I was just recently introduced to the concept of being “authentic”. As soon as I heard it, it really struck me.
I realized immediately I have been a master of “Fake It Till You Make It”. It did work for me, quite successfully, many times in my life.
I can’t even speak against that as a strategy. Certainly when you are starting out.
But I’m in a different place today. I’m over faking it. Now I strive to be 100% authentic with everyone I deal with in my life.
That includes this blog. I’ve been trying to be honest that the road to success is tough. Many of the stories I’m sharing now here, I’ve never told before. It’s easier just to promote the positive and hide the negatives. Or somehow that by sharing the negatives might prevent me from reaching the success I was after.
The feedback I’ve received is that people really appreciate when they hear me share my challenges, whatever they are, because they are often facing the same things.
I still wrestle with self-doubt, anxiety, fear of failure (or success), planning for all the negative “what ifs”.
But now I share them. I throw them out into the world. I find this takes their power away. It makes me feel better, and seems to help others by hearing it.
People far more successful than I wrestle with this. People that have more money than me worry about losing it all. People in glass tower offices fear they’ll be found out as fakes. We all feel like we don’t know what they hell we are doing.
When I hear about those people having the same challenges, it made me feel better about myself. So that’s why I’m sharing this now.
