Interesting Anecdotes-Stories From My Life

"Enlarge as a Human Being, 

Excel as a Social Media Being and 

Evolve a s a Personal Brand"

My life has been packed with interesting stories and anecdotes. Here are a few of them:-

Drama or Sincerity

My students would challenge me with tough questions, now my clients do A client asked recently, "While writing my story, how do I decide, how much of drama and how much of sincerity?" A tough question indeed. I replied, "If you have the reputation for sincerity, you can add a bit of a drama and (on a lighter note) if you have a reputation for drama, then I suggest you focus on sincerity.You have to see what will pull them, drama or sincerity"

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The Beautiful Lady and a Naughty Audience

Recently during a Personal Branding Workshop with Sales and Marketing professionals, I tried to make things simple for them and told them you can apply AIDA model (Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action) of product advertising to personal branding also. I was trying to correlate it with the popular VCP or Visibility, Credibility and Profitability approach.

A gentleman questioned, “How?” and a young-beautiful lady volunteered to answer. She started explaining, “Supposing I am building my personal brand, the first thing I would do is to create 'Awareness' about myself (eg my coaching services), then create an 'Interest' and then a strong 'DESIRE'. 

(Ahem, Ahem) I noticed many members of the audience could not stop their naughty smiles and I had to request her to sit down and I took over. The lady was embarrassed and I was embarrassed to see her embarrassed. My due empathy for her though.

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King or a Kingmaker?

Recently a politician approached me for personal branding and asked me, "You don't want to be the King, you rather like being the Kingmaker?"

I said, "Neither the King, nor the Kingmaker. I prefer to be the Brandmaker. If someone becomes the King as a result, I would be glad to share the joy."

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Where Humour Fits in?

(in 'Enlarge, Excel and Evolve')

When I talk of personal growth, many people get scared or bored and think, “Enough troubles in life. No time or inclination for personal growth.”

Personal Growth can be a source of joy too. Humour is an essential element of our life and can sometimes be the biggest source of strength to carry on, in the turbulent times. ‘Enlarge as a human being” means personal growth but at the same time it is about enjoying the process and not feeling burdened.

I even wrote once, “The tubelight is already enlightened, the bulb is also glowing. Oh! my dark stupid heart, why do you refuse growing?”

Don’t worry, I was just scolding myself. :-)

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Are Presentations Necessary?

At a recent Personal Branding Workshop there was an interesting question, "Are presentations and packaging necessary?" I said, "Yes, they are due to human limitations. But Enlarge Excel Evolve philosophy means 'Pure Intentions, Excellent Presentations'" or in other words personal growth must accompany the image presented.

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Tough question indeed!

A participant in a recent 'Enlarge Excel Evolve' workshop asked me, ''How can i be good to ungrateful people around me? I am still an unenlightened human being''.

Tough question indeed! 

I joked, ''Initially be good to good people. When you become successful, then you can be good to all people.''

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What weightage do you give?
''Enlarge as a human being, Excel as a social media being & Evolve as a personal brand.'' I had just begun when there was a wise question from a participant, ''What weightage would you give to each aspect?'' My answer,''I would advise 60:20:20'' Enlarging and growing as human being is most critical, for your absolute happiness as well as success via glasshouse styled social media.''

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Heart size Coach
Recently i was asked in a workshop, ''So what's your long term goal?'' I reflected & replied,''I want to be a heart size coach. I believe people are basically good and most of us become large-hearted as we succeed. I want to create large-hearted people, who in turn promote peace, education and cultural interaction globally.''

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Tell Me Your Weakness

Long back a trainee had asked me,''Sir what are your weaknesses?''

I said, ''Marketers don't tell their weaknesses. It's your job to find out.''

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The Strongest and the Weakest

Long back when I was a teacher, i entered a new class and announced, ''The strongest (academics or other talents) will get my respect and the weakest will get my affection.''

A student asked, ''What about those who are in the middle?'' i smiled and said, ''They will get a little bit of both.''

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Faridabad to Delhi- A Journey of Spiritual Maturity

I once told my students, “Those who travel from Faridabad to Sainik Farms (college), become spiritually mature faster.” The class was zapped.

I said, “Let me explain (I love creating suspense or should I say teaser advertising).” I continued, “As soon as you cross the Delhi-Harayana border and enter Delhi, the first place is Prahladpur. Life begins like a Prahlad (Indian epic character), full of idealism and single-minded devotion to parents. Then comes Premnagar (Love). You have infatuations; most of us fall in love rather than rise. The next stop is Kaya Maya Hospital which makes you understand the illusions of life and rather creates more questions than answers. The next stop is Khanpur (mine). You understand life is like a mine and you need to dig to get the answers (Who am I?, Why am I here?). The deeper you dig, the better it is (and the deeper passion, you will be able to discover).

Finally after all the digging, you realise  you have to live like a soldier (you have reached Sainik Farms by then), fight the battle called life, try to do your duty in all the relationships and if people are still unhappy then ‘God bless them'”.

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Related Posts

The CXO was Zapped & other Interesting Anecdotes

And I was stunned and other anecdotes

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Brief Profile
Dr Amit Nagpal is a Personal Branding Consultant & Deepest Passion Coach. He is based in New Delhi, India and specializes in personal branding with a holistic touch. His philosophy is, "Enlarge as a Human Being, Excel as a Social Media Being and Evolve as a Personal Brand"

To know more, visit www.dramitnagpal.com