A big field where I played rugby and cricket with other kids. We had our own tournaments going, even though we only had two or three players in the side. Cricket was played with no wicket keeper, any nicks behind were given out. We also limited scoring shots to the leg side only, off side scoring was not allowed. We had our rules in place, and the tournaments and matches played were memorable, and life changing. I only found out this year that one of the kids, a great childhood friend, died some time in 2008, which really saddened me because we had a lot of memorable times together.

We played rugby on a quarter of a full playing field, by playing vertically down in that quarter. So if you can imagine a rugby field for a minute, think of the goal line and the quarter mark, and imagine a group of kids, maybe 4-5 a side playing in that space. We had imaginary goal posts, so we kinda guessed if we kicked a drop goal, and we only had three in the scrum, but it was the memories that were created that have remained with me in my short 29 years of life.

The last time we played cricket I was in standard 7, grade 9, or about 15 years old, and since that time I have had little to no contact with any of my childhood playmates. Due in most part to people moving around, and moving to new neighbourhoods. I saw the friend that died a few times after that, but not frequently, and I guess it kinda signaled an end to that part of my life.

Looking back at these memories got me thinking about personal branding and finding inspiration in my life through stories. Stories are sometimes the best way to communicate a value or a lesson, and I can personally say that I have learnt most of my values through the lessons in my life. In saying that I guess the first important aspect of my personal brand is that I love stories, stories about life and stories that reflect determination and character. Playing cricket as a young boy was about being able to play cricket, no matter where we played. We had our favourite spots, but often our spots weren’t available and we made plans, we adapted. We even kept stats of each game for each player, and there was always a lot of competitiveness for being the player with the most runs or the most wickets. We were free though, free to play and be, and that is the second aspect of my life that I have always tried to treasure, freedom. You know the feeling you get when you are in a swimming pool and you are all alone and you can swim freely without knocking into anyone? Freedom to run around on open fields, to sleep late in the school holidays, to express yourself in any way you wanted to, thats what I valued the most. How do you reflect that in a personal brand?