10 Habits to Build a ‘Slight Edge’ for Your Personal Brand

Come behind the scenes with me. See how I build personal brand consistency with these high performance ‘happiness habits’.

I’ve been obsessed with people’s daily routines for as long as I can remember. I knew in it lay the secrets to success and failure. For a long time, I didn’t have the words for it. Now I do - The Slight Edge.

The Slight Edge

In The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson proposes success is created over time through consistent daily disciplines. That every day you have a choice to master the mundane. Doing the things that are easy to do - but, equally as easy not to do. An error in choice sends you closer to failure, and at first, goes unnoticed.

Each positive action directs you closer to success. It also goes unnoticed. But, it is the compounded energy that cultivates a quantum leap.

While everyone wants overnight success, personal branding is a long game.

The cardinal rule of branding is consistency. Consistency builds trust and trust builds loyalty. This is about showing up as the best version of yourself for others and for yourself. Daily habits are how you reverse engineer your goals into action.

I’ve reflected, researched and experimented with habits obsessively for years. Here are the ten habits I’ve found make me the best version of my personal brand. Or as Harvard teacher and author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, would put it - these are my ‘happiness habits’. A carefully curated creative process. Designed to give me the best chance of developing a slight edge.

Personal Brand Habit #1: Waking up at 5 am

You’ve likely heard of ‘the 5 am Club’. The movement was further popularised by Robin Sharma’s book of the same title. I began adopting 5 a.m. starts about 15 years ago. I was in my Commerce undergraduate studies and was also working casually in retail.

Consumed by study and work during business hours, during one exam period, I began waking up at 3 a.m. to study. After this, a 5 a.m. start seemed easy. Back then my mornings were filled with exercise, walking my dog and family time. I’ve now evolved this to allow for some of the habits I’ll discuss in this blog.

As Sharma states;

“Own your morning, own your life.”

Personal Brand Habit #2: Praying and meditating

Praying was one of the earliest habits my family instilled in me.

In my adult years, I’m more intentional in my choices. I say a prayer my Grandma fell in love with in her 80th year about gratitude.

I also say the prayers that featured on my late Grandma and Papa’s funeral cards.

I finish with the eternal rest prayer. You may be more familiar with its abbreviation - ‘rest in peace’. This prayer for the dead reminds me of the privilege of being in the land of the living.

I haven’t mastered meditation. But, I take several intentional breaths before beginning the rest of my day.

Personal Brand Habit #3: Reading

Over time, I went from 'not much of a reader’ to reading at least a book a week. If you’re interested in how, I share more here. Plus, I now share regular Business Book reviews on my blog.

Many of the most influential leaders in our lifetime have been prolific readers. This includes Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet and Elon Musk.

Due to the concentration level needed, University of Sussex's research concluded that reading reduces stress by 68%. Even outperforming the also highly effective cup of tea, music and walking (more on this later). Plus, it takes only six minutes to see results.

Research has also compared the knowledge of TV watchers to readers. Readers are said to know more and have better analytical skills, improving their judgement and problem-solving skills. Books, magazines and written text also use more unique words than television. Improving your vocabulary and communication skills.

Reading is actually also highly social. It creates neurological pathways relating to characters. And they remain after you put the book down. This improves your people skills and emotional intelligence.

Personal Brand Habit #4: Podcast listening

I listen to podcasts daily. I suggest making deliberate choices related to your personal brand goals. It’s an invaluable opportunity to up-skill yourself for your niche and personal brand vision.

Personal Brand Habit #5: Researching

Instead of letting mainstream news interrupt my life, I focus on curating ‘news’ relevant to my goals and interests. This self-directed research covers industry news, trends and thought leadership in my niche interests.

I read the latest articles and watch YouTube. Remember, like Google (who owns YouTube), YouTube is a modern-day library of rich information. This includes information on niche topics. Behind Google, YouTube is the number two website and search engine in the world.

Books are often evergreen content. Much of YouTube is too. But, the platform is also fast moving around the latest conversations. For a personal brand, it helps develop your unique point of view in the quickly evolving marketplace.

Personal Brand Habit #6: Walking

I now usually walk 2-3 times a day. And it has become invaluable for my work.

I’m very intentional about my thoughts during walks. No music or podcasts. I reflect on my personal brand core values. I also mentally upload all my learnings and plan creatively on how to apply them.

The physical benefits of walking are generally well understood. But, they are also mental. In 2014, a study out of Standford showed the benefits of walking for creativity and problem-solving. Researchers found that creativity increased by 60% when compared to sitting. Results on creativity could be seen on walks just 5-16 minutes long. And worked for both indoor and outdoor walks.

Let’s return to the previously mentioned University of Sussex research on reading. It also showed walking contributed to a 42% reduction in stress. It’s also said to release endorphins such as dopamine and help build empathy. Plus, it lowers our brain wave frequency from the beta region to the high theta range. This is the same frequency entered during meditation.

Walking has been a discipline of some of our world’s greatest visionaries, including Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs.

Personal Brand Habit #7: Writing

When my Grandma and Papa passed away, writing brought me peace. I also realised how much I relied on any written words they had left for guidance. It was their legacy.

It’s often said you should write with one person in mind and with an objective. I write my blog to leave my legacy for anyone it may help one day.

As a child, the core of your education was reading and writing. A privilege not everyone in the world enjoys. Even in the world of AI, I feel it’s my duty to maintain these skills and my creativity. By synthesising my learning, I also know it improves my clarity.

Personal Brand Habit #8: Playing the Piano

I first began playing the piano when I was four years old. And played at exam level until I was 16 - when I took a hiatus. Ironically for the theme of this post, my teenage naivety couldn't understand why I had to play daily.

I now play as often as I can.

Research has shown numerous benefits for your brain from playing an instrument. Playing an instrument literally changes your brain’s structure. This includes increasing the grey matter volume in various regions. And also improves the connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Music also integrates the senses of vision, hearing, and touch, with fine movements. And this can have a lasting impact.

Personal Brand Habit #9: Practising Yoga

I preface this one by saying I’ve in no way mastered this yet. But, the intention toward yoga, even in its simplest form, is there.

Outside of its physical benefits, according to Harvard University, there are several mental benefits of yoga. Research administered MRI scans and brain imaging techniques on practitioners and non-practitioners of yoga. It showed that those who practised the exercise regularly had a thicker cerebral cortex (responsible for information processing) and hippocampus (involved in learning and memory) compared with non-practitioners. It is also said to improve mood.

Personal Brand Habit #10: Gratitude journaling

The very last thing I do before bed is write in my gratitude journal. It takes less than five minutes. Anchor, in The Happiness Advantage, widely popularised the gratitude journal. He advocated for writing down three things that you’re grateful for each day.

Anchor’s premise is that success doesn’t cause happiness, but rather begins with happiness. And it positively impacts your business outcomes, such as productivity. It rewires your brain for optimism. You begin to scan your environment for it.

Marketers understand frequency and consistency to be one of the most important aspects of branding. This is no different for your personal brand. Small actions, applied frequently compound. Create the frequency you want your brand to project. You attract the energy you create for your personal brand.

As Aristotle said:

“We are what we repeatedly do… therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.”