How often do you find yourself saying 'I'm sorry'? Or justifying or over-explaining something? As much as we can convince ourselves this is all about being polite, I think there is a large cost associated with this. Check out the clever Pantene commercial below, which makes the point beautifully (this one is directed at women specifically)...
How about being unapologetically you, rather than apologetically you?
It seems to have been a theme in my life, and also my blogs over the last year*. After years of justifying, over-explaining and apologising for what seems to be everything, i am now relaxing into being unapologetically me. Phew! It's a bit hard for a reformed people-pleaser and I know I am not alone in this.
I don't think this gives me (or anyone else) permission to be a jerk about it, we do have some social and human constraints that serve us well to live within, butI think that there are so many people living lives which are not really them! And if they stopped looking outside of themselves for answers, and checked into 'where their energy is', I think they would be pleasantly surprised.
One insight that I have experienced,as a result of 'going where the energy is' is that this is what really lights me up. Helping people work out to be unapologetically them. And I seem to have been able to cram my many years of researching and exploring this and related topics into four simple models, which I am going to share over the next couple of blogs via video. Here is the first model, the overview!
Have a watch of the video where I go into the concept in a bit more detail, butI truly believe that these are the things in your life that you want to be looking at if you want to experience a life of freedom and being unapologetically you. And this isn't me telling you how to do this, it's giving you some questions so that you can come up with the answersyourself! Because, in my opinion, blindly following others doesn't seem to work that well.
- Your personal ROI - how you can prime the canvas, and ensure you are investing your energy, time and resources into the four key areas of life in a way that works for you.
- Your unique creation - what is it that you personally would love to do or create based on your own uniqueness, personality and style?
- Your influence strategy - how can you get out there and get known to make this unique creation come to life?
- Support and structures that serve - what support, resources and rituals can you put in place to help you architect your life and career in the above three areas?
The event I am hosting in two weeks in Auckland will go into this in way more detail, click here for more info. I would love you to come along (or invite someone who you know who it might be relevant for) if you feel like you might be living a bit of an apologetic or simply 'not you' kind of life. OR it's actually not bad, but you think it could be better! Imagine how different our lives would be if we were doing what we wanted to do, instead of what we felt we should, or were limited to doing?
Thanks and have a great week.
