In my post on turning 30, I talked about wanting to be more authentic – with others and myself. I talked about allowing people to get to know the real me, being honest and sharing what’s on my mind. And all of that still rings true.
In fact, the whole notion of authenticity has been making its way into my life a lot lately. Most recently in the Fierce Conversations workshop I attended in Chicago.
A Fierce Conversation is one in which you come out from behind yourself, into the conversation, and make it real. That to me screams authentic.
The workshop itself is built around 3 transformational ideas, 4 objectives, and 7 principles – all of which are extremely powerful. But what stuck with me the most is an example about authenticity from the Fierce Conversations book and something we talked about as a group.
In the book, the author, Susan Scott, talks about how when you squeeze an orange orange juice comes out no matter where you are. Oranges will never squeeze out apple juice no matter what you do to them. People should try to be the same way. Squeeze out YOUR authentic juice no matter where you are. For example, I’m a pretty talkative, opinionated person at home – that’s a part of who I am. And guess what. I am a pretty talkative, opinionated person when I’m at work…and when I’m with my friends.
Of course, the amount of juice you squeeze out can very well depend on the situation/environment. Sometimes even I have to tone down my talkative nature and sometimes it just happens naturally. That’s all fine and dandy, but at the end of the day, I want to be able to say that I still squeeze out Parita juice regardless of the quantity.
This is what being authentic is all about. While certain parts of your personality will be more prominent depending on the situation, you should always be YOU. And the juice should be the same no matter what.
The following quote is one of my favorites. In fact, I first came across it when Iattended the Fierce workshop with my previous employer. I think it summarizes all of the above in a different yet very powerful way.
Your turn – what does the word authentic mean to you?