You Are Unforgettable – Srinivas Rao
SUMMARY
In this episode with Srinivas Rao, the host and founder of the Unmistakable Creative podcast, he’s going to tell us what we can do to become unforgettable and what limits ourselves to become unmistakable. He also discusses the importance of diversity in the input and exploring various avenues to improve your creativity.
According to him, there’s no step-by-step formula because if there is, it wouldn’t be unmistakable.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Unmistakable is creating something distinctive and unique that it’s recognized immediately as your work.The temptation that entrepreneurs have as individuals who study and interview other people is to look at what somebody else has done and do exactly what they did.
We have a temptation to look at something that works and try to copy it assuming that we get the same result.
We limit what’s possible for ourselves when we assume we will get the same results as others
The input that you’re taking in is incredibly important.
If you don’t have a diversity of input, there’s no way you’re going to have a variety of ideas.
Explore various avenues for your creativity even if those things have nothing to do with your core business.
A diversity of input leads to a variety of ideas, which leads to a lot more unmistakable, creative, and original work.
Know the perspective that you bring that other people don’t.
The more you try to come off as like, “Hey, I’m the authority on this” or “I’m the guru,” the less likely you are to be perceived that way.
The process of becoming unmistakable is taking out layers of expectations and removing them which requires a lot of experimentation.
You’ll get to the destination that somebody else has gotten to before you, but you’re not going to arrive at a new one by following a map.
Use people’s advice as a compass but draw your map.
TRANSCRIPTION: YOU ARE UNFORGETTABLE – SRINIVAS RAO
Luis Congdon
Hey, Thriving Launchers, today, we’re going to teach you guys how to become unmistakable, unforgettable, and how to have yourself stick out.
You are unforgettable and unmistakable and will be despite being in a world of herds and masses from today’s episode.
Kamala Chambers
Today, we’re here with Srinivas Rao. He’s the host and founder of the Unmistakable Creative podcast, and he’s a Wall Street Journal best-seller. We’re thrilled to have him here.
Luis Congdon
Hey Thriving Launchers, we’re excited to be here with you guys.
Let’s talk about being unmistakable, being memorable, and sticking in people’s mind.
Without further ado, let’s welcome today’s guest. Srinivas, welcome to Thriving Launch. Are you ready to launch?
Srinivas Rao
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.
Luis Congdon
You’ve done tons of interviews. You’ve written a Wall Street best-selling book and you are unforgettable, so it’s exciting to have you here to talk about the subject matter that interests you and us.
I just want to start by asking you what it means to be unmistakable. What does that mean?
What It Means When You Are Unforgettable And Unmistakable
Srinivas Rao
I define “unmistakable” as creating something so distinctive and so unique that it’s immediately recognized as your work, something only you could do in the way that you could do it. Like, you don’t even have to put your name on it.
The example I think embodies it so much is my friend Mars Dorian who’s a visual artist and illustrator. He does a lot of branding and logo work for us, and in many other people, but the interesting thing is he was the one who planted the seed for this idea in my head.
Others Knowing What You Do Because You Are Unforgettable
Srinivas Rao
If you look at anything Mars does, it doesn’t matter whether he does it for Unmistakable Creative or for another client. You can take one look at it, and you could say there’s only one person who could have done that and that’s Mars. He doesn’t even have to put his actual name on it. You just take one look at it, and you know that it is his. That is the core definition of it.
Why is it so valuable?
You Are Unforgettable Because You Resisted The Temptation
Srinivas Rao
If you think about the world we live in today, we live in an incredibly noisy world where tons of people are always competing for your attention.
The temptation we have especially as entrepreneurs, as people who study other people, as individuals who interview other people is to look at what somebody else has done, and to say, “You know what? I’m going to do exactly that, and I’m going to get the result that they’ve gotten.”
Now, it’s not to say that there isn’t value in modeling people. There are things that you can model, and you should model that work when it comes to habits, behaviors, and all sorts of stuff. They’re things that work in systems.
You Are Unforgettable When You Model Others
Srinivas Rao
The problem is we often, instead of modeling, what we end up doing is mimicking.
Demetri Martin did this funny sketch on The Daily Show where he interviewed a woman who was going to see a life coach, and she goes to the entire experience of life coaching. He asked her at the end. He’s like, “Have you seen a difference in your life since going to see a life coach?” and she’s like, “Yeah. I’m now a life coach.” It’s humorous, but it’s not an entirely inaccurate assessment on what happens in the world of coaching and personal development.
You Are Unforgettable Because Of You
Srinivas Rao
For that matter just in general, we have a temptation to look at something that works. We try to copy it and assume that we get the same result, but we don’t take into account that there’s one gigantic variable that will throw off that result, and that is us.
Not only that, we deny what’s possible when we do that. We limit what’s possible for ourselves if that’s the way we approach it.
Kamala Chambers
I agree with this.
I’d love to hear some tips from you on how we can do that. How can we be more unmistakable?
You Are Unforgettable Because Of Consumption Patterns
Srinivas Rao
One, you have to look at consumption patterns.
It’s very tempting to read the same type of book over and over again. I’m not as good about this as I should be.
But like people listen to a hundred podcasts, and they’re all about entrepreneurship or just a bunch of stuff with the same guest telling the same story.
You Are Unforgettable When Have A Diversity Of Input
Srinivas Rao
The input that you’re taking in is incredibly important.
Explore Avenues For Creativity For You Are Unforgettable
Srinivas Rao
The other thing I think is important is to explore various avenues for your creativity even if this stuff has nothing to do with your core business or core thing you’re known for.
I’ll give you an example.
One of the things I did, this was before Unmistakable Creative being what it is today, we started our show as a podcast for bloggers, and I taught myself how to draw for 30 days.
I discovered at the end of 30 days that I couldn’t draw our shit. That was the major take away from it, but what ended up happening was it made me start to see things in a very different way.
You Are Unforgettable Because You See Things Differently
Srinivas Rao
When we decided to rebrand the show as Unmistakable Creative, one of the first thoughts in my mind was, “Wow! This should be much more visually appealing and much more creative, and we should use visual art.” That kind of an insight probably wouldn’t have occurred if it hadn’t been for my interest in drawing like just having those 30 days in which I did something just for the sake of it.
Another place that is big for me is movies and music. Those are significant sources of inspiration.
You Are Unforgettable When You Approach Things Differently
Srinivas Rao
We planned an event in 2014. Rather than approach it as a conference, we approach it as a theatrical performance; taking ideas from the world of movies and music, opening with a film trailer, taking our speakers and turning them into these X-Men style super heroes, and making movie posters of them.
Again, that takes us back to the idea of what kind of input are you taking in.
Find Your Signature Style For You Are Unforgettable
Luis Congdon
To me, it sounds like it’s a lot about finding your signature style or your signature way of doing what you do, being able to verbalize and demonstrate some uniqueness.
I’m a podcast host for example. We want to add some twist to that.
Let’s say we’re a life coach or a fitness coach or a health coach. How do we add that unmistakable piece to the recipe so that people get our uniqueness?
Srinivas Rao
Again, that goes to, what is your actual unique story?
You Are Unforgettable And Have A Unique Perspective
Srinivas Rao
What is the perspective that you bring to this that other people don’t? That’s often based on your personal experience.
Ironically, the more you try to come off as like, “Hey, I’m the authority on this” or “I’m the guru,” the less likely you are to be perceived that way. It’s because you have to let your work speak for itself.
A big part of becoming unmistakable is experimentation.
You don’t necessarily wake up one day and say, “Okay, yeah. I’ve found the thing that makes me unmistakable.” It’s because what you’re talking about is dealing with years and years of social programming, and layers, masks, expectations, and judgments placed on you by yourself, and by other people. You have all this stuff.
You Are Unforgettable When Expectations And Judgments Are Removed
Srinivas Rao
A big part of this process of becoming unmistakable is taking out those layers and removing them. That requires a lot of experimentation.
The thing that is most frustrating to people about this idea is that it is very much a compass and not a map. I think what we tend to do is we want a map.
You Are Unforgettable When You Don’t Follow A Map
Srinivas Rao
Here’s what I always say about a map.
At best, you’ll get to the destination that somebody else has gotten to before you, but you’re not going to arrive at a new one by following a map. You end up just creating a pale imitation of something that already exists.
I think part of it is saying, “Okay, this is an unknown. I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out.”
When we rebranded as Unmistakable Creative, people thought we were crazy because we were doing pretty well with our brand.
Take Risks For You Are Unforgettable
Srinivas Rao
People thought, “Why would you change it as the podcast for bloggers?” And we’re glad we did it. It made a huge difference. It’s an entirely different style of the show. It opened up way more opportunities, but the thing is, it didn’t make sense to a lot of people at that time, and it was a big risk. That’s what I think is involved.
There’s no necessarily step-by-step formula to say, “Okay, this is what you do.”
You Are Unforgettable Because You Didn’t Have Any Formula
Srinivas Rao
If there were a formula for what you do, it wouldn’t be unmistakable.
Kamala Chambers
I think there’s this big difference between completely trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s not like you created your podcast hosting service and your podcast channel. You have the framework in place, but you built something entirely new off of what was already there.
That’s something inspiring. How can we find a new way to approach something or something that hasn’t been done before?
You Are Unforgettable For You Have Discovered Yourself
Kamala Chambers
I think that is a real process of self-discovery. What is it that we want to put out to the world? What is uniquely us?
Do you have any tips on discovering your unmistakableness?
Srinivas Rao
If we’re going to look at this from a very tactical standpoint, one of the things I found has been very informative and helpful in my practice is I write every day.
You Are Unforgettable Because Of Writing
Srinivas Rao
I wake up every morning, and I write a thousand words, and it’s the first thing I do before I even turn on the computer. I fill three pages in a most in a notebook. I write a thousand words, and then I do everything else that I’m going to do at this point as ingrained to habit as brushing my teeth
It’s not like a thousand words are poetic by any stretch of the imagination. Some days you’re just like “Wow, I can’t believe you wrote this. This is just complete crap.”
The thing is you do it enough days in a row, and it starts to become this reflective and contemplative process that reveals a lot to you.
Kamala Chambers
That’s great, and sometimes it helps to have some practice in place. Writing is such a great journey of self-discovery through that.
Before we go, are there any last thoughts you want to leave the Thriving Launchers with?
Srinivas Rao
I wake up every morning, and I write a thousand words, and it’s the first thing I do before I even turn on the computer. I fill three pages in a most in a notebook. I write a thousand words, and then I do everything else that I’m going to do at this point as ingrained to habit as brushing my teeth
It’s not like a thousand words are poetic by any stretch of the imagination. Some days you’re just like “Wow, I can’t believe you wrote this. This is just complete crap.”
The thing is you do it enough days in a row, and it starts to become this reflective and contemplative process that reveals a lot to you.
Srinivas Rao
Yes.
You Are Unforgettable Because Your Draw Your Map
Luis Congdon
I love this interview and the advice that you gave about taking a journal and taking some time to write, and how powerful that is. I’m actually in the process.
Hey Thriving Launchers, I want to queue you in here because this is where I typically wrap up and give some closing thoughts. One of the things I’ve taken away from today’s episode is the importance of writing. It’s something that I’ve been doing recently.
I’ve been spending a lot more time writing every single day, journaling, writing my thoughts, and then converting some of that stuff into articles, blog posts, and content to share with all of you, and all of the different ways you find us.
You Are Unforgettable Because You Connected With Yourself
Luis Congdon
Today’s take away for me is that if you want to be unmistakable, one of the key factors in that is taking the time to connect with yourself, and doing that through journaling.
Thriving Launchers, I don’t know what you got out of today’s episode, but I hope that today, we’ve helped you become unmistakable, unforgettable, and create a unique brand and way of existing for yourself.
Without further ado, guys, let’s close out, and keep thriving you all because you are unforgettable.
