Symbols

The picture above is a collage containing different shots of my desk at home. If you have no idea who I am and were asked to describe my character?

If you said I was nerdy, I would probably agree with you. The abundance of Lego minifigures, Nintendo amiibo, and Portal drink coasters clearly lend toward that.

You might also look at the books and form another opinion. That design book by Aaron Draplin (which I am totally in love with right now) might lead you to believe that I am an artist of sorts.

You may even garner an opinion from the subtle details of this picture. For example, the desk is obviously black wood instead of brown wood, and this was a purposeful choice by me because I think black wood looks classier. (And I'm a classy guy! Can't you tell by the Legos and plastic figurines?)

The point is that the symbols we surround ourselves with define our character just as much, if not MORE, than the way we behave toward others.

This is an idea I picked up from a person who spoke at a recent event I attended at Eastview Christian Church called "Faith & Work". His point was that he wanted people in his secular job to know his character as a Christian, so he keeps a Bible on his desk at work. I could digress and focus on the faith aspect here, but let's keep things at a higher level since this is an idea that spans far beyond just the faith aspect.

The reality is that we are constantly crafting a narrative to people, even on a subconscious level, and it's super important to be mindful of this, especially given its power to influence a person's opinion one way or the other.

We're going to be delving into this more in my next post. Specifically, that post will talk about trust and how consistency of character is important to building trust.

Consistency of character starts with making sure the symbols we choose to surround ourselves with match the narrative we are trying to share.

What do you want people to see you as? I'm totally okay with you looking at me as a classy, nerdy artist. While parts of that might be exaggerated, that is the story of my character that I'm hoping to build. 

I hope you stick around for the next post. :)