The Story Behind the Trump Style

Frequently, what Donald Trump chooses to say aloud and write in text format invites listeners and readers to respond with intensity. Whenever Trump’s words are charged with his own feelings versus being merely neutral (as in ceremonial events), his choice of words and the words, themselves, compel listeners or readers to respond in a vigorous way. Communication style is a separate issue from any and all considerations of partisan political opinions, ideologies, or strategies and tactics. 

One of the very earliest examples of Trump’s game-changing communication style comes from 2015. He expressed his personal feelings that Mexico is “sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and they’re rapists.” He was setting the context for his campaign promise to “build a wall” along the international border separating Mexico from the United States. Not surprisingly, the Trump words aimed at Mexicans brought on angry listener/reader responses.

Then, in 2016 Trump’s words and on-camera behaviors throwing his arms out as if to mock a disabled man’s actions together brought on additional angry listener/reader responses. Trump later claimed he did not intend to offend.

At another time in 2016 Trump’s voice recorded during an Access Hollywood segment clearly revealed his vulgar remarks of a highly sexual nature about the married woman who was co-anchor at the time on the entertainment news show. This, too, led to angry listener/reader responses. Trump later tried to claim that was someone else’s voice on the recording.

Again in 2016, Trump said this to a campaign rally in Iowa as proof of his loyal base of supporters: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

As Trump is about to complete three full years as the 45th president, he faces impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. Trump ultimately was impeached twice by the House of Representatives–unprecedented in U.S. history.

People who value Trump seem to feel the need to keep supporting the man they first voted for in 2016. I’ve heard people tell me in person out in the real world and I have seen posts on Facebook that say essentially the same thing: Trump’s verbal and text communications are acceptable because he took office promising to disrupt what had happened before him in Washington, DC. In other words, there is a belief held by some people that with Trump, the end justifies the means. People who want a president who will deliver on his campaign promises to “drain the swamp” in Washington, DC (the symbolic way for Trump to say he would be a disruptor) are the same exact people who are the most likely to not take issue with his use of vulgar and disparaging words.

I disagree very strongly with anyone who claims Trump’s verbal and text communications are acceptable today. There are many possible ways for a president to choose to communicate without having to use either vulgarity or disparagements.

I recommend a deep (not superficial) view of Trump’s communication style and historical texts that can be is compared with other historical contexts and presidential documents. I believe those who find Trump’s verbal and text communications to be acceptable are displaying a clear-cut self-imposed blindness. In other words, their response to accept Trump’s verbal and text communications as acceptable blinds them from seeing the vulgarity and disparaging communications Trump is actually using in the real world.

Indeed, it is true that Trump has fulfilled a particular campaign promise to disrupt what came before he was inaugurated as the 45th president in January 2017. He has disrupted rather spectacularly since then.  

However, it is one thing for people to have voted for Trump because of their sincere wishing or hoping he would disrupt what had come before in Washington, DC. That makes sense. For a variety of legitimate reasons, many people (tens or millions of them) were frustrated and angry heading into the voting booths for the November 2016 presidential election.

It’s an entirely separate concern that anyone would accept Trump’s frequent choice of words to include vulgarities and disparagements even in the service of the disruption he promised consistently while campaigning. The question is worth asking: Is Trump’s delivering on the disruption promise intended to be an ongoing series of events over an indefinite time period? How do parents explain to their children the grownup traits of the 45th president whose vulgarities and disparagements can and do show up uncensored on television?

To say the very least, the overall communications strategy or set of communications tactics shown by Trump can rightfully be called unprecedented in U.S. history. This is especially clear if you compare the Trump presidency (2017 to 2021) to previous presidencies. Even the untrained eye will readily see how Trump is not like other presidents.

Choosing to be unprecedented  aligns very smoothly with Trump’s goal of ongoing disruption. Yet, looking back at other presidencies can reveal what we might call the models and the rules applicable to the person who holds the highest elected office in our country. Even if we limit our looking back at the presidencies of men who are no longer living, those models and rules stand out vividly and undeniably.

Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 and lived 56 years before he was shot and killed in Washington, DC after serving 1,503 days as president. We don’t often think about this, but anyone who wants to understand how Lincoln communicated his thoughts, feelings, and opinions to other people starts off with a major disadvantage. Nobody alive today ever heard this man’s voice. During Lincoln’s lifetime the technology to enable sound recordings did not exist. Cameras that could capture sound and movement also were not yet invented. Preserving Lincoln’s communications back in his day required careful use of human hands. For example, Lincoln, himself, had to write down his own words using ink upon paper because there were yet no typewriters. Everyone else in Lincoln’s time who attempted to preserve what he said needed to use the slow and deliberate process of handwriting using ink upon paper. Despite all these obvious limitations, Lincoln’s skills in communication as president came through brilliantly and with clarity. If one wanted to apply the word “genius” to only one president because of his communications, that honor certainly would belong to Lincoln.

Reagan

Ronald Reagan was born in 1911 and served two terms (2,922 days) as president. After retiring from public life Reagan endured 10 years of Alzheimer’s disease before he died at the age of 93. Reagan emerged as “The Great Communicator.” His sharply focused communication skills first as California governor for 8 years then as president for 8 years can be traced back to his career on camera as a Hollywood motion picture and television actor.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt (1858 to 1919) took office in 1901 when President William McKinley was shot and killed in Buffalo, NY. Roosevelt served 2,728 days as president. He earned a strong reputation as a direct, if not aggressive, communicator. The word “cowboy” appropriately might be a shorthand way to describe his presidential communication output.

FDR

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 to 1945), a distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, served as president for 4,422 days, which was before the current two-term limit. FDR probably is best remembered for his historic “day of infamy” speech to Congress in 1941 after Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii plunging the U.S. into World War II. However, his years of masterful presidential speeches with high emotional value combined with his personable verbal delivery during “fireside chats” on national radio networks distinguishes FDR the most from all other presidents.

JFK

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 to 1962) served only 1,036 days as president before he was shot and killed in Dallas. Kennedy’s disarmingly grace and savvy appearance in person and on television along with his seemingly effortless verbal communication skills set him apart from all other presidents.

Those who accept Trump’s vulgar or disparaging communications should take time to look into the past at the communication skills (not the partisan political affiliations or ideologies) of just these five deceased presidents. Don’t be afraid of what you might find if you look to yesterday for possible answers for today.

If you’re able to find examples from the official records of the deceased presidents showing the use of vulgar language while speaking from the podium of the presidency in a public gathering, please post what you find in the comments section below.

If you can locate disparaging remarks spoken or written by any of the deceased presidents that were aimed at specific nations, cities, regions, or particular groups of people, I ask you to share those with us all here online.

If you come across any spoken or written communications from the records of the deceased presidents that demean women indirectly or directly by referring to their anatomy, emotional state, or physical appearance, I hope you’ll copy and paste that here for everyone to see.

Trump supporters who choose to accept his vulgarity and disparagements in verbal and text communications can choose to keep pretending they don’t perceive what’s really going on. They deliberately choose not to perceive vulgarities and disparagements as a precondition for their support for Trump. The available and dependable antidote to choosing not to perceive vulgarities and disparagements from Trump is to look into past presidencies, notably deceased presidents. See what you can discover there as what reasonable people might call the models and the rules for people who govern this great nation of ours from the White House.     

When Words Saved Indianapolis

There once was a time not so long ago when words spoken from a man’s heart delivered true impact upon humanity. No, this is not about some long-dead Greeks from ancient times that you have forgotten by now if you ever learned of any of them in the first place. This is about what happened in a big city half a century ago in the United States of America in our extremely violent culture.

It was half a century ago when a young candidate was enthusiastically seeking to be elected that November to the office of President of the United States. He never made it.

Robert Francis Kennedy lived but 42 years, yet his impact for “mere” spoken words puts him in the rarified company of significant ancient and contemporary leaders. Why is this so?

Many people feel a palpable fear of speaking in public. This is precisely why I often cite a little-known event in 1968 where RFK spoke as a direct way to help my coaching clients understand that, yes, there are correct ways to speak in public. RFK spoke to a crowd in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, yet most people never were taught about this in their American history classes.

So, let me try to make up for those weak American history teachers everywhere who failed to teach their students about this important event. RFK had a previously-scheduled campaign speech on his calendar for the evening of Thursday, April 4, 1968 in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Indianapolis. His original purpose for speaking that evening was to solicit votes in the next day’s Indiana Primary.

His arrival in Indiana plunged RFK deeply into history. He landed at Indianapolis airport within an hour or so of the Memphis, Tennessee assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the most visible spokesperson and leader of the civil rights movement of the 20th century. RFK knew that he could not simply walk into that predominantly African American neighborhood in Indianapolis and ask people to vote for him the next day.

Instead of his prepared campaign speech, RFK spoke for only about five minutes without visibly relying upon any notes. He shocked the crowd by expressing to them very bluntly that King was shot dead and there was evidence that white people were responsible. He also directly said he understood how that crowd in Indianapolis could respond with bitterness, hatred, and a desire for revenge.

Even more shocking was that RFK in Indianapolis spoke for the very first time spoke about his deep feelings following the shooting death five years earlier of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. Clearly, RFK connected with that Indianapolis audience because he chose to speak from his heart about his own feelings of bitterness, hatred, and a desire for revenge after his brother was murdered.

The white mayor of Indianapolis warned RFK not to go speak to that predominantly African American crowd because the mayor feared there would be violent responses of a specific blacks-against-whites racial nature once the news of King’s murder that night because widely known. Obviously, RFK was of a totally different mind than the white mayor of Indianapolis.

While other major cities in the United States erupted in racially-motivated violence over the next several days, after RFK spoke in Indianapolis, there were no riots. He dared to ask that shocked crowd directly to dedicate themselves “to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.” His life was ended savagely by gun shots in Los Angeles two months later.

Some remember that night as when RFK saved Indianapolis using mere spoken words. People nowadays tend not to speak directly and from their heart minus bitterness and hatred like RFK did that night in Indiana. In stunning contrast, I perceive of one elected leader in the United States today whose spoken words are entirely in service to himself and because of that are absent the power “to make gentle the life of this world.”

Why You Need a Website

You only need a website today if you want to prove to others that you exist. If you are happy to remain in obscurity, you can get along just fine without having your own website.

Individuals, small and medium-size businesses, and nonprofits need a complete, yet affordable, selection of professional and customized services to enable them to win over their particular target audience with online marketing. Usually this means paying today’s high prices for professional services to get your own website. That is just a waste. And so unnecessary.

Nearly half of small and medium-sized businesses or nonprofits do not yet have their own website. One thing that I tell people today may sound shocking: You need to have a website if you want to have street credibility today in the business world. Your personal brand depends on having a website.

I firmly believe in this need to have a website after working since 1996 using the Internet for business. If you are someone who really does not want to have your own website, please read this one page and give me a chance to change your thinking.

I can help you if you start with an acceptance that yes, you need a website if you really want credibility today in marketing your business to your target audience.

Basic Rule of Business

Once you understand the need to have your own website, you need help with strategic marketing and personal branding online. The basic rule of business that I use can be explained using an ocean metaphor: You need to swim in the same waters as your potential customers.

You get the idea. The truth is: To do business today involving seeking and attracting potential customers, you need to bring what you are offering to your customers where they are.

The other simple reality is that having your own website is essential proof that you are savvy enough to use today’s contemporary tools of communication in the digital realm and online. You don’t want to be considered irrelevant or outmoded.

Perspective

Today, the use of the Internet for business is roughly 20 years old. Websites today differ greatly from how websites worked back in the 1990s when the Internet was new.

The major difference is that today’s websites are intended to interactive for your visitors compared to the old-school style of websites from the past.

Let me quickly express what you need and should want: You want a website for today, not a website that is from the 1990s. The past belongs in the past. Learn to respect the past, but understand that we must focus on today and tomorrow.

Living in the Present Day

Today, the best practice is to have a site that is attractive to look at and easy to use, plus, the website works the way it needs to work: People need to interact with you through your website if you want to be successful in using the website for your business.

The manner or way that you employ online and using digital outreach technology should be important to you. Resist the temptation to jump into an expensive contract with a provider of website services that promises you the sun and moon and a couple of galaxies, too.

Sure, having a website today is essential, but you can be smart and conservative in how you go about it. Why? You don’t want to dump a lot of money and time into something that is wrong.

Now a Warning: Merely getting your own website is not a secret doorway to either sudden riches or fame. Rushing out and using social media channels without thinking about why is not the answer to your most pressing business problems. Text messaging to thousands of smart phones may not necessarily rescue you from irrelevance.

Today’s digital technology together with the Internet represent marvelous human accomplishments and inventiveness. Websites and smart phones could surely not have been imagined a few decades ago except by the likes of science fiction writers. But, don’t get lost in the marvels that we now have at our fingertips in the 21st century.

The best way to success is to use digital technology together with the Internet as one of the tools of your trade.

Consider how computerized word processing has become an indispensable tool for writers today. Since word processing is so important to the craft of writing nowadays, how did anyone write and publish books before the invention of word processing software? Trick question.

Here is wisdom you can take with you today: Make effective use of the tools of today’s technology. Use the Internet. Have your own website. Yes, get into Twitter. And Facebook. Send text messages to reach the smart phones you know your audience uses.

Just be sure that you have carefully thought out why you are using these tools: Reaching, interacting with, and persuading your target audience should be your core reason and chief motivation.

—————–

[My original version of this commentary first appeared in 2011 on this and other blogs.]

Go Buzz Power

For everyone who wants to go out into the real world and harness buzz power: My eBook is available for in an updated edition (2022) at no cost to you. Revised and expanded with new content. This eBook with a revised title covers the successful use of strategies and tactics in the digital realm that create public excitement about a person, place, or thing:

Creating Buzz Power: Public Excitement for You and What You Do (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Bounce back after COVID-19 and thrive online! You get a downloadable eBook by Dr. Woody Goulart which will boost your success online after COVID-19 with secrets about how to work from home, launch your own website and self-publish your book to sell on Amazon.  Download this eBook for free:

The author:

Trending Tactic if You Want to Stand Out

There is a tactic available to you today that is leading a trend in online communication. This can help you stand out from your competitors in a powerful way.

Let me tell you about it: This past week I finished producing an electronic book (eBook) and associated online promotional campaign for a Southern California newspaper columnist. He is Don Barrett and he has covered the radio broadcasting business for nearly 20 years online at LARadio.com. Don turned to me to produce a series of eBooks for him to chronicle personal stories of USA radio people. I also produced the promotional website to support the marketing of Don’s eBook series.

Having your own eBook available for sale online gives you a special klout that others do not have. Your eBook will be available online around the world for all time. This gives you a true permanence for your good reputation.

Anyone can write a compelling eBook to sell online. Whether you are sharing your family’s secret recipes, other family secrets, or, how-to tips that you have accumulated from your hobby or professional career, publishing an eBook is the way to get your ideas and your reputation out there to the entire world!

You can stand out from others if you have an eBook available for sale online on Amazon. Oh, and yes, you can make money from selling your eBook on Amazon, too. I approach this more from a reputation enhancement perspective, however, and not as a way for people to make money online. But, there are people who do make money from selling eBooks.

Get started today by checking out what I can do for you to help you stand out with your own eBook.

Your Own Place in the Future

Recently I posted here telling you of my enthusiasm and excitement for Amazon Kindle eBooks. I want to continue on this topic because I sincerely believe you can stand out with your own eBook that can enable you to claim your own place in the future.

While I’m convinced we will always have books made of paper, the future belongs to the eBook format. I’m also a true believer in the fact that you can claim your own place in that future.

If you get past the b.s. about how everyone can get rich quickly with an eBook, the reality is pretty exciting nonetheless. The financial viability of Amazon is well-known. You can also believe the buzz about eBooks and the device named Kindle. To ignore Amazon and Kindle and eBooks right now is to miss out of an emerging and revolutionary communications channel. This is no exaggeration.

I invite anyone who wants to learn about how to stand out with your own eBook on Amazon to contact me at woodygoulart@gmail.com today.

I look forward to hearing from you today!

  #1: personal brand first how to
  #2: personal brand verbal communication
  #3: writing well personal brand
  #4: character and personal brand
  #5: personal brand uniqueness
  #6: job seekers best practices online
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  #8: personal brand your unique outcomes
  #9: personal brand the journey
#10: should I stay or should I go?
#11: networking in Las Vegas
#12: surviving a career transition
#13: scoffing dinosaur
#14: managing your online reputation
#15: choosing who you are
#16: so you think you can retire
#17: your own place in the future

Choosing Who You Are

It may seem illogical, but people can take specific actions to define themselves. Make sure that what you are like on the outside is a deliberate choice on your part. There is no reason at all for anyone to allow what he or she is like on the outside to be left to chance or accident.

Helping yourself to be deliberate specifically involves using a certain amount of psychology. Don’t worry, this is something you can do on your own. You don’t necessarily need prescription drugs or medical specialists. The psychology works best if you ask yourself some difficult questions to test whether what you look like on the outside is deliberate or accidental:

Are you going out in public today with clothing that you deliberately chose with rips and tears in the fabric?

Did you choose to embed that shiny metal ring through your nostrils?

Are you walking out into the world today having made the deliberate choice not to wash your hair?

Did you choose to allow your breath to smell like you ate rotting meat an hour ago?

There is a point to these absurdly ridiculous questions: Every element about your outward appearance comes down to a choice on your part. And, whether you chose it or not, people are going to perceive that you made the choice.

If you are a celebrity who makes a lot of money selling music internationally and you want to embed a shiny metal ring through your nostrils, then why are you reading this blog post? The same is true for any of you who are so wealthy that you don’t give a damn how dirty your hair may look in the direct sunlight.

But, for everyone else, please pay close attention.

Not To Decide Is To Decide

It is ironic, but true, that not to choose is to choose. If you don’t care that you have unwashed hair, that not caring on your part turns out to become a deliberate choice that ensures you will look sloppy and lazy when you go out in public. Did you accidentally not shower this morning? Another difficult question for you.

Whether we like it or not, our outward appearance is going to be perceived by others out in public as though it were a deliberate choice. So we all need to get used to making smart choices and leave nothing to fate or accidents.

Your personal brand is first going to be noticed by the way you look on the outside. But, there is also much more than merely how you look. Every body gives off scents. The particular scents that your body gives off are also part of how you are perceived by others out in the world who are near you. If you have bad breath, few people (even dentists) will want to come near your face. If your armpits or other parts of your body give off a strong odor, few people will want to come near you.

If you go to a job interview without first getting your outward looks in order, you are asking for trouble. This goes way beyond the standard concept of dressing for success in business by choosing to wear appropriate attire at job interviews. The point is that your outward looks cannot completely be taken care of by wearing appropriate attire. You must pay attention to your appearance beyond your choice in attire: Your personal brand will be enhanced if you have clean hair and skin, no metal objects stuck anywhere on your face, and that fresh, minty taste in your mouth.

Within You and Without Out You

These are not just poetic lyrics from George Harrison. The inner you affects the outer you in many ways. This is unavoidable and completely within your own control. Here, too, is a bit of psychology.

Perhaps it may surprise you to learn that what you are on the inside does not necessarily have to be revealed outwardly to anyone. Many people never learn this. Many people grow up raised to put a premium on personal truthfulness at all times. Don’t be one of those people because personal truthfulness is overrated if you want to succeed with the best possible personal brand.

One important reality of the 21st century is that your reality need not be shared in detail with everyone around you. If someone asks you how you are doing, you should resist the temptation to be truthful and genuine, especially if you are not feeling very happy and focused at the moment. Social media and handheld devices have created a world in which you can instantly share what you had for breakfast as if anyone really needs to know that you enjoyed mouth-watering scrambled eggs topped with jalapeño chili peppers and lemon slices. Some things are just best left inside you.

A useful example may make this clearer. If, on the inside, you feel shy and have apprehension about going out in public to interact with strangers, you should learn how to not reveal that about yourself outwardly in public if you want to be a success in this life. The same holds true for anything else that is inside of you and is not overtly visible outwardly to others. Shyness need not be overtly visible outwardly to others. The same holds true for any of your internal characteristics or traits.

Consider, for example, what may happen if you let people know (verbally or using Twitter or Facebook or whatever) that you have color blindness. At the very least, you will have to suffer inane questions from people such as “What color is my dress?” The best answer to that question is, “The color doesn’t matter. That dress makes you look fat.” You get the idea here.

Be Honest: Know Yourself

The trick is to arrive at a very clear picture in your mind about what your own particular internal characteristics or traits are. Only then can you manage your outward appearance.

Here is one real-life example of the interconnected ways in which your internal characteristics will affect your daily life: If you are shy and have apprehension about going out in public, you should find some way to know that about yourself. This is because a person who does not know that they are shy and have apprehension about going out in public is going to suffer from unhappiness and frustration following a succession of unsatisfactory relationships. If you suffer from unhappiness and frustration, you will not be someone that others will want to be around, and you may end up being a very lonely person.

Here is another example from the real world of the interconnected ways in which your internal characteristics will affect your daily life: If you need to be the center of attention in every interpersonal situation, you should find some way to know that about yourself. This is because a self-centered person like you who does not know that they are self-centered is going to suffer from unhappiness and frustration following a succession of unsatisfactory relationships and being dumped often. If you suffer from unhappiness and frustration, you will not be someone that others want to be around, and you may end up being a very lonely person.

The basic reality of life today in the 21st century is this: Those who know themselves well and who are absolutely honest with themselves about their own internal characteristics or traits will have the best opportunities for success in life.

Emotional Intelligence

Those who are out of touch with who they truly are as a person will have a rough time finding acceptance or success or happiness in life. Your performance in job interviews will also be negative affected. How can you hope to develop your own personal brand if what you develop is based on faulty data?

Therefore, a crucial step in developing your own personal brand is to attain what is known as emotional intelligence. This is sometimes called EQ (for emotional quotient), as compared to IQ (for intelligence quotient.) Simply put, emotional intelligence is a smart awareness of your own and other peoples’ passions along with knowledge of how to control passions. Everyone either has sufficient EQ or not. This is an internal trait that is not necessarily visible out in the world.

So, how does one attain sufficient emotional intelligence? The very annoying answer is this: Some people just are born with this capacity while others will need to make considerable effort to develop it. Others do not care whether they demonstrate this capacity.

But, the truth is developing this EQ capacity is something that you can learn. This capacity is not restricted only to psychiatrists or other medical doctors. You can discover ways to learn this capability, too, even if you have no university degrees at all.

One additional and highly annoying truth is that this capability may not necessarily come to you from book learning. So, did you waste your money on a college education? Some people may be able to develop this capacity from learning lessons in life through interpersonal trial and error.

If you are one of those people who do not care whether you demonstrate sufficient EQ, and, you want to develop your own personal brand, stop reading this right now. Just stop. Go watch reality television instead.

At the core of this whole subject of your internal characteristics is the matter of choice and mental attitude. You can make certain, specific choices about how you present yourself outwardly. But, this will only be possible for you if you first achieve the appropriate mental attitude.

As an example, let’s say that you genuinely feel fearful of new situations in public, and, meeting with people you have never met causes you dread. You must learn to become aware of your specific fears about unfamiliar interpersonal situations and strangers. Once you have become aware of your specific fears in this sense, only then will you be able to construct an appropriate mental attitude to address your specific fears.

You can, for instance, develop the appropriate mental attitude that you are going to go out and meet and interact with people who are strangers and survive those interpersonal situations with dignity and strength and even a few laughs. Unless you first develop that specific mental attitude, you are very likely to suffer emotionally under the strains and pressures of those interpersonal situations in which you are required to meet and interact with people who are strangers.

Reprogramming Your Mind

More psychology for you: How you develop that (or any) appropriate mental attitude is to do what I call “reprogramming” your mind. You may not actually be programming or reprogramming your mind at all. But, let’s agree to call it that for the sake of simplicity.

The point is that you must convince yourself in your own brain that you truly believe something is true before you can behave out in the world with any credible authority.

Even a person who may have developed deep fears of meeting and interacting with strangers can create in their own brain the appropriate mental attitude that will enable them to succeed in what otherwise would be impossibly difficult interpersonal situations.

Is this known as “acting”? Oh, yes it is!

One of the most compelling statements about the power of developing an appropriate mental attitude comes from the great American philosopher, Julius Henry Marx (1890 – 1977): “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

He was better known as the comedian named “Groucho” starting in the early 20th century, but he was wise and full of insights for the present day.

I also want to share with you an obscure bit of song lyrics. Alan Price, who was born in England in 1942, wrote and sang a song in a movie called O Lucky Man in which his lyrics align with this same mental attitude concept: “Someone’s got to win in the human race. If it isn’t you, then it has to be me. So, smile while you’re making it, laugh while you’re taking it, even if you’re faking it; nobody’s gonna know.”

If you want a persuasive, yet also highly entertaining, lesson about discovering who you are and then developing ways to succeed in this life, rent O Lucky Man. It is a 1973 British film that will occupy only 183 minutes of your life, but you will never forget how it makes you feel.

Your own success in this life is dependent upon the ways in which you use your mind. You cannot accidentally be successful over the course of your life. You must deliberately choose to use your mind to enable success in your life or you should not be surprised when the outcomes do not make you happy.

The Mental Equivalent

Two crucial elements for you if you want to make wise choices about what you are like on the outside are: First, attain a sufficient emotional intelligence. Then, create a clear and specific mental equivalent of what you want the reality outside your mind to be.

You can express your mental equivalent of what you want the reality outside your mind to be by affirming what’s in your mind repeatedly until “it sinks in,” so to speak. One simple and inexpensive tactic to implement this affirmation strategy is to record your own voice saying particular affirmation statements and then play back your affirmations on a portable audio playback device using headphones.

Affirmations must be in the first person, the present (not future) tense, have an active verb, and state something very specific and clear. Here is an example:

“I am drawing positive energy from meeting and interacting with new people every day.”

The reason why you must use “I” and the present tense is to be able to hear you, yourself, telling your brain that the reality you want is available to you right now.

You should record several affirmations and play them back into your own ears privately every day at least once a day. The total running time for your recording should be under 10 or 15 minutes.

Repeated, consistent playback of affirmations into your own ears privately will help you truly believe what your own voice is telling you is true.

I did this exact thing with affirmations, so I vouch for the validity of using affirmations. After I endured a painful separation and divorce in the 1990s, I used affirmations to “reprogram” my mind to reorient myself to an improved life that would specifically replace the life that I was living at the time.

Not only did I end the sadness and loneliness that I was feeling, I also discovered new directions for my life and earning a living. My use of affirmations played back into my own ears privately some 20 years ago.

Even though that was two decades in the past, I can still feel the power of my own voice telling my brain that the reality I wanted was available to me immediately. This is powerful stuff, so be careful how you choose your affirmations and the wording that you use.

As I have proved to myself, the reality is that using your own mind, you can take charge of your life. You can reorient yourself and your life if you only will choose to do so. You can make changes to how your life goes. You can make changes to what you are like on the outside and choose not to reveal to anyone what you are like on the inside.

All of this adds up to the first step of taking control over what you are like on the outside (your outward appearance versus your inner self) so that you can create or fix your personal brand.

It All Starts in Your Mind

How you use your mind affects everything in your life. How you use your mind also directly impacts many people in your life.

“You cannot be healthy; you cannot be happy; you cannot be prosperous; if you have a bad disposition.”

Emmet Fox (1886-1951)

Your mental and emotional traits are vital to your survival in life. How well you communicate and whether you can be a leader versus a follower also are directly tied to how you use your mind.

I am one of many who believes that how you use your mind can be changed if you make the decision to change how you use your mind. How you use your mind is not a permanent condition that you were born with. You can choose to change how you use your mind at any age no matter where you live in this world.

How you view other people and how you judge other people are two elements of how you choose to use your mind. If you only believe, trust or value people who believe exactly as you do, then you are choosing not to use your mind correctly.

Believing, trusting or valuing only people who believe exactly as you do is a very clear sign that you have chosen not to use you mind very well. One sign that you are a person who chooses to use your mind well is if you really and honestly can “see the world through other people’s eyes” or “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” or other similar phrases in the English language.

The ability to know, understand, and feel what other people know, understand, and feel is an ability that comes to people who choose how to use their minds well. Such people are the one who become leaders compared to the rest who are only followers. You cannot accidentally get that job you’re seeking. You cannot accidentally become a success in leadership. You cannot accidentally communicate effectively over the course of your life. These specific successes are available only to people who choose how to use their minds effectively. You can become one of those people if you want to do so.

  #1: personal brand first how to
  #2: personal brand verbal communication
  #3: writing well personal brand
  #4: character and personal brand
  #5: personal brand uniqueness
  #6: job seekers best practices online
  #7: more best practices online job seekers
  #8: personal brand your unique outcomes
  #9: personal brand the journey
#10: should I stay or should I go?
#11: networking in Las Vegas
#12: surviving a career transition
#13: scoffing dinosaur
#14: managing your online reputation
#15: choosing who you are
#16: so you think you can retire
#17: your own place in the future

Managing Your Online Reputation

Many of you have been following my weekly commentaries about personal branding that started during the summer of 2012. In those regular posts, I covered the first step you should take to create or repair your personal brand.

I explained how verbal communications skills and writing well are so vital to having and maintaining the best possible personal brand.

How people perceive of your character helps solidify your personal brand. The same is true for your personal uniqueness compared to your competition as you seek a career position in the wake of the Great Recession and the professional outcomes for which you can take credit.

I also emphasized how have a focused and positive attitude is so vital on your journey to a new career position may be challenging and take more time that you would like.

Google Yourself

In this post, I want you to take a look at how you are appearing online when anybody who may want to hire you runs a search using your first and last name. The search results that the hiring manager gets when he or she Googles you should not be a surprise to you at all.

While you are seeking a career position in the wake of the Great Recession, you should Google yourself on a regular basis to see how your personal brand and your online reputation look. How to do this is quite simple. Just go to Google and in the search box you enter your first and last name surrounded by quotation marks. If you have a name (such as John Smith) that is shared by many other people, you may also need to enter your city of residence so that Google’s search results will be able to find you.

Managing Your Online Reputation

After you recover from the shock or the joy of seeing the search results when you Google yourself, it is the best time to begin managing your online reputation in earnest. Fortunately, this is a free and relatively easy way for people like us to do this.

Just go to the explanation page for managing your online reputation at a website called BrandYourself.com and read why online reputation management is something you must do. I already use this service (see WoodyGoulart.BrandYourself.com) so I feel confident in recommending online reputation management for you as you seek a career position.

Everyone today who is seeking a career position in the wake of the Great Recession needs to focus on online reputation management. This is because the rules of how to get a career position have changed greatly in just a very short time. I urge you to take control of your online reputation management immediately.

I can help you with online reputation management if you want a proven expert in online reputation management to guide and assist you. Just email me.

  #1: personal brand first how to
  #2: personal brand verbal communication
  #3: writing well personal brand
  #4: character and personal brand
  #5: personal brand uniqueness
  #6: job seekers best practices online
  #7: more best practices online job seekers
  #8: personal brand your unique outcomes
  #9: personal brand the journey
#10: should I stay or should I go?
#11: networking in Las Vegas
#12: surviving a career transition
#13: scoffing dinosaur
#14: managing your online reputation
#15: choosing who you are
#16: so you think you can retire
#17: your own place in the future

Scoffing Dinosaur

When you live in the 21st century, you need to embrace and use the tools of the 21st century or you will become as relevant as dinosaurs. If you scoff at this, you are choosing to be a scoffing dinosaur.

How many birthdays you have had doesn’t matter one bit. Whether you like using computers or smart phones doesn’t matter either.

If you are in a career search in the wake of the Great Recession, you want to stand out. You definitely do not want to be a scoffing dinosaur. The choice is very simple and it is your choice alone: Relevant. Irrelevant.

You must embrace and use the tools of the 21st century if you are in a career search in the wake of the Great Recession or you will likely not succeed in your career search.

Forget about wasting the time to update your printed-out resume. Forget about buying envelopes and stamps. Establish an online presence instead. Printed-out pieces of paper that you send by snail mail will signal that the inbound envelope is coming from you, the scoffing dinosaur.

Establish an online presence instead so that you can electronically transmit the link to your online presence. You should have an online presence that effectively creates and maintains your personal brand. If anyone Googles you and finds nothing, this proves that you are a scoffing dinosaur. But, if you have a personally branded online presence, you will show up in Google searches.

My newest personally branded online presence is the website you are visiting now. This website is a very clear example of the kind of online presence that you should have if you are in a career search.

As a necessary follow-up, you really need to establish a presence and profile on http://linkedin.com and I recommend that you upgrade to a premium account.

I will be happy to discuss these simple tactics with anyone who reaches out to me and I can help set up your online presence if you need such help.

  #1: personal brand first how to
#2: personal brand verbal communication
#3: writing well personal brand
#4: character and personal brand
#5: personal brand uniqueness
#6: job seekers best practices online
#7: more best practices online job seekers
#8: personal brand your unique outcomes
#9: personal brand the journey
#10: should I stay or should I go?
#11: networking in Las Vegas
#12: surviving a career transition
#13: scoffing dinosaur
#14: managing your online reputation
#15: choosing who you are
#16: so you think you can retire
#17: your own place in the future