ONE QUESTION

Is there a version of you that has more potential?  What is that person capable of?

ONE THING TO PONDER

People are often jealous of what you have, but are rarely jealous of how you got it.

ONE PERSPECTIVE

Inauthenticity

There are few things more exhausting than being someone or something that you’re not. And if you’re ‘trying’ to be authentic, you’ve already missed the point.

Too often, we live a scaled back version of ourselves because we don’t actually know ourselves that well or we fear being ‘truly known’.

So if I boil it down, it seems to me that the reason we aren’t authentic comes down to a lack of courage and/or a lack of self-awareness.

There is significant power in truth, even when we don’t prefer it or when it causes pain.

The first step in being authentic is having an accurate self-awareness.

A lack of self-awareness eventually leads to insecurity.

It takes courage to be authentic. A byproduct of being inauthentic is regret - 100% regret…so it seems that the choice is either courage or regret?

So how do we boil down authenticity?

Authenticity is Alignment in 3 Things:

1. What you think.

2. What you say.

3. What you do.

If you suffer from imposter syndrome, you’re likely not aligned on at least one of these three things.

Loneliness = Constantly trying to fit in but never being the real version of yourself. It’s scary to think about how lonely things feel when you’re around other people but still feel isolated.

The cause of that has to do more with you not being yourself than it is about not fitting in.

The job of every single one of us should be to align those three ingredients for the benefit of ourselves, not others.

The hardest thing to do for the majority of us is to have those three line up. It is no simple feat.

1. We first have to know what we think and believe it to be true.

2. Then we have to be willing to say the hard things knowing we’re inviting vulnerability to be judged, wrong or disagreed with.

3. Then to follow up with actions that support that narrative.

The smaller the gap between what you say and what you think, the more you’ll trust and believe yourself.

The wider the gap between what you say and what you think is where all the tension hides. And it’s only hidden because you choose to stay so ‘busy’ that you don’t have to acknowledge it.

When you’re truly honest and authentic, it can be jarring to people. That’s really unfortunate.  

And I can give you a very simple example.

If someone invites you to something and you don’t want to go, you buffer your ‘no’ with some arbitrary reason:

- I’m busy

- Things are hectic

- I can’t

But the truth is, you may just simply not want to go…but we don’t say that.

Yet what if you simply and respectfully said I don’t want to go. It takes courage. And people have to come around and be ok with it.

We can’t possibly want or have interest in doing everything and being everywhere. So why not simply state your truth.

When you’re able to be that honest, not only will people respect your NO, but they’ll also trust your YES.

When you're authentic, your relationships grow.

When you’re authentic, your business grows.

When you're authentic, your wealth grows.

So what do we do moving forward?

Start with becoming more self-aware and then develop the courage to be that version of yourself. It’s simple, not easy.

Onward and upward!

PODCAST

Mastering Patience, Tenacity, and the Power of Positivity

The GaryVee Audio Experience

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

7 Spiritual Laws of Success
by Deepak Chopra