Pursuing Authenticity Leads To Inauthenticity
Host: Isaac Mashman · February 4, 2022 · Episode 91 · 5 minutes
Transcribed from the episode audio and edited for names and terms. Wording can differ slightly from what was said; the episode itself is the record.
to Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman. Yo, yo, yo, what is going on everybody? I'm Isaac Mashman here and welcome back to another episode of your favorite podcast, Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, the show that is here to help you become a more capable individual through me sharing my experiences and knowledge in business, life, and personal growth. Before I jump into today's subject matter, I want to start off and begin this by telling you to be your authentic self. Okay, now excuse me while I go ahead throw up in the trash can that's next to me. That right there is something that many people have told you to be.
Be authentic. Be authentic to your audience. Be authentic to yourself. Be authentic to your business. Be, you know, be, be, have authenticity, right? And it's like they're, they're, they're feel good. They're motivational. They're, they're going to hype you up. And then you're left wondering, okay, what does authenticity mean? What does it mean to be authentic, right? They always mentioned the buzzword, but they never mentioned the definition of the word that they are creating buzz around.
And I'm here to tell you that by focusing on being authentic, you're actually going to ironically start becoming more inauthentic because now you have this question in your mind. Is this authentic? And what I'm about to say is what I'm about to say authentic to me. It's a buzz word. You are now questioning something that previously you didn't have to question. 20, 30, 40 years ago, people didn't have to question if they were being authentic. They were just themselves. I think authenticity is more so a product of a politically correct culture, which has some great benefits. I'm not here to deny that. But trying to be authentic and define that authentic self is going to push you farther and farther and farther away from your authentic self because you will start measuring yourself and your actions and your beliefs and your perspectives and all of these other things and you will compare them to the person who told you to be authentic.
Since when did you wake up in the morning and you ask yourself, am I being authentic, right? Or in a conversation you're like, is this an authentic response? And yes, if you're not in your head, you're not going to be asking yourself these many questions, but you're still going to be influenced by this whole authenticity conversation when you're making decisions, when you want to start a business, when you want to pursue something and you have this gut feeling, you have this instinctual feeling naturally that is going to tell you this is me. This is what I want to do or this is not what I want to do.
But now in this chase in this pursuit of authenticity, you are going to be going against that gut feeling because you want to make sure that you're being authentic. This this chase for authenticity is going to leave you broken. It's going to leave you in an opposite place of where you actually should be.
You're going to be farther away from being authentic by pursuing authenticity. Isn't that ironic? Isn't that something that you wouldn't quite expect? I want you to think about maybe a situation where you wanted to say something and you didn't say it because you're like, is this really authentic to me? And then you said something else, right? And maybe you've never been in a situation like that, but you have still heard these entrepreneurs, gurus, motivational figures ask, hey, you know, what can you do to be more authentic? I want you to be authentic. How did it make you feel first and foremost? Did it really make you feel good or did it kind of create this aura of confusion in your heart?
It's up to you to just be you. Build yourself into who you want to become because your authentic self of yesterday might not be your authentic self of today.
Who you were five years ago that was authentic to you. Isn't going to be who you are today. Authenticity is your genuineness. It's how much you are not fabricating the truth. It is the truth. It is your truth to use another word. But there are a few words that could use to really define what authenticity is because very simply it is you. It is your state. It is your belief. Stop pursuing it and start doing.