We all have a reputation.<...>
What people know about you will either drive them towards you. Or away from you.
The question is thus how to build the reputation that will be most beneficial to you? Or that will help you make progress towards your goals?
I have 150 easy steps. Give or take.
And I won't pretend that I didn't stumble my way into this wisdom.
I live in the countryside, in a small estate that has about 500 houses. So it's small enough that gossip news travels efficiently.
I've run more than 1500km since the beginning of the year on about 150-odd individual runs.
Guess what? People have noticed.
I now have friends, contacts, along with people I don't know start conversations with me about running, because they've seen me run.
The other day a friend of a friend asked my friend what I do for a living, because he always sees me running when he is in town.
I also have friends that comment on my quirks whilst running, which includes air drumming, headbanging and doing my best Screamo impressions. (Note to serious runners: this is not the most efficient running technique if you're looking to preserve energy.)
The thing that intrigues me is that my runs are mostly random... Different times on different days. Different routes. I wear different outfits. On longer runs I have my camelbak. Etc.
The one constant has however been that I've been running 5 days a week. Every week.
By pitching up consistently 150 times, I now have a reputation as a runner (and - apparently - wannabe rock 'n roll drummer).
There's no rocket science to this. I didn't actually do anything unique or special.
I didn't have a plan or agenda.
All I did was I consistently pitched up and did the same thing over and over again.
How are you building your reputation?