Where were You When They Announced the First Lockdown in 2020?
By: Erwin Lima
Tags: Employee Engagement, Lockdown, Purpose, Covid 19, Brand Strategy

I’ve said it a couple times these last few weeks, and I’ll say it again: it’s been a hell of a year for many of us.

It sure as hell has for me, personally. I’m exhausted. But I’m still here, sharing my insights with you.

If anything, this year has made us, made me, reexamine who and what we’re about — who and what we really want to be. At the core, I believe, for many of us, it comes down to a few simple things:

We want to be able to sustain a healthy, happy life for ourselves and those we love. We want to be able to grow and become the best we can be;

We want to be able to provide value for others; to help others with that which we are good at and passionate about; our Vehicle and our Purpose;

And we want to be free.

Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher once said:

“No man is free who is not master of himself”.

I believe that that’s more true now than ever.

Personally, I tend to translate that to:

“True freedom starts from within.”

True freedom does start from within. Also, and maybe especially, in times like these. There is much uncertainty. For individual human beings; for you and me, as much as for organizations and brands; leaders of business.

What will we still be able or allowed to do next year? What will we be able to financially sustain? Who will we be able to see, talk to, and touch?

Who will we be allowed to grow into?

To find freedom, to find or maintain the way we sustain our life, our health, and our happiness, and to enable our growth — to find a place from which we can provide value to others by doing what we’re good at and what we love, all starts from within.

That’s what our journey with SparQle has been about this year. That’s how we rebranded for the second time in the first six months of our existence, from full Online Marketing & Branding Services to being about Brand & People Development:

We found out that building brands and building organizations is really about building up people and aligning their Purpose and values with the Mission and values of the brand. That means it’s also about finding people’s and organizations’ Purpose.

It’s been a rough year for me personally.

I was coming off of recovering from a burnout last year, ended a solid tenure as marketing strategist of five years and started a new job, bought a house and then lost my new job as a result of the covid-19 crisis.

I published a new book on the impact of digital technology on our mental state, and started this interesting and promising new Brand Identity Consultancy company, SparQle, with some amazing human beings.

All the while we’re trying to get this startup off the ground — which is challenging enough in and of itself, let alone under 2020 conditions — in my personal life it’s also been an exceptionally tough year.

How the hell do you manage increased demands in all aspects of life with increased demands in all other aspects of life?

True freedom comes from within. True happiness, true growth, true value — it all starts from within and if you’re a company or business leader, it comes from alignment within. It comes from asking the right questions, especially in relation to Purpose, people, and alignment.

Are we doing the right things? Are we cultivating the right relationships, and are we doing so in the smartest way? Are we providing the best value we can, and how does that align with our Mission, our people, and the people we wish to provide value to?

All of these questions can apply to you as an organization as much as to you as an individual person.

For your holiday, here’s my wish and a thought for you.

I wish, no matter what 2021 throws at you and yours, that you find or maintain your health, and your happiness — and that of the people that matter to you. I wish that you find or maintain your way of providing value to others, in a way that resonates as deeply with them as it does with you.

Most of all, I wish for you to stay mentally strong, and psychologically healthy. And I wish for you to remain as free as possible. Remember, freedom is a state of mind — just like Victor Frankl found out in a nazi concentration camp, or as enslaved Africans found out in Brazil, when they created Capoeira — freedom starts from within.

To help you achieve all these things — or stay on track if you’re already on it — I have some questions for you to ponder on stolen moments during the upcoming holidays:

What’s your Purpose, or: how do you define it?

What is the value you wish and are able to create for others, that makes your eyes sparkle and your heart flutter when you think about it?

External events aside; what is it you’d really want to be, want to grow into?

I wish for you to find or reinvigorate your connection to your Purpose, my friend. Because I believe there, you will find everything else. Including your freedom.

Purpose will give you courage. Purpose will give you power and most of all, Purpose will help you choose. Choose how to spend your time, energy, and attention — within the degrees of freedom you actually have. Choose, whatever the external pressures or limitations.

True freedom, true happiness, true growth: they all start from within.

What do you choose?