When we were growing up, “brand” meant something seared onto cattle to identify their ranch and/or owner. Or a way to distinguish types of cola, breakfast cereal, or anything else at the supermarket. We never dreamt it could apply to people. Yet, these days everyone is telling us to discover and showcase our “personal brand”.

This is really just a modern translation of “who am I, what’s my identity, and what unique value can I offer the world (or at least those I’m with)?

We all want to stand out and be counted, in a positive way. We all want to know we matter. We all want the assurance that we would/will be missed when we’re gone because of something we contribute(d) that no one else could. We all want to be the person others come to for at least one thing.

But what do we do if everything we’re good at can be done by someone else that’s there? Or worse yet, what if someone else can do it better?

Give up? Compete? Keep striving to prove our worth to ourselves and others? Go through life feeling “not enough…” (whatever we feel we need to be)?

If we let our self-worth and “personal brand” be determined by our performance and other people’s opinion of us, the above alternatives will rule us. We’ll always be driven by the need to prove ourselves worthy of positive attention in some way, more and better than others, in order to justify our existence.

This drive begins the first time we find or recognize ourselves as part of a group. A family. A class. A neighborhood. A team. A church. A company. A club. An organization. That drive only intensifies when entry into that group depends on distinguishing and proving ourselves—such as certain clubs, friend groups, leadership boards, C-Suite, honor societies, etc.

How have we tried and/or succeeded at “branding” ourselves as the right-kind-of-special, while fitting in to belong?

Being the smartest? Funniest? Bravest? Best looking? Strongest? Most talented? Most innovative? Most authoritative? Most/best…?

What happened when that didn’t work? What happened when someone else came along that was smarter, funnier, braver, better looking, stronger, more talented, more innovative, more authoritative, more whatever?

Oh, the competition that ensued. The envy, the resentment, the hostility toward anyone perceived as a threat to our brand and place in the group. The frustration, despair, anger, and deeper resentment over losing our “title”.

Some of us respond by trying harder to beat the competition—doing whatever it takes to gain or regain that positive distinctive in order to be valuable. To count for something.

Others (like me), who dislike and avoid that competition, cede our title and either try to find another one or leave that group to find another one where we can be valued.

Sum of the above: Fight or flight. Survival mode. Self-preservation of our self-worth.

But there’s a better way. Let your “personal brand” be the mark of encouragement and inspiration you’ve left on other people’s lives.

Begin with gut-level knowledge that our “brand” doesn’t depend on edging others out, competing, or striving. Ultimately, whether it’s cattle, products, or us, “brand” shows who we belong to and/or who made us.

Trust and perceived value derive from the owner and maker, whether it’s cars, cows, clothes, or anything else. Our Owner and Maker is the Lord—perfect in knowledge, power, wisdom, capability, and love. He’s already proven Himself by creating the universe and everything/everyone in it. We don’t have to prove ourselves, since we carry His brand as our own.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Gen. 1:27

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Ps. 139:13-14

Yes, we do need to develop and maximize our strengths. Yes, we do need to give our best to whatever we decide or are asked to do. And if we distinguish ourselves in some way through that, all the better—as long as we do that with the motive to serve others and glorify the Lord, not get our worth from it.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Pet. 4:10