Unmask Yourself

Are you really comfortable to take one big risk of revealing parts of yourself that you would have loved to share with others but prefer to bury in the interest of job security?  Do you find it easier to fit in rather than stand out? How authentic are you? If you were to rate your originality on a scale of 1-10, where would you be? Many employees across different organizations really do wear masks because they don’t really think their company value their uniqueness and they are afraid that they’ll get biased treatment once they begin to show their creative true colours. Unfortunately, in many cases they are right but I don’t seem to think that this should become everyone’s reality.

You cannot bury who you really are if you want to truly impress other people as a professional. Do not underestimate the power of being yourself. Choose to be original. The key to standing out, impressing and inspiring others at work and as a professional lies in your ability to bring your “whole” self to work. Once you become our “A” staff, you really need to tap into every ounce of energy you have if you are going to sustain your competitive edge against our best and brightest staff every day. This begins with overcoming the fear of being wrong which a prime inhibitor of the creative process.

Many of us shut up in meetings where we have the brightest ideas because we are afraid of being wrong. We refuse to write, talk or express our views because we think we may be wrong. I will make no pretense that this is an easy thing to do or embrace with open arms but you know in your heart who you are, what you believe and what’s true to you. So act accordingly once this does not contravene any of our company policies and rules of work. There are many things already created which you and I enjoy today but were products creative thinkers who choose to swim against the tide of conventional thinking and are not afraid of being labeled as wrong. Galileo refuted the view that the world was flat by saying it is spherical. Although he was jailed for his views, he succeeded in opening the eyes of the world to another possible direction of thinking. Now, we all believe that the earth is spherical!

If the face you always show your colleagues, your clients and your line manager is a mask, one of these days there will be nothing beneath it. That’s because when you spend too much time “nature shifting” to adapt to everyone else’s perception of you…or who everyone else wants you to be… you eventually forget who you really are.

Don’t be a shape shifter. Stop hiding behind a mask. Be yourself because everyone else is taken. This is the only way the creative genius in you can come out and that can just become your strategic differentiator.

You will reach your zenith!