What happens when you take off your work mask? Authenticity means taking off that old protective mask and being real. Here are ways to decide if your behavior is outdated, and what to do about it.

There’s a natural human urge to fit in. It’s a survival thing. Everyone: You, me, him, her, we have all learned certain specific ways to adapt, be included, be part of the tribe.

We talk like the tribe, dress to impress, become part of the team. It’s all about being accepted, it’s all about safety.

We Do the Same Thing at Work.

And then something happens and the mask becomes too tight and you can hardly breathe. It may be from a lost sale, rotten feedback, or a dispute with a colleague.

You know it’s time to reinvent yourself and you tear the mask off. Then you look in the mirror and…there is a blank face staring back at you.

Anxiously you ask yourself how your world would change if you learned to find out what you really want, what you really need, who you really are.

Time to Break Free.

You look around and there are not a lot of role models of authentic behavior. Mostly blah, blah, blah, superficial talk. You dig around to find books to read, films to watch, programs to attend. You have to take the bull by the horns and find yourself, your true self, warts and all.

This is the hero and heroine’s journey. It’s not an easy task to become authentic. It can be lonely and scary. It means reconnecting with your deepest past in a way relevant to your present challenges. You are looking for the way OUT of this in-between no man’s land.

So do a variation of a business Gap Analysis on yourself:

Continue reading… Inc.com

by Sylvia LaFair

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