The Other Side of You: Beyond The Labels. Expanding Your Personal Brand.

Well-meaning labels - personality types, work styles, even “strengths”- can quietly box you in. Your true potential lies in embracing the full spectrum of yourself.

I used to love personality tests. They are interesting to take and fun to talk about in teams, or with friends afterwards. But I’ve started to see them differently more recently. Because they can also be limiting. They can be a permission slip to stay within certain labels and keep you from reaching your potential. 

When you label yourself too early, you begin to live inside that label. What starts as self-awareness quietly becomes self-definition. And over time, self-definition becomes a limitation.

Expanding your identity — and building a personal brand — isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about permitting the other side of you to be seen. Because most people aren’t lacking confidence, capability or range. They’re simply operating within a version of themselves they decided on too soon.

1. The Left Brain, Right Brain Myth 

It’s likely that at some stage of your education or career, you’ve been identified, or self-assessed yourself as left-brained or right-brained. 

The labels imply that if you’re a left-brainer, you’re either:

• Logical

• Analytical

• Structured 

Or, if you’re a right-brainer, you’re:

• Creative

• Emotional 

• Intuitive

The idea originated from split-brain research in the 1960s. Neuroscientists studied patients who had undergone split-brain surgery — a procedure that separated the two hemispheres of the brain to treat severe epilepsy.

These studies revealed some fascinating insights:

• The left hemisphere was often associated with language and sequential processing.

• The right hemisphere showed strengths in spatial awareness and pattern recognition.

Showing that certain functions were lateralised, it was a breakthrough - but it has also been misinterpreted.  These findings applied to extreme clinical cases, not everyday thinking.

The pervasive idea has led many to label themselves: 

• “Not a creative person”

• “Not a numbers person”

By using both parts of your brain, you’re not switching sides; you're synthesising. A large-scale study from the University of Utah (2013) found no evidence that people are dominantly left or right-brained in the way pop culture suggests.

Modern neuroscience brain imaging tells a far more refined story. Your brain is not divided into two competing personalities. But rather, it’s a highly integrated and sophisticated system, where both sides of your brain are constantly communicating with each other. 

Even the simplest tasks require collaboration:

• Speaking involves language, memory, emotion, and motor control.

• Creativity draws on both structure and imagination.

• Decision-making blends logic with intuition.

There is constant communication between hemispheres via the corpus callosum, which is a dense network of neural connections.

The beauty of your brain is that it is constantly working for you; don’t disregard half of its potential with limiting labels. 

Practise daily habits that build the “other side” of the brain. For example, consider Morning Pages journalling - a practice popularised by Julia Cameron to help you overcome ‘The Censor’ and get to what Cameron describes as the ‘other side’. I do this every workday and share more about this in my earlier blog, Create your ultimate day (in advance): Morning Pages & mini visualisations. 

Identity expansion challenge: 

• Ask yourself, “What have I been telling myself I’m not?”

• Try a task that uses the “other side” of your brain.

• Proactively alternate between left and right-leaning work in your day.

• Start a Morning Pages daily habit.

2. Yin and Yang 

Before science, there was an ancient Chinese philosophy that embodied the power of duality in a similar way - Yin and Yang. It’s not about either or, but rather both. Yin and Yang are not opposites but partners. The seemingly opposing forces form the whole. 

The black Yin side, among other things, symbolises:

• Dark

• Moon

• Water

• Coolness

• Softness

• Femininity 

• Passiveness

• Stillness

The white Yang side represents: 

• Light

• Sun

• Fire

• Warmth

• Hardness

• Masculinity

• Activeness

• Movement

As the dot within each represents, each exists within the other. Each is incomplete on its own.

When building your personal brand, remember you can be both. You can be the: 

• Technical consultant who creates content online

• The confident public speaker and introverted writer

Being the opposite of what you think you could be isn’t fake or inauthentic. It’s unlocking another side of what already exists within. In personal branding, contrast makes you compelling. Like in the best design, contrast makes key features pop.  In my earlier blog, The Art of Reinvention (Part 2): Being Seen in a New Light, I described how the best ‘skill stacking’ seeks to create complementary, yet unique and rare combinations of skills. 

Identity expansion challenge:

• Write down your contrasting traits, skills and interests.

• Identify where you can leverage contrasting skills to create a unique value proposition for your personal brand.

• Share one side of yourself you don’t normally show, e.g. in a post, meeting, presentation or report, show you’re creative or a numbers person. 

3. The Identity Trap of Personality Tests 

From the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to the Enneagram and more, there’s a reason why popular personality tests feel so compelling. They give language to something intangible. They are a quick win for clarity - at least perceived clarity. Personality tests are often fun to complete for team building and help you feel seen. They give you supposed proof points to claim: 

• “I’m an introvert”

• “I’m an INTJ”

• “This is just how I am”

But this instant clarity becomes your confinement.  What most miss is that most personality frameworks were never designed to be definitive. Traits exist on spectrums. They shift with context, environment and experience. They are also self-assessments. The danger of personality tests isn’t taking the test itself, but the moment you stop questioning them or seeing them as a label. At this point, you let “self-awareness” quietly become self-limiting. 

Not one to be an academic elitist, it is worth noting that Myers-Briggs, the most widely used personality test in the world, wasn’t created by trained psychologists, but by independent researchers and writers. This mother-daughter duo were deeply curious observers of human behaviour and child development. 

In the book, Personality isn’t Permanent, Organisation Psychologist Benjamin Hardy, PhD, makes a strong case against personality tests: 

“You are not a single and narrow “type” of person. In different situations and around different people, you are different. Your personality is dynamic, flexible, and contextual. Moreover, your personality changes throughout your life, far more than you can presently imagine.”

He instead says that psychological flexibility is the key to personal transformation. Not over-identifying with your current identity or perspectives. 

Instead of authenticity, which can merely be what psychologist Carol Dwek describes as a ‘fixed mindset’, aim for a ‘growth mindset’. Develop your skills through effort, learning and persistence, instead of being defined by natural-born talents or perceived shortcomings. 

Hardy also champions that you can actively reshape your identity by focusing on a "keystone goal" for your future self, rather than being defined by past experiences. Instead of personality, think purpose. 

Identity expansion challenge:

• Write down one label you identify with, e.g. “introvert”.

• Challenge it: “When have I acted outside of this?”

• Try one behaviour that contradicts that label this week.

4. Create an Alter Ego 

If you can’t imagine your current identity achieving your Future Self’s goals or purpose, enter the alter ego.

The world’s top performers understand the power of creating an alter ego. This is a performance identity, a ‘second self’ that helps you show up, especially in high-pressure moments. From Kobe Bryant to Beyonce and Bo Jackson, some of the best in their business, have used an alter ego to elevate their performance to new heights. 

In the book The Alter Ego Effect,  Todd Herman says: 

"The process of using an alter ego is not about changing one's fundamental self but rather about revealing the heroic qualities that are already within”

”I would encourage you to consider your 'alter ego' not as a mask you put on, but a mask you take off as you move closer to your true self.”

"Your alter ego gives you permission to be bold.”

Identity expansion challenge:

• Start creating your alter ego. For my top takeaways from The Alter Ego Effect and a step-by-step guide, see my earlier blog, Your Alter Ego Advantage: Secret Identities of Elite Performers for Moments that Matter

Giving your ‘Other Side’ permission

The “Other Side” of you isn’t something new; it’s already there. It’s the part you’ve been hesitant to show, the part that challenges the labels you’ve accepted. 

Expanding your identity and building your personal brand isn’t about replacing yourself or pretending to be someone else. It’s about acknowledging the full spectrum of who you are, from logic to creativity. 

When you give your other side permission to be seen, you unlock potential you didn’t know was possible. You move with more confidence, creativity and real authenticity — not by becoming someone new, but by becoming whole.