Is Your Name Keeping You form Becoming Successful? Is My Name Keeping Me from Becoming Successful?

SEATTLE - Feb. 24, 2014 - PRLog -- Who would you trust more: Maciek Jozefowicz or Mick Jonze? Who do you think is more talented and more intelligent: Maciek Jozefowicz or Mick Jonze? Whose ideas are better: Maciek Jozefowicz's or Mick Jonze's?

How people perceive us is vital to our success. As the saying goes "Image is everything." And the name is more often than not the first thing that we perceive about a person. It is our first impression. There are fields where the name is not vital to your success, like sports. (Although would Michael Jordan have as many endorsements if he was Mikhail Jorowsky?)

Names matter. Would Martha Stewart be as successful if she was Marcina Stojowska? Of course not. It seems superficial to think this but it is true. People are tribal and they are judgmental. It is in our nature. We like being part of groups. Whether that group is based on nationality (Sochi Olympics show our tribal nature in its most colorful and inspiring. The sea of flags is very picturesque.), on skin color, on job, on income level, on education level, etc.

We pre-judge others based upon tribe affiliations: those in our tribe are better than those outside our tribe. (Unless it is one of those exclusive tribes we always wanted to be part of but were not good enough to get in.) We trust those who are similar to us and mistrust those who are not. And names symbolically represent similarities and differences.

Of course, it could also be about aesthetics. Some names are more attractive than others, just like some people are more attractive than others. But while we have very limited control over changing our looks, we have total control over changing our names. Those changes can be small and cosmetic. Picasso's original name was Picaso, one "s". To copy Matisse (and may be Cezanne) and make his name less Spanish and more French (French culture was seen as superior, so any association with it could only help his image), he added the second "s." Picaso, a Spaniard, becomes Picasso, the art genius. How much value that second "s" added to his paintings cannot be scientifically determined. But I think it made a significant difference with the rich American collectors and how they perceived the artist and his paintings. They were buying culture, after all, and they wanted reassurance that it was high culture that they were buying. That extra "s" gave them that reassurance.

So, can Maciek Jozefowicz, the looser, become Mick Jonze, the winner, simply by changing his name and thus his image and his tribe affiliation? It seems absurd and silly to think so but reality and human nature are often absurd and silly. Does a name have the power to give you confidence? Does it have the power to do the opposite? Any psychologist knows how a small difference in self-confidence can change your entire life. A name can have that effect. It can be a burden or a source of pride. And that burden or pride begins with the introduction, "Hi, I'm Maciek Jozefowicz" or "Hi, I'm Mick Jonze," and the initial, subtle reaction of the person in front of you.

I think I should have changed my name long time ago. When I came to America at the age of 11, my name no longer fit-in and maybe that is why I didn't feel like I fit-in. The most important question to me now is whether changing my name at the age of 42 will make that one vital difference and initiate the domino effect that will take me all the way to my goals and my dreams and lead me to become what I have the potential to become? (My next Kickstarter project for the MazeScroll Series begins March 1. Would more people back this project if it was by Maciek Jozefowicz or by Mick Jonze? (For more information check out www.konokopia.com))