Brand Loyalty

I caught a snippet on a news site about a new book (titled the Origin of you”) out of the Otago University long term study of a bunch of people. I haven’t read the book yet but the item had a metaphor that immediately caught my attention. the expression was “brand loyalty”. This is a concept we all relate to. We might be loyal to our bank, our choice of bread, milk. or alcoholic beverage Many men have a ridiculous loyalty to a sports club despite the constant change of players in the squad.

What about the “brands” of ourselves. We might be loyal to”shyness”., “worthlessness”, “ugliness”, “stupidness” or some other “brand” that we took to in childhood but still hold onto as some sort of truth about ourselves, despite significant evidence that we are no longer that. School is a wonderful place where kids who don’t fit that perfect model of child pick up brands like “dumb”, a “nuisance”, “lazy”, “disrespectful”. Incredibly bright people impose limits on themselves because they “failed” at school and don’t want that feeling of failure, without ever realising that they didn’t fail school, school failed them.

We may feel that some brands are too good for us, like confidence, success, worthiness. Why is that? It’s not like they cost more to have them. I often recommend to clients that they read Richard Bach’s book, “Illusions”. It’s a fun, light read along the theme that the power to shape and change our world is entirely within us, and when we persist and blame the rest of the world for how we are, we remain stuck.

If you could ditch a brand you have been loyal to, what would that be? If you could pick a brand you’d prefer, which one would you pick?