Authentic or Not- Defining and Ourselves

Why do you wake up and brush your teeth every morning? Why do you treat customers like royalty? Why do you treat yourself like the least important thing in the world? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines authentic as : “Being true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.”

How Authentic you?

So, do you know what your true spirit, personality or character is?
Can you pinpoint the parts of you that are genuinely you? Pinpoint the thoughts and desires that are not influenced by your environment.
In our personal lives and in business, it’s challenging to stand out and be our true selves.

This is because we get bombarded with ideas that tell us what we should be doing. They tell us, how we should be living. They define what is acceptable behavior or practices we should engage in.

So then, the best way to be authentic comes from a deep understanding of ourselves. Things that few of us take time to actually understand.

Da Always ‘Why’

While reading the book from Simon Sinek, “Start With Why,'' I came across this idea. It helps to test if you are being authentic.
Simon explained. For you to be the most authentic, you need to understand that everything you do reflects your beliefs.
Your beliefs are the reason why you do things. The actions you take, then go on to further prove what you believe.

Let's look at a personal and business example.

If you believe that you are going to live a long healthy life, then, your actions will support that belief. You will do this by engaging in physical activity, making healthy eating choices, etc.

But if you believe that you could die at any minute. If you believe that you will never be healthy because it is something based on the genes you inherited. Then making an effort to exercise and eat healthy would be a waste of time.

Let's say you have an event planning business.

You believe that you can make the planning process more enjoyable for your customers. So you will develop procedures that do so, and hire people that help to make this a reality. You will have fun while working. And try your best to make sure your customers aren't stressed.

If you believe that it is to make the most money you can. Then you will raise your prices, and focus more on how to get the best possible return.
You will focus on how to reduce cost. You will try to hire the best help you can get for the cheapest price. You will not care about making the customers stressed. Because your believe is that this business is about making money.

Soh Weh We Gane Wrong?

The problem is that you start doing things without understanding your ‘why’.

This makes it difficult for us to remain consistent with our actions.

Then, as individuals, it makes it difficult for people to trust us.

As businesses, it makes it difficult for customers to understand why we exist. We are then led astray pursuing strategies that confuse those around us.

The Challenge:

Take an action in your personal life and your business that you always do. Work backward and test consistency.

Then take time to reflect about why you do it. Do your words and actions resonate with the why? Think about it from an outsider’s perspective. Can others see what you believe based on your actions?

Remember, we don’t always need to be authentic to be successful. Yet, authenticity does help to make our success more long lasting. It helps to keep us more consistent. And it helps to build longer lasting connections.