Authentically You

In his mini-book 10 Disciplines for Managing & Maximizing Your Energy Gino Wickman tells an insightful story of his surprise 30th birthday party. After the excitement of 100 people shouting “surprise,” Wickman was struck with the question, “Who am I going to be today?”?Would he be “boss Gino” or “crazy Gino” or “less-crazy Gino”??In his own words, “It was a wake-up call, and from that day on I was ‘authentic Gino’”?(Wickman, 2021).

Let me ask you a question.?Who is authentic [insert your name here]?

One of the values of our company, The Rhino Group, is integrity.?In the engineering realm, integrity, say of steel for example, means that it is consistent throughout.?There should be no variations in a steel I-beam, for example, if a structure is to be strong and resilient.?The same is true of an individual.

Individual integrity requires you to be authentically you.?You should not be one person with one group and another person with a different group.?Another word for someone whose self-identity is inauthentic is “hypocrite.” The word “hypocrite” originally referred to a theatrical mask in the first-century, Greek theater.?The word literally means “to respond from beneath,” describing the actors who spoke from beneath the mask.?They were pretending to be something they weren’t.

To help you identify your authentic self, allow me to borrow a concept from Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life.?In it he explains that each person has a unique S.H.A.P.E.?In the context of Christianity, the S stands for spiritual gifts.?For the sake of this article, we’ll let the S stand for strengths.?Every person has unique strengths.?A great resource for discovering your strengths is StrengthsFinder 2.0, a book by Tom Rath.?The premise of the book is that we thrive when we build on our strengths rather than attempting to correct our weaknesses.?

The H of S.H.A.P.E. is heart.?What are you passionate about??Finish this sentence, “I love it when…”?Or, on the flipside, “I hate it in…”?These statements have an uncanny ability of defining your passions.

A is for abilities.?What are you good at doing??Maybe you fix things or maybe you improve things.?Maybe you can play the oboe or do stand-up comedy.?You have abilities that are unique to you.

P is your personality.?Are you an introvert or extrovert??Are you task-oriented or people-oriented??Are you driven or laid back??These are aspects of your personality.

Finally, E is for your experiences.?We all have different origin stories.?We’ve experienced life differently and we bring those experiences to bear on how we respond to life.?Your family of origin, the trials you’ve faced, and the victories you’ve had all shape who you are.

Your ability to define and understand your S.H.A.P.E. will multiply your value at work, at home, and with friends.?It will bring integrity to your work as your authentic self is who your co-workers and customers encounter with every engagement.?The stress and wasted energy of trying to remember which mask to wear with which people will be lifted off your shoulders.?You’ll be freed from the imposter syndrome, the fear of being exposed as a fraud, because you’ll be living out of authenticity not simply trying to fake it until you make it.

Stop hiding behind a mask. Let the world see the authentic you.