Because if there is something that you, me and all the people who are reading this article have in common, it is that we want to be happy. Every decision we make, in the long run, we make it looking for happiness: either because it will make us directly happy or because it will avoid suffering (and by doing so, we will be defending our happiness).

Think about one thing: what do a person who enters a confessional in a church, a person who goes to a night club, and a person who enrolls in a university have in common? That all three think that they will be happier when they leave. Happiness is our essential pursuit, consciously or unconsciously. That is why I wrote “Offices-Proof Happiness” in 2017 and now, in 2020, I've published “The Happiness Manifesto”: because we all need emotional survival and personal leadership tools to get through everyday life.

It's very important. And, more than important, it is vital. See: personal branding is not something you can choose to have or not to have; it's something you already have right now. Summing up the concept, we could say that the personal brand is what they say about you when you are not there. And your brand bears your name: “Dayan Candamil”, “Sylvia Ramírez”, “John Parker”, etc. You can't not have one. Therefore, the key point is to make a deliberate effort in the configuration of your personal brand, in such a way that from now on you are remembered for the reasons that you want to be remembered and not for the random attributes that others assign you.

Regardless of whether you are in the world of business or not, having an influential personal brand is crucial to achieving three things: being noticed, being remembered and being preferred, being the favorite choice. There is Holy Grail to success.

The starting point, curiously, is not your external image (the way you look is just a reflection of the woman inside). The starting point is an exercise in personal observation where you answer these questions:

• Who am I?
• What is the unique solution that I can bring to other people’s lives?
• Why should they have me on the team? (or do business with me, or marry me, or be friends with me, etc.)
• Why should they do it now?

First, understanding that human beings are not one way: within each one of us there are not just two, but there are millions of different personalities. The first thing to understand is that having different facets is not the same as betraying yourself: changing your profession is not betraying your essence; quite on the contrary, it is to evolve. Additionally, it must be borne in mind that science is allowing us to live longer and longer: in this current scenario it is perfectly normal to change occupations about four times in life (and I am not exaggerating).

And secondly, to find your path there are three questions that, in my opinion, are very useful:

• What do you love to do?
• Within those things you love to do, which ones are you really good at?
• For which of those things that you love to do and that you are good at, would the market be willing to pay?

Where those three paths converge, boom: that's where your comparative advantage lies.

Habits make us who we are. James Clear said it in a lovely way: "Our life will never live up to our expectations but will always come down to the level of our habits." Our habits are everything.

Think about one thing: quite often, the only difference between yourself and the person you most admire is one habit. And the interesting thing is that often it is not about something that person can do and you cannot, but it is simply something that that person does and you do not. Period. Will, determination, and self-love play a definite role here.

Sure!

Every day I meditate for about 30 minutes (sometimes it is a disastrous 30 minutes, because I can't concentrate, but I always respect that space and I don't get frustrated if I don't do it right).

I dance almost every day. Look: dancing is what I like to do the most in life. I am far from being an expert and I can't do ballroom dance steps. Anything like that. What I do is I make sure I lock the door (because I'm very shy and don't want to be seen by accident), I put on my favorite salsa playlist, I turn up the volume, and I dance! I dance around 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Here begins the challenging part for many: every day I study for about 4 hours. Whether it's reading, listening to lectures or reviewing notes from seminars I've attended, I study every day.

The rest of the time I take care of my social networks (doing so meant for me been chosen as one of the 12 most influential voices in Latin America on LinkedIn, as one of the 20 opinion leaders worldwide within LinkedIn in Spanish by Entrepreneur Magazine and as one of the 100 leaders of Colombian society by Gerente magazine. The presence in social networks at this time of history is transcendental).

Of course, I also spend time with my friends, my family and I always reserve a space for the unexpected!

Being happy! Hahaha, could there ever be more beauty than that?

I’m just kidding. My beauty habits are very simple: I dance or try to move daily, I drink lots of water, I try to vary the kinds of fruits that I eat daily and I never, never, never leave my house without using sunscreen on my face.

2020 was a year that tested what many of us thought about ourselves. Did we think we were disciplined, focused, loving, generous, compassionate people? During this year you got to see how true that was.

Likewise, 2020 was the year of realizing that our actions of today do determine our future: in several cases, what we did a year ago determined the kind of things we are experiencing today.

In short, 2020 was a year to review, clean and project ourselves.

I love decoration! I believe that a beautiful space (in each one favorite’s style) can bring a lot of happiness to our lives. What's more: when I am checking the level of happiness in the main areas of a person's life, I always start by asking: how satisfied do you feel with the physical space around you?

From the house line of House of Candamil I LOVED the hand-painted Sicilian tableware: I was sent back to the little streets of Taormina, where I have beautiful memories. What I like the most is that they are thoughtful pieces, delicately chosen, charming in every possible sense.

Osaka (let the chef choose for you)
Ushin (on the top floor of the Grand Hyatt hotel)
Madre (the best pizza downtown Bogota)

• It's not a secret: the sunsets by the sea in Santa Marta are gorgeous.
• The beaches of Capurganá (I’m still dreaming of going there; I have not got the chance yet)
• And, of course, the most beautiful thing in the country: the Chicamocha Canyon, where I was born.