What does it mean to be authentic, and how can knowing that help you as a Reinventer?

Reinvention is a moving closer to your true self, a move towards becoming more authentic.

Authenticity is a word that is so vague and ubiquitous that, in my mind, it is at risk of losing it’s real power.

Fast Company to the rescue. I just read an article in the May 2007 issue of Fast Company magazine, entitled “Who Do You Love? The Appeal - and Risks - of Authenticity”, by Bill Breen. It’s an article about branding, and it says that “Authenticity is a priceless commodity.” And “Hunger for the authentic is all around us.”

The article inspired me to write about authenticity and reinvention.

As a reinventer, authenticity is a priceless and powerful internal motivator for you. It’s the True North of your reinventer’s internal compass.

The article mentions that the word “authentic” is derived from the Greek authentikos, which means “original”. The dictionary I checked defines authentic as “genuine.”

But, enough of the interesting facts. How can paying attention to authenticity help you as a reinventer?

The brilliance of the Fast Company article, for me, is that it mentions four specific things that it takes to be authentic:
• “A sense of place
• A strong point of view
• Serving a larger purpose
• Integrity”

The article is definitely worth reading, especially if you are interested in branding, but it’s even more valuable for you personally as a reinventer, because these specific criteria give you a way to make authenticity tangible.

When you are being authentic, you tap into flow and internal power, and you have more energy and clarity to move you forward.

So let’s take these criteria and put them into the context of something you can actually use, to align yourself with true authenticity, and access internal power and clarity.

The four Fast Company criteria for authenticity, translated for reinventers:
• A sense of place. Your place, as a reinventer, is your heart. You need to have a sense of your heart in every decision you make about what direction to take in your reinvention. Logic and rationality are important, too, but everything you do has to sync up with your heart. How does each decision feel to you? Does it move you in the direction of more joy?
• A strong point of view. One of the most challenging things for me as a reinventer was, and continues to be, that I pretty much have to leave the good opinions of others out of the equation and cultivate my own point of view when I am setting the course for my reinvention. It just isn’t practical to consider every opinion, because everyone usually has a different one, and in the distractions of so many various perspectives, I lose the truth of my own heart. I can’t expect anyone else to know what is best for me when I am charting a unique and authentic course. They aren’t living from my own passions, desires and experiences. After I have honed in on my own internal compass, I can obviously take into consideration the needs of others close to me, but I always check with myself first, so that I can get a clear signal.
• Serving a larger purpose. Reinventers are in the reinvention game for fulfillment and a sense of purpose. Most of them are in it to find a way of contributing and giving back to the world that maximizes their talents, passions, and fills them up as they give back to others. Keep checking with yourself to discern your larger sense of purpose. What are your personal mission and vision? What fills you up? How do you want to serve? In authentic, joyful service is the greatest and truest prosperity, tangible as well as intangible.
• Integrity. The state of being whole and undivided. Being internally congruent. That power that comes when all of you is ‘on board’ with the direction you are headed. Check to be sure that your actions are a match to your intentions.

Thank you, Fast Company and Bill Breen. Whenever you feel lost or stressed in your reinvention process, I invite you to consider the wisdom of these four criteria and find out how aligned you are with them. Check in with each of them. Find out where you might be just a little bit off, and then make the adjustments to once again find your authentic path.

START HERE:

Action: Use this checklist frequently to guide your decision-making in your reinvention.

Insight: What is the power of authenticity for you?

Filed under: Being a Reinventer, Tools on May 5th, 2007