Make an effort to discover your signature

other people’s signatures.
I agree, it is not easy to comprehend what we as individuals stand for. Very few people know their mission in this orbit neither are they aware of what the outside world sees in us or identify us with.

There is no need to crack your head on this jigsaw puzzle. Start with the basics such as part of your work is part of your signature.
If your lifestyle is dominated by work-related or religious or community-based activities, those will become part of your signature.
Some skill set dominates your signature (matrix of all of things you do) People remember the domineering ones which can either be positive or negative. Which ones are your dominant activities or skill sets?

You have to make an effort to discover your signature and possibly improve it or modify it in a way you would like to be remembered with.
There is the natural signature which all of us are born with and can be further developed through education, interaction, technology, jobs and skills acquisition. In addition, your signature can be enhanced by reaching out to help other people.

Let your signature be known
Broadcast what you stand for. Whatever you do, let it be known that’s what you stand for.
Over the years I have made it known that I am a bass fisherman and I am known as the bass fisherman by the outside world more than as Ben Chiganze. Signatures are not for managers only but for low-level employees as well. I have seen messengers with trademarks before. Good signatures enhance your network of useful people around you.

Action
At times signatures are obtained by doing something which appears obvious but no one would have taken the initiative to implement it.
In Israel, there were so many rich and poor people who had access to graves but it is only Joseph of Arimathea who had the courage to ask Pilate for the body of Christ.

He later lay Jesus in his memorial tomb (Matthew 27 verses 57-60). Signatures are not obtained by doing something out of this world but by solving a specific need at the time.

Most of us realise a need, talk about it and do nothing thereafter. Signatures only belong to people who accept the responsibility to act on opportunities as they arise.

Paying attention to detail
Most of us do not realise that life is a journey, which starts from point A and ends at point B.
During the course of the journey others choose the path which takes them to the desired destination and others just take any road hoping that they will be lucky along the way and eventually arrive at the desired destination somehow.

The luck factor is at times the most anticipated key drivers of their signatures. Ultimately the type of signature, which emerges from people who use any road to get to the desired destination, is in most cases the mediocre X signature.
Signature development requires careful attention to detail, concentration and well thought-out strategic direction.

Attaching value to your work
Have you ever wondered why in a bank or supermarket, customers prefer to queue at one teller’s point even when there are other tellers who will be free.
Sometimes a bank can be identified with certain tellers and not the managers. Customers identify or feel free to be served by people who attach value to customer’s needs.

Service kings can found at every workstation though people with “x” signatures dominate most workplaces.
You just need to put extra effort to please the customer and the customer will be forever glued to you.

Guarding jealously your signature
Most chairmen rush to put their signatures on highly profitable enterprises and disappear with their signatures when such companies start making losses.
The signature is a logo of an individual. Company logos are extremely valuable assets which must be protected from would-be vultures.
You have to be conscious of where you put your signature. Even when it comes to board appointment, only agree to serve company boards of directors you know very well. Some board appointments can soil your reputation forever.

Benefits of a good signature
Most people do not have anything they can be identified with except the names, which their parents have given them.
Beyond that there is nothing else. Most people forget that people do not remember easily names of people who do not contribute anything to their lives.

People all over the world pay a premium to obtain a peculiar skill on an energetic person.
Once you are known for serving or pleasing your customers better than your peers, you inevitably begin to appear different from your peers.
This becomes your source of differentiation, which draws more customers to you than your competitors.

Goodwill
Good and well-nurtured signatures create goodwill. Goodwill is a springboard of creating wealth for yourself.
Everyone wants to be associated with a good brand though many are not conscious of the need to be good brands themselves.
This implies that a good signature helps you to reduce your cost of transactions in terms of networking and advertising costs.
Paul sums it brilliantly when he says, “You are our letter, inscribed on our hearts and known and being read by all mankind” (2Cor3v2).

Letters are known to bring good or bad news. Human beings can be a channel through which people are cursed or blessed.
What do you convey when people see you? My challenge to you today is to find out what type of letter you are.
Are you a commodity “X” or a styled signature. It is never too late to convert an X into a classical signature. The difference between the classical signature and an X is you.
Never mind what you are doing at the moment, you can still leave a long lasting impression.
Signatures or permanent marks are not left only but those who do something out of this world but also by those who move just an extra mile to make life easier for somebody.