Welcome to The Branding Room Only Podcast where we share career stories, strategies, and lessons learned on how industry leaders and influencers have built their personal brands. Now, let's get started with the show.
Hi everyone, it's Paula T. Edgar and welcome back to Branding Room Only. So many of you follow me on LinkedIn or elsewhere, so you may already know that for the past five years, I've taken what I call a summer sabbatical. That means from July through early September, I step back from new engagements to give myself the gift of a strategic reset.
So a summer sabbatical for me doesn't mean I disappear, quite the opposite. It means I become more intentional. I slow down in order to reconnect with myself, with my goals, and my strategy so I can come back in the fall fully aligned, fully energized, and fully on brand.
And I want to encourage you to think about what your own version of what that could look like because this episode is about how rest is also a branding strategy. So let's get into it. This episode isn't about what to stop doing in your branding habits, though we'll get into that in other episodes.
Today's about something you should be doing, which is resting. I know that might sound counterintuitive, especially for me, because I'm always talking about building your brand, being visible, and taking action. But let me be crystal clear.
Rest is not a break from your brand. Rest is the core part of your branding strategy. Your personal brand isn't just about your LinkedIn profile, your elevator pitches, panel appearances, or what you wear on stage.
It's also shaped by the energy you bring, the clarity that you offer, and the discernment that you demonstrate. And none of those things happen when you are running on fumes. One of the biggest misconceptions that I see, especially among high achievers, is that being constantly busy somehow equals being in demand, that you have to always be producing, showing up, speaking, sharing, posting, or you'll fall behind.
But here's what I know to be true, not just as a branding expert, but as a business owner, a keynote speaker, and as a human, is that your best ideas, the ones that shape your voice and deepen your impact, they really come when you're overwhelmed. They come when you give yourself space. Rest creates the conditions for insight.
It gives you distance from the noise so you can truly, actually hear yourself think and allows for your creativity and your confidence to refill. And that is why I take my summer sabbatical every year. It's not about vanishing. Y'all know I never do that. It's about protecting my capacity. So what does that look like? Every July, literally starting on June 30th, I announce every July, I pause new bookings.
So if you haven't booked something before June 30th, then we're not going to do something new until after September, in September. I reduce in the summertime non-essential meetings. I block time for restorations and reflection.
I don't stop working. I just work differently, more strategically, more aligned with my values. I reflect, I read, I dream, I strategize.
I still show up for clients I've committed to already, but I'm no longer on autopilot. I'm no longer reacting to the day by day. I'm creating from a place of intention. It's a reset. It's a recalibration. And honestly, it's one of the most important things I do all year for my brand.
Now, I know some of you are probably thinking, that's great for you, Paula, but I cannot take two months off. And that's fair. And that's where I want to offer some freedom.
You don't have to do what I do and go full sabbatical to benefit from the power of intentional rest. Enter what I like to call the sorta sabbatical. For a lot of people, this is more realistic, and it's just as effective as if you approach anything with intention.
So what could a sorta sabbatical look like for you? That might mean blocking off one day a week for deep work or thinking or rest. Maybe that's taking a week off the calendar, but using it for reflection, planning, and creative work. Perhaps for you, that's muting social media notifications for 30 days and using that time to journal, recharge, or just be more present.
Or it could be protecting your evenings and weekends and actually honoring those boundaries. Remember, the goal for your sorta sabbatical isn't absence, it is alignment or greater alignment. It's about disrupting your pattern of over-functioning so you can actually choose how your brand evolves instead of just reacting to what's in front of you.
Because when you're constantly in reactive mode, you start saying yes to things that aren't aligned. You know, I'm talking to you. You lose clarity, you sometimes lose your voice, and oftentimes you lose your power.
And that is when burnout creeps in and when your brand stops feeling like a joy and starts feeling like a burden, we don't want that to happen. When you pause, even briefly, you can ask better questions, like, what does my brand say about me right now? Is this chapter aligned with what I want? What do I want more of and what needs to go? And where have I drifted from my brand values? Those are the real brand-building questions, but they don't come in the middle of your busiest day after a meeting. They come, and the answers come, in your stillness, and stillness requires space.
Now, I know another fear people have around rest, and that's if you stop showing up that people will forget you. Let me go ahead and challenge that, because if you've been building with intention, and I hope you have, your brand doesn't disappear when you pause. In fact, it can grow stronger because people respect intentionality.
They respect boundaries. They remember those who return with vision and energy. I can tell you that I've seen it firsthand.
I've benefited from it every year. People can feel the difference between someone who's running on empty and someone who's grounded, clear, and strategic. So maybe, just maybe, your next branding breakthrough won't come from doing more.
Maybe, probably, it'll come from doing less. So here's my challenge to you this week. I want you to open your calendar, pick one window, an hour, a day, a morning, and label it brand recharge.
Not catch up on emails, not organize your desktop, just space, just time to be. Even if all you do is breathe, rest, and reflect during that time, that's still doing the work. Because remember, your brand isn't just about what you do, it's about how you make people feel.
And people are drawn to clarity, presence, and ease. Rest helps you reclaim all of that. So whether you're planning on a full summer sabbatical or trying out your own sorta sabbatical, I encourage you to do it with intention and trust that your brand will thank you.
And that's it for this episode of Branding Room Only. And if it resonated, and I hope that it did, I'd be so, so grateful if you shared it. And if you left a quick review to help others discover the podcast, you can do that at ratethispodcast.com/branding.
And of course, you can always find me at paulaedgar.com and connect with me on LinkedIn. Until then, rest well, reflect deeply, and stand by your brand. Talk soon.
