The personal branding process changed how I see myself.

I attended a personal branding workshop hosted by Chris Do, and it got me to started asking myself some deep and meaningful questions, like how/what I wish to be remembered by in my eulogy.

My curiosity about myself, and what my potential could be.
It began as an exercise, similar to how a student follows class and completes a worksheet. Having done branding many times, I know what the branding process is about. However, this is the first time I've done branding for a person instead of a business. It is the hardest person for me to brand - myself.

Although fonts and colours can certainly visually identify me as a brand, it is the purpose behind my words that would be the reason why I can create a personal brand for myself. In order to find my purpose, I dug deep to find my why (Simon Sinek explains it the best in his TedX speech, video to follow). The process of peeling oneself open layer by layer like an onion is emotional, and very uncomfortable, and very very exhausting for my partner.

For the next six months, every time I had an inkling of a thought about my purpose, I would grab my husband and describe my scattered ideas to him. I would count all the things I did since I was 5 that gave me a feeling of accomplishment, then nagging him to help me find the commonalities between each event so we can finally define north star for me.

The bulk of the work is still with me to recall what has made me tick over the past 30 years, but my partner has provided a pair of fresh eyes that have helped me break free of old thinking habits. Like any branding work, you can't read the labels from inside of the jar.

My purpose has been, and will always be - Help people identify what they need to break their limitations.

It was me at 7 years old, hacking the gears in my remote control car to override the speed limit. It was me at 17 years old, installing hard drives for PS2 to bypass region restrictions. It was me at 34 years old, creating a sticky paper-made photo frame for renters to overcome the white wall stigma.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

- C.G. Jung

This discovery did not change my life in a dramatic way like taking the red pill, but it helped steer me consciously toward doing more of what brings me fulfillment. Here are some of the things I have done since discovering my purpose that have brought me joy:

• Choosing to work with and for software companies because I believe that their products have the potential to break business limits. So far, I’ve worked with a few B2B SaaS companies—for branding to marketing campaigns—to tell stories about how their products transformed lives.

• Whenever possible, I expose myself to books and podcasts that will help me build self-confidence and break my limiting beliefs. I’ve always enjoyed learning for personal development, except I no longer learn for learning’s sake. It is now my goal to leverage them as tools to break my own limitations, and to make better communication, so I can help others break limitations as well.
• Ask my kids more questions - this is a tough one. My older one will find me annoying, and my younger one will just throw me random answers. By the time I finish asking the five whys, their small thinking faces let me know I've just opened their young minds to a different perspective. When they reach an age where they can contribute to society, I hope they can break society's textbook expectations.
• As I watched my mom undergo multiple spinal surgeries, I began to think about how I would cope with my physical limitations when I'm of age. I've always believed I was not fit since school age, through training with my very athletic husband I have now broken that limiting belief. I'm pretty confident now that I can go on hikes with my children when they reach their 30s.

Although my vision and mission may change during the different stages of my life, my purpose remain the same. As a parent, I am committed to helping my kids break past their limitations. As a professional, I enjoy using design as a tool to communicate complex ideas and features so others can identify the tools they need.

At the end of the day, I would like to be remembered in my eulogy as a person who was not only a great mother (fingers x), a good friend and a wonderful wife, but also one who helped others go beyond their limits.