Most of us want success. Ambition is good, right? Yes, it is absolutely normal to want to achieve goals in life. But, how should you go about it? You’ve got goals, but how do you get where you want to go? What traits do you need to get there?
There are many questions surrounding success and how to achieve goals. There are also a lot of standard answers, like the importance of having grit, integrity, confidence, and a creative edge. But have you ever considered how being authentic can create success in our modern world?
Authenticity goes way beyond the absence of fakeness. It is so much more. Being authentic means being the real deal, being genuine. It is the opposite of counterfeit. To be authentic is to be yourself.
Believe it or not, there is a direct link between being authentic and achieving success.
6 ways authenticity can improve your success:
- Authenticity Can Simplify Decision-Making
Being authentic means, you stay true to yourself. As a result, you remain true to your goals also. Authenticity makes it easier to choose your next steps because everything you do reflects your core values and helps create a path to where you want to go.
- Authenticity Can Protect You from Negative Influences
If you’re authentic, people who aren’t as open or truthful in their own lives will tend to shy away from you. Even when they don’t, your inherent honesty makes it easier for you to spot people who aren’t as authentic as you are.
- Authenticity Causes People To Gravitate Towards You
When you’re authentic, people sense that they can trust you; they want to be around you. Are you looking for people to work with on a project? You’ll have plenty of volunteers. Even in social situations, you will find yourself the center of attention more often. You can make stronger connections with people interested in helping you on the road to success.
- Authentic People Are Quick to Learn New Things
Authentic people are usually self-aware and don’t waste a lot of time lying to themselves about their talents, training, and abilities. If they get stuck or don’t know what to do next, they’re more likely to look for solutions and find them, leading to more successful outcomes. If they need additional training to learn new skills they tend to be more open to learning versus putting up a “know it” facade.
- Authentic People Tend to Have Fewer Regrets
How many times has your gut tried to tell you something or someone was wrong, or that you were heading off on a tangent? Authentic people tend to pay more attention to these feelings. Paying attention to your gut feelings will put you ahead of the game because, more often than not, your intuition is right. When it comes to making other decisions, authenticity will guide you to do what you really want to do, over what you ‘should’ do. Listen to your intuition, and you’ll find you have fewer regrets and more achievements.
- Authentic People Are Seen as Having Integrity
Reputation matters. It is perhaps the most significant factor in achieving true success. If people see you as being ‘real,’ they’re going to support you in whatever you do. Success comes naturally from here.
People who are authentic seem to have more clarity about what’s important to them. They don’t waste a lot of time jumping through hoops trying to people please because it doesn’t make any sense. Instead, they use their time and energy in more productive ways to create the outcomes that matter most to them. As a result, they tend to be happier, calmer, and less stressed. They have little in common with “the Jones” and are therefore able to focus on the vision that they see for themselves versus keeping up with an elusive standard. Being authentic pays off in many ways, success is simply one of them.
Be yourself. It’s worth it. It will pay off in the end.
Be well + prosper,
Elaine xx
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