The cost of pretending

My friend Charlie was swallowed whole by the corporate world over a decade ago.

I barely see him, but when I do, he often moans about how stuck he feels.

He makes great money, and he feels secure.

But he knows he can't be himself.

'I'm exhausted,' he told me. 'From all the BS pretending.'

He tells me about all the forced smiles in meetings he doesn't care about. He's doing well, but there's this strange lack of spark in him.

There's a deadness in his eyes.

Many people in corporate jobs keep this part quiet.

The constant performance.

Most people have no idea how unhealthy it is to continually try to conform.

I'm pretty sure Charlie has forgotten who he really is beneath all that fakery. It even seeps into our meetings. He forces his personality, even with me.

Conformity might help you make it in corporate, but it will distance you from yourself.

And when this happens, you attract people who don't know the real you.

I wish someone had told me when I was younger, before years of my own forced performance to fit in:

People like you more when you're willing to be a little different.

Not only that, but there's nothing quite as ENLIVENING as owning your differences and living them, even if you feel a little weird for doing so.

There's no better energiser in my life than being willing to be a bit weird.

When I embraced my strange side, I might have pushed some away, but I also became more interesting to the right ones.

I attracted hundreds of thousands of followers, too, which now sustains me doing my own thing.

My friend is probably realising how his 'safe' career path is looking less safe.

Meanwhile, people building their own brands are not only preparing themselves for a new future, but they are also seeing the power of being themselves as they do it.

The weird win in this game.

You create real security, all while enjoying yourself…

Because you're not trying to be anyone else but you.

If you'd like to explore developing genuine self-confidence, you might be interested in the Fearless Program, available at a special November price for today only.

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Laters,

Alex