12. The Authenticity Trap and How to Avoid it
Welcome to An Ordinary Tuesday, the podcast for people who want to create a life and future that feels like theirs.
I’m Helen Collard, and each week I’ll be sharing thoughts, ideas and conversations to help you get clearer on what you want, build your confidence, and take practical steps towards the life, business and future you want to create.
We’ll talk about the things that matter, the things that get in the way, and the small shifts in thinking and action that can lead to real transformation. Sometimes we’ll get into the practicalities of building a business. Other times, we’ll explore the questions we need to ask ourselves, the beliefs we need to challenge, and what it means to create a life on our own terms.
My hope is that you’ll find something here that makes you stop and think, see something differently, or feel ready to take that next step.
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My website: www.helencollard.com
The Next Chapter Pathway: Practical lessons, tools and support to help you create the life, build the business and become the person you want to be. www.helencollard.com/pathway
Free Authenticity Audit Workbook: The Authenticity Audit is a guided workbook to help you uncover the labels and expectations you’ve been carrying, work out which ones genuinely belong to you, and reconnect with what matters most. You’ll explore where you might be performing to please others, what you’re afraid they’ll see when you show up as yourself, and how to navigate other people’s reactions as you start making choices that feel more true to who you are.
Free Authenticity Audit Download
Free Find Your Place Workbook: Find Your Place - A Guided Workbook to help you get clear on your skills, your passions, what you can do, who you can help and to help you identify ways you can earn income through your strengths and interests.
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Shownotes for this episode:
Podcast 12: The Authenticity Trap and How to Avoid It
Authenticity. It’s everywhere on social media. We’re told to show up authentically, build an authentic brand and be unapologetically ourselves. But what does that really mean?
In this episode of An Ordinary Tuesday, I’m exploring the authenticity trap: the idea that we can present ourselves as authentic without ever doing the work to discover who we really are.
How much of the person you show the world is genuinely you, and how much is shaped by the expectations of other people? The labels you’ve carried for years, the roles you play, the opinions you’ve absorbed and the picture you have in your head of what a successful person or a good life should look like can all influence the way you show up.
I talk about the WAGOLL test — What A Good One Looks Like — and how easy it is to look at someone else's life or business and decide that their version of success is the one we should be aiming for. We can end up copying somebody else's style, ideas and ambitions while convincing ourselves we're being authentic.
We explore what it means to reconnect with your values, question what you really think, recognise where you're performing for other people, and get honest about what you're afraid they might see if you let your guard down.
I'll also talk about why your authentic self won't be everyone's cup of tea, why that's not necessarily a problem, and what happens when we stop trying to make ourselves acceptable to everybody. Whether you're building a business, looking for a new job or simply trying to work out what you want from your next chapter, this matters.
Because you can't build a life that feels like yours if you're too busy trying to be somebody you think you ought to be.
In this episode, we explore
What it really means to be authentic, why it takes more than copying the people we admire, how to recognise the labels and expectations we've inherited, and how to start making choices that reflect who we are and what matters to us.
We also look at the fear of being judged, the discomfort that can come when we change, and how to stop making other people's approval the measure of our success.
Your next step
I've created The Authenticity Audit, a free workbook to help you explore the labels you're carrying, reconnect with what matters to you, recognise where you might be performing, and find the confidence to show up more like yourself.
It's a chance to pause, ask yourself some honest questions and start working out which parts of the person you've become genuinely belong to you.
Download your free copy here:
https://www.helencollard.com/Authenticity-audit-sign-up
You can also explore The Next Chapter Pathway, where we work on building a strong foundation, developing confidence and habits, creating a business that fits, and designing a life that feels meaningful and genuinely yours.
Thanks for listening to An Ordinary Tuesday. I hope this episode gives you something to think about, and perhaps the permission to stop trying to be everything to everybody.
