand language is foundational for effective personalised communication. It’s not about what a brand says, but HOW it says it. Words must be chosen not only for their literal meaning but for the emotional resonance they carry. For instance, how a luxury brand like Chanel uses restrained, elegant language to evoke exclusivity is vastly different from how a brand like Airbnb employs a friendly, approachable tone to foster community. Crafting this verbal identity requires sensitivity to cultural context, emotional tone and customer sentiment – a skill set rooted in emotional intelligence (EI).

EI plays a critical role in shaping a brand’s verbal communication. It’s about the ability to “read the room” and adapt the tone and style of messaging in real-time. Brands that communicate with high EI show empathy, understanding and the ability to sense unspoken emotions. According to a study by TalentSmart, 90% of top performers in business demonstrate high emotional intelligence, and this principle applies to branding too. A brand that can capture customer’s sentiment and respond with emotional acuity – be it through customer service interactions, social media responses or marketing campaigns – creates a stronger emotional bond with its audience.

The science of neuromarketing further illustrates the power of verbal cues in branding. Research shows that the right words can trigger emotional responses in the brain, influencing decision-making. For example, using words associated with warmth, trust and comfort can activate the brain’s reward centres, fostering a positive association with the brand. A study by Harvard Business Review found that emotionally connected customers have a 52% higher lifetime value than those who are merely satisfied, underscoring the financial impact of emotionally intelligent verbal communication.

Verbal expression also extends to sensing the subtle nuances of timing, tone and cultural sensitivity in brand messaging. A misstep in brand language, even if minor, can cause significant reputational damage in today’s hyper-connected world. In 2020, 83% of millennials reported that they want brands to align with their values, including how they speak on social issues (5WPR 2020 Consumer Culture Report). This requires an acute understanding of not just what to say, but how to say it in a way that resonates authentically with specific audiences.

Personalising verbal communication can take many forms. From micro-segmentation of audiences, where different tones and linguistic styles are used for various subgroups, to conversational marketing strategies that rely on natural language processing tools. Such tools are technologies that enable computers to understand, interpret and generate human language in a way that is both meaningful and useful. They allow brands to automate real-time, human-like conversations through chatbots while still maintaining the nuance of tone, context and empathy. Data shows that 80% of companies already use or plan to adopt some form of chatbot by 2025 (Salesforce), making this a crucial frontier for personalising verbal brand language.

Brands that excel in personalised verbal communication use a combination of data analytics and emotional insight to refine their messaging continually. Through real-time feedback loops, sentiment analysis and social listening tools, brands can adjust their language to better connect with their audience. For example, Nike’s “Dream Crazier” campaign used inclusive, empowering language that resonated deeply with female athletes, further cementing its emotional connection with a core demographic.

Lastly, measuring the impact of personalised verbal communication goes beyond click-through rates or sales metrics. It involves analysing customer sentiment, brand perception and emotional engagement. The most effective brands continually refine their verbal identity to ensure it remains aligned.

How would get personalised verbal communication for your brand?
STEP ONE – auditing your brand’s communication to know where it stands.
STEP TWO – knowing what kind of people you want for your audience.
STEP THREE – creating a proper brand personality for that.
STEP FOUR – detailing out the principles of verbal communication for your brand to put that personality into action – making it alive.

You can do all of that yourself HERE or get help with it HERE.

#communication #business #brandlanguage #branding

How Being Kind Can Sky-rocket Your Career

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 18:08:00 +0000

If you prefer video content over reading, click here for a YouTube video.

Today's topic of kindness might seem strange at first in terms of your career, but you’ll see that it totally makes sense.

Being kind basically means being respectful. Kindness is respect in action, which is tested in any interaction and communication when we’re in stress, hurry, pain or other uncomfortable state. Being kind is not just good for others but also for your own success. So, find a way to be kind even if you think you’re selfish. But I’m sure you’re not. At least not too much…

Anyway, have you ever wondered why some of the most successful people are known for their kindness? It's not a coincidence! Kindness has the power to transform not only your relationships but also your personal and professional life. So, let's see why does your success depend on it. I have five reasons here.

#1 Building strong connections
Kindness is good in general, but one of the main benefits of kindness is its ability to build strong connections. When you genuinely care about others and show kindness, you create a network of support and collaboration. People are naturally drawn to those who are kind and empathetic.
Making it easier to establish meaningful relationships.

These connections can open doors to opportunities, mentorships, collaborations, job opportunities, investments… you name it! And, obviously, that leads to your success.

I know that for some people it’s not that easy being kind to others. Especially, to annoying and bad people. But there is a shortcut for that too and I have a separate video on that.
For now, let’s stick to the idea that kindness is respect in action. And every single person deserves to be treated with respect. We’re quick to judge and condemn, but switching to the perspective of love and respect takes YOU much higher. So, think again.

# 2 Improving reputation
Kindness can improve your reputation and your personal brand. When you’re consistently kind, people see you as trustworthy, reliable, and approachable. And I don’t mean that slimy yes man. No. I mean the one who sees everyone as deserving respect.
This positive reputation attracts opportunities. Because – at work environment and in business – what people are getting a raise? That’s right. Those with a positive image.

Authenticity trumps everything, sure. But if your being authentic goes together with being kind, then you have a winning ticket. Faking it will not take you too far. Smart and sensitive people can see through fake kindness easily. So don’t risk it.
Besides, you’re building that image not just for now – it’s for the rest of your life. People from our past tend to come up from time to time. If your name stirs up pleasant emotions, you’re most likely to get more attractive offers coming in from different sides.

# 3 Creating efficient work environment
Number three. Kindness has a ripple effect that goes beyond just personal interactions. In the workplace, being kind can change the entire environment and help smooth out most of misunderstandings which can be costly at work. By creating a culture of kindness, you’re building to a positive and supportive atmosphere in your team. This boosts morale, increases productivity, and improves teamwork. What’s in it for you? Besides pleasant working conditions, by creating such environment you’re showing that you know how to make your team more satisfied, more efficient and how to get them reach better results. Which ranks high in the eyes of your superiors.

# 4 Validating your emotional intelligence
If you are kind and respectful to others in ANY interaction whatever the circumstances, you’re showing that you have an unshakeable, positive and intelligent personality. This way your daily actions are the best proof that you are ready for more responsibilities, higher job positions, and better business deals.

Basically, if you’re stable with this, it sends a signal that you’re emotionally intelligent which beats IQ nowadays. Emotionally intelligent people make way better leaders and are more likely to steer the company towards smart decision. Such leaders will rule the world in the coming decades. The good news is that you can develop that skill and be one of them. Being kind and respectful to everyone – literally everyone – is the very basics for that.

So, let's recap. By being genuinely kind, you build strong connections, improve your reputation, create a positive work environment, and validate your emotional intelligence. Remember – kindness is not a weakness; it's a strength that has way more benefits than being that angry villain. If still in doubt – read this article again until it’s under your skin.

#communication #business #humanskills #emotionalintelligence

How Much Misunderstandings Cost in Business Communication?

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 11:12:00 +0000

By Anita Eglīte, Brand Communication Strategist

Effective communication is the backbone of any successful businesses. Also, misunderstandings in communication have significant financial implications on any company. This blog post contains some alarming statistics surrounding communication breakdowns and explore the detrimental impacts of misunderstandings in a business setting. Additionally, we provide actionable strategies for business leaders to mitigate misunderstandings and enhance communication effectiveness.

Financial Toll of Misunderstandings
Last year’s report by Grammarly and The Harris Poll shed light on the staggering financial losses incurred by organisations due to inadequate communication offering an estimate of an issue we are not used to viewing from the perspective of lost money. That report shook the community, with business leaders estimating their teams lose an average of 7.47 hours per week to poor communication. This lost time comes for US businesses up to $1.2 trillion a year, or $12,506 annually per employee in lost productivity.

Recently, it issued the new report, and this year’s data show that these communication issues persist. Sadly, no surprise there, since we all see how communication is going all around us; at work or elsewhere. Organisations are communicating more, but the quality and effectiveness of that communication are decreasing.

Another report by Axios HQ indicates that leaders and employees are way too often on a different page. It seems like everyone is eager to make his or her view on things, but not to listen. Really listen… Naturally, they’re looking from different perspectives. But that’s not enough of a reason not to move past that.

Axios HQ is looking at rather more sophisticated questions such as “What is the most crucial update a team needs to be in alignment?” Most leaders think it’s culture, values and announcement of new hires, while employees think it’s operational changes such as process and task updates and organisational goals, meaning, company’s plans and initiatives. Yet, to diagnose a communication problem one doesn’t need to look that far. Daily communication with ambiguous comments, unclear tasks, hints or even an equivocal look, grin or a smile is an everyday occurrence in too many teams.

On most occasions, personal misunderstandings don’t cause immediate loss to business, but should always be noted and solved when reoccurring – because in the long-term interpersonal misunderstandings can pose a more serious danger than a misunderstood deadline. Either way, one thing is clear – with internal and inter-personal communication going poorly, nearly all performance metrics drop.

The above figures mean that businesses have a tendency to spend more time and effort on a core function while not closing the hole that is draining their finances.

Face of the Misunderstanding
Despite the universally acknowledged importance of effective communication, surveys consistently indicate that employees exhibit deficient communication skills. That is a sad news since effective communication remains one of the most essential skills in business but also since poor – or insufficiently thought-through – communication can cause a lot of unnecessary and, on most part, easily avoidable misunderstandings.

Miscommunication can arise by falling out of the daily peer-to-peer interaction or by sending an e-mail with no question that would call for a reply. Yet, the above estimates refer, on most part, to those of a much greater scale such as only at the end phase of a several-months-long project a co-worker realising that the overall objectives of the project are slightly different and have been misunderstood. Or even worse, if an entire team turns out to be misguided.

However, there is no one guilty party. Managers of all levels also have their share of accountability. The most typical negative consequences for any type of business are seven, however, the below list is not exhaustive and relate to both – co-workers and managers.

Damaging Effects of Misunderstandings

Missed deadlines: Misunderstandings can lead to project delays (and potential financial losses).
Lack of clarity: Ambiguous instructions and the lack of context or purpose can cause confusion among team members, resulting in errors and the need for rework.
Increased costs: Costs increase due to wasted resources, inefficient processes and the required corrective measures.
Decreased productivity: Communication breakdowns challenge collaboration, decision-making and overall productivity, hindering the organisation’s ability to achieve its goals.
Damaged brand credibility: Negative impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty and brand reputation, potentially resulting in customer discontent and financial losses.
Workplace stress: Often and reoccurring misunderstandings in communication create a stressful work environment affecting well-being and motivation of employees.
Decreased job satisfaction: Poor communication leads to decreased job satisfaction, as employees feel disconnected, undervalued and unable to perform at their full potential.

Strategies for Mitigation

Enhance communication skills: Invest in regular training sessions and workshops to improve communication skills among employees and managers at all levels. Make sure active listening, effective feedback and clarity in both written and oral communication is a live reality throughout the organisation on all levels and in all directions of flow of information.
Foster a culture of open communication: Encourage open dialogue, transparency and respect within the organisation. Establish platforms and channels for team members to express their ideas, concerns and feedback freely. Provide them a safe space in terms of internal communication. Encourage people on your team to speak up and clarify uncertainties as many times as necessary without intimidation and judgement.
TIP! Incorporate this in in your internal communication guidelines. This will make it super clear for your entire team what are you looking to attain and how they can make it happen.
Leverage technology: Embrace communication tools and platforms that facilitate efficient and transparent information exchange, particularly in remote work scenarios.
Promote constructive feedback: Create an environment where feedback is welcomed and valued. Encourage employees to provide it on communication processes and identify areas for improvement. Evaluate if your company needs a system for feedback since the effect of passer’s-by feedback might last longer and sink deeper in some settings. Make sure the necessity for feedback is explained on all levels of and directions within an organisation.
Lead by example: Business leaders must exemplify strong communication skills, serving as role models for effective communication practices. By consistently displaying clarity, active listening and empathy, leaders can set the tone for improved communication across the organisation. For that leaders need to have a clear idea on the image of the company that they want to portray. You can extend your read on that here.

Misunderstandings in business communication come at a significant cost, both financially and operationally. By acknowledging the impacts of those, organisations can take proactive steps to mitigate them.

Investing in effective communication not only helps businesses overcome challenges but also drives growth, enhances customer satisfaction, boosts employee morale, fortifies the organisation’s reputation and ensures long-term success. By prioritizing clear and effective communication, businesses can position themselves as leaders in their industries, unlock new opportunities and achieve their goals faster.

What’s your account balance for misunderstandings in your team?

I hope this helps! ❤

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Come back here for more, follow @Anita_Brand_Communication on Instagram or follow BLUE CAT EDIT in the top social media platforms.

How to Know if Your Company’s Communication is Good or Bad

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 18:40:00 +0000

By Anita Eglīte, Brand Communication Strategist

Excluding the cases of obviously bad and improper ways of expression, in the business environment communication itself mostly is neither good, nor bad. It is the matter of whether it is good or bad for your company. If it is effective. If it does its job for you. Meaning – is it working for you or against you. Another question to ask yourself – is the way your company communicates good enough.

Here are 4 questions for self-diagnosing your company’s communication.

Question #1
Does your company have a set of verbal communication principles, guidelines, do’s and don’ts, or “red lines” for your team to follow?

Good for you if you have those – you have a smoothly paved road ahead of you. If you don’t have those just yet, then your communication probably is not as good as it could be for the sake of your: employees, partners, customers, profit.

Having a set of principles on what kind of interaction is and is not acceptable specifically for your company will structure this aspect of your business once and for all. For the sake of illustrating the significance of this, I like to draw a simple example on the way ordinary person’s brain functions.

Do you know that feeling when you catch yourself overwhelmed and your head is spinning because of all the tasks, meetings, enquiries, family issues etc. that you have to deal with today, this week, or this month? Those seem excessive, overbearing and cause additional stress when you’re trying not to forget any of those. Thankfully, there is this simple method of writing all these points down, and it works like magic. You can write those on a post-it note, in a digital or paper notebook, or add to the calendar on your phone. Choose your preference – just get those things on there and out or your mind.

After writing these things down some may realize that, in fact, it’s not that many, and it puts you at ease. This relief reduces your stress level, frees up space in your mind, makes you more focused. As a result of all that you can function more efficiently and get more things done.

Writing down and structuring ground principles for company’s communication works pretty much the same. The main difference is that it affects the motivation, wellbeing, and output of every single member of your team. To realize the magnitude of this – recall that feeling of relief we just discussed… Now multiply that feeling by the number of your company’s employees and you should get the idea of the importance of this matter.

Question #2
Does the superior management have a clear vision on the image of the company that they want to portray?

Presumably, there is one or two people that are guiding your company and that have a clear idea of its desirable image in the world. Having such clear image makes it easy to answer such questions as

What is its purpose?
Why does the world need it?
If it was a person – what kind of person would it be?

Fixing, organizing, and perfecting any company’s communication is only possible if the superior management has such image in their head and is able to express it in actual words. Few CEOs have it on the spot, as far as I’ve seen. Yet, it’s quite simple to get it out of them – it is a matter of asking them the right questions. They might have it as a feeling, not an image or exact words. Yet, it’s the very foundation of building company’s public image.

But how to transfer this feeling to your employees so that all of you would be on the same page? You need the right – precise and unambiguous – words for that. And explanation, for those words to mean the same thing to everyone.

A four-fold question #3

Does every single person in your team know:
– the purpose of this company that they can relate to,
– the impact their work has on the world/people/global or local processes,
– if their personal values agree with the values of the company,
– what image precisely do they have to make of your company and how to do it?

This deals entirely with the internal communication. But the thing is – through your team all this translates into the impression of your company.

Moreover, don’t underestimate the motivation of your team and the reason they wake up and go to work even on the days they wish they wouldn’t have to. Sure, you give them a chance to lead a decent life for the remainder of their time, or the feeling of being cared for, or even some bonusses.

But other companies can give that too, in one form or another.
Give them PURPOSE. Not instead, but on top of it.

What does it have to do with the communication you may ask? Everything! Giving team a clear focus of what your company is, where is it going and what’s their part in that – is the foundation of company’s proper internal communication. So to say – before giving your employees a uniform and tools, get their mindset right, first.

Question #4
Does everyone representing your company leave THE SAME image of your company to the outside world – partners, customers, and prospects?

Whatever the method of interaction – a one-to-one meeting, an exchange of e-mails (the initial e-mail AND the following correspondence) or a post on your company’s social media platform – the overall impression should always be the same.

Don’t fall into the trap of being super kind, friendly and open on your website and turning into something completely different when actually facing your customers. That can have disastrous effect on your company’s image and future sales.

How to get it right every time and for each member of your team? Well… I imagine you know the answer by now – by having verbal communication guidelines or a set of communication principles detailed specifically for your company. It’s like your company’s bible – the foundation of your company’s culture, values, and direction guiding all members of your team.

There are layers of this, and I always recommend going all the way. Yet reaching the final destination starts with the first steps. Even you thinking about this aspect of your business, analysing and looking for ways to improve is a huge step.

Catch up on my other articles, since I have a basket full of ideas on how to move forward and make great turns for your company that you can start doing by yourself.

I hope this helps! ❤

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Are you managing a company; are you the owner, strategic manager, HR manager, or a communication specialist?
Then you are my audience. I need your hand for raising the level of quality of communication in companies. Together we can accomplish so much more.

Come back here for more, follow @Anita_Brand_Communication on Instagram or follow BLUE CAT EDIT in the top social media platforms.

New Trend: Make Your Business Personal (in the Sense of Communication)

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 18:39:00 +0000

By Anita Eglīte @BlueCatEdit

There was a time when designing a company logo seemed useless, when websites seemed a short-term trend that will blow over, and a company’s colour palette – a minor detail. We are now witnessing another shift for representation of a business – it is given a personality.

The audience is changing. Always and endlessly. So are the habits, social norms, and the way we perceive things. The new generation of currently active consumers is used to a saturated market, overwhelming offerings, and abundance of everything. Against a previous belief that this will be the most impersonal and anti-social generation of consumers, we see that they might be, in fact, the ones making this world more humane and personal.

Besides high tolerance towards the different and a deep-rooted care for the nature, they also have a distinct way of choosing companies they buy from.

This is the most educated audience there has ever been. They know so much! Moreover, they can sense things that are not obvious, read between the lines, guess the implied attitude, and feel the honesty and depth behind a brand. If put in front of a similar choice, the new generation consumers will often opt for the brand with shared values, high standards on sustainability and a personality that resonates with their own.

This is not a beast your company should fear and avoid. This is the one you adapt to. From the angle of communication this means the end of an era of brands who are soulless legal entities. Companies already have a face (logo and colours) and brains (employees). Now they will have a personality, too.

It is great news for us all, although it is hard to predict, where this will take us. I can only imagine that this will open a door to an amazing, colourful, diverse corporate world. Just like the social transformation we have already gone through in the global history. If the best option is to BE YOURSELF, and preferably – stand out from the crowd, we might see a lot more of authenticity and daring to be different also in the corporate world.

What Does It Mean to Give Your Business a Personality?

It means making an image or portrait of your company (like that of a person) that your team and your audience can associate, resonate and build relationship with.

The right place to start is for the owner or CEO to decide what vibe do they what this company to have, what image should it create and what kind of relationship should it build with its audience. If you have a brand book and you had an attentive expert making it for you, you should have at least a general idea of who your company is or who you want it to be.

For smaller companies it is common that the personality of the company is the same as the owner’s, founder’s personality. Or even this person’s wannabe personality. That is a good place to start. You should take your time to outline the desirable personality as precisely as possible. And write it down using actual words – the image you have in your head or the feeling you have in your gut is not enough.

Just imagine – if your company was a person, what kind of person would it be? How would this person look? Talk? Dress? Behave? What songs would be on this person’s playlist? And so on, and so forth.

Why Should You Put It on Paper?

Detailing this part of your business means being strategical. It ensures a continuance. New employees will join your team, many will leave. Telling your story in such a detail takes a lot of time; it is inefficient and there is a good chance that important facts might be left out.

Having it written down in clear, easily understandable words and making your people read it will ensure that every person representing your company is on the same page as you – exactly where you want them to be. An actual document (or even a video) containing words is the best way to transfer a message with the least room for interpretation. This is one of the basic onboarding materials and one of the first filters for potential team members.

Having a detail outline of your company’s personality together with other communication principles and guidelines, is a framework for a high-quality communication for your company. Moreover, those give your team and your external agents a focus and – in its turn – a shortcut to a desired result for you.

How Does It Happen?

There is hardly anything you cannot do yourself nowadays if you have an internet connection and the right way of thinking. Yet, to do this properly and comprehensively, you need an analytically and strategically thinking copywriter and an expert in brand representation.

The process might differ depending on an agency. Some of our clients describe it as a psychotherapy session for their company since it involves a lot of thinking, talking, listening, and contemplation.

The first step is knowing where you stand. For that you ask your team, partners, or even your audience to describe your company if it was a person. Analyse the answers and draw conclusions. This should give you an idea of the size of your battlefield.

Besides the outline of your company’s personality, you should describe also your company values, culture and specific brand’s language and tone of voice. Basically, everything related to internal as well as external communication.

The secret ingredient for this all to work, bring your communication to the next level of quality and bring monetary value to your business is devotion in ALL levels of the company. From owners and superior management to freelancers and external partners. This can only work if implemented strategically and holistically. And if induced in the everyday life of your people.

Although, the idea of a personality for a company might seem some kind of voodoo nonsense for the more conservative and traditional type of entrepreneurs, numbers speak for themselves – brands with a defined personality (or even a soul, if you can handle such a powerful word) own the key to a chest of hidden treasure. It is waiting for you. It’s all yours. Tell me when you’re ready for it, and I will lead the way.

I hope this helps! ❤

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Come back here for more, follow @Anita_Brand_Communication on Instagram (sorry, Latvian only) or follow BLUE CAT EDIT in the top social media platforms..

NB! This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Contact me directly for the details.