Be Authentic and Follow Your Heart
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are” ― Carl Jung
You have to be surrounded by authentic people to understand what authenticity is!
Authenticity was a buzzword in my previous company — a FTSE 100 company encouraging its 100,000+ employees to be authentic if they wanted to grow as leaders. I attended numerous leadership training sessions but no one was able to effectively communicate what they actually meant by authenticity.
I recently quit the world of large corporates in London and joined an impact start-up in India. Here I met people from all over the world who’d left high paying corporate jobs in London, New York and Chicago and completed MBAs at places no less than Harvard. Yet all of them had one thing in common — they did not care about what society defined as a traditional career, they chose to follow their heart and solve problems they were passionate about. And when I spoke to them and worked with them, I finally understood what authenticity truly meant.
Follow your heart, it’s the only way to be authentic
All of us are born different, have different thoughts and different dreams. Yet after a few years in the education system, all of us start becoming more and more similar. And in the corporate world, everyone is just echoing the same tone, wearing the same clothes and playing the same game. The traditional path of life destroys authenticity. Simple.
However, today we live in a world where information is abundant, career choices are unlimited and with connectivity at it’s peak, opportunities are endless. This is the age to be authentic and follow your heart. Yet I see so many people choosing to still pursue a career where titles and salaries mean everything. Yes it’s great but it kills who you truly are.
Not everyone can afford to leave a steady job but this is where the quote comes in “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” And if you think you truly are the Vice President of a large organization, you’re probably fooling yourself. But this is where authenticity should kick in.
Start analyzing what you’re passionate about, the problems you truly care about solving and people you would love to help out.
Channel those thoughts into smaller achievable goals and a steady plan with small steps to help you break out of the life you’re in to slowly start following those dreams and making the impact.
It doesn’t have to be tomorrow but it should be some day rather than never. Stay tuned for our series on exercises to help you with quitting your job to become more authentic to your true self!
Great To Awesome provides millennials with the resources to pursue careers of impact and a platform to connect, collaborate and create with each other.
This post is written by Anshul, a co-founder of Great To Awesome. If you’ve enjoyed this article, follow us at Greattoawesome.com or visit our website to access other resources around pursuing careers of significance. Please click the ‘heart’ button to show us some love.
