Course Transcript
Winning with Authenticity
Course Description
In the field of psychology, authenticity identifies a person living life in accordance with his or her true Self, personal values, rather than according to the external demands of society, such as social conventions, kinship, and duty.
Being authentic liberates you! It gives you the freedom to break free of learned behavior and rise to your highest self. Being authentic gives you the confidence to see yourself for who you truly are and bask in your uniqueness. Consequently, the importance of authenticity for self and society is immense.
In this course we will discuss how to identify what you want and how to maximize your wins in life and business by being the most authentic version of yourself.
Agenda
Welcome & Introduction
• About Me
• Course Objectives
Who Are You?
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Confidence
• Personal Values
What's Your Story?
• The Secret Sauce
Executing the Win!
• Determining Your Goal
• Positioning Yourself
• Pitching Yourself
Wrap-Up
Conclusion
Next Steps
I. Introduction
A. About Me
Hello, my name is Crystal V. Brown and I want to congratulate you on making the decision to invest in your personal development.
With 20 years of experience working for Fortune 500 healthcare companies working in Human Resources Management and as a senior leader in Hospital Operations, I have a great amount of expertise helping people discover their talents and maximizing them to leverage growth in their life and career.
My personal philosophy is that I believe that every moment that we are given on earth is precious and that we must all identity our unique purpose and work hard to execute it. I believe that fulfillment comes when our work connects directly to our WHY. I founded Diligent Living, LLC as a personal development services company to equip women with the social intelligence and leadership skills they need to execute in life and business. I have experienced my fair share of obstacles and roadblocks on my journey to fulfillment, so I personally know that even when your vision seems clear there are obstacles that may appear along the path to success. I feel as though it is the joy and journey of clearing those obstacles that makes life rich and helps people to feel accomplished. These experiences help us to discover WHO we are and THAT is when the magic happens!
B. Course Objectives
In this course we are going to discuss how you can maximize your wins in life and business by being the most authentic version of yourself. I will help you identify who you are, what the secret sauce is, and how to execute wins by being your most authentic self.
II. Who Are You?
A. Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or do not align with your personal standards. It means being aware of your strengths and weaknesses. A vital way of becoming more effective in both business and life is by becoming self-aware. If you can become aware of your strengths and your weaknesses, then you can become aware of the affects that you create. When you have not taken the time to reflect, you end up chasing artificial goals that culture and society tell us are important…expensive cars, big houses, incompatible life partners, or a career that gives you anxiety. Self-awareness is empowering because it arms you with knowledge and enables you to make better choices to change and grow.
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.”
— Brene’ Brown
In the 21st century we are all extremely busy, however we must take time daily to reflect on the series of actions that we have taken and what the end results were. I personally like to do this at the end of my day, grab a glass of wine or warm cup of tea, light a candle, find a quiet space, and use my journal to download all that it is in my head, the actions that I have taken, and my feelings or outcomes afterwards. If the feelings or outcomes are negative, then I know that I need to course correct to ensure that I do not repeat this experience. We all know the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. For other ways to increase your Self-Awareness, check out the tip sheet provided.
B. Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is a belief in oneself, one's abilities, or one's judgment. It is freedom from doubt. When you BELIEVE you can change things -- or make a difference in a situation, you are much more likely to succeed. As a self-confident person, you walk with a bounce in your step. You can control your thoughts and emotions and influence others. You are more prepared to tackle everyday challenges and recover from setbacks. This all leads to a greater degree of optimism and life satisfaction.
As you work to improve your self-confidence, be aware that you may encounter Imposter Syndrome. Imposter Syndrome is the persistent inability to BELIEVE that one's success is deserved. To feel the part, you must stay positive. Staying positive will provide you a greater asset regarding self-talk and give you the ability to recognize and work within your strengths. Everyone has weaknesses and by being positive you can recognize your weaknesses and then work on them to lessen or remove them all together. Instead of putting too much energy into improving your weaknesses, I recommend that you put more time into improving the things that you are already natural strong at and become a Master of It.
“Real leaders know who they are and bring every bit of themselves to whomever they lead, real leaders don’t mimic a cultural construct of what a leader looks, sounds, and acts like, they understand that there are as many authentic ways to lead as there are people.”
— Abby Wambach
C. Personal Values
Personal values are the principles and guidelines which we live by. Your values act as a compass to guide you to a life and career that gives you meaning. Once you discover your personal values, you can use them as a framework to redesign your life. Your values become the filter in which you un all life choices through. For example, if you value your family time then accepting a job would require 80% travel would not be a good choice for you.
"Walk the Talk” Having clarified what is important to you, it is essential that you take the next step and ACT on your values. Failure to act in accord with your values is a disservice to you and others. When you have clarified what is important, the challenge then becomes resisting the influence of work, social pressures, and immediate gratification to deviate from what is important. This is a particularly vital concern for time management. Since most of us have more opportunities and demands on us than we could ever fully satisfy, we need to carefully examine how our values connect with how we spend our time. Time is an asset that you cannot get back, so choose wisely what you do with yours and who you spend it with. For other ways to identify your Personal Values, please see the tip sheet provided.
III. What’s Your Story?
A. My Story
We all have a story on how we were raised, what advantages or disadvantages we experienced, and what obstacles we overcame to get to where we are today. Many of us struggle with being fully transparent with our story for the fear of being judged or held back from progressing. However, your story is what makes you unique and in a lane of your own. It is also what ultimately attracts your ideal clients, who will then gladly tell others about you and this is what will grow your brand. People want to do business with someone that they can trust and relate to, so it is imperative that they see you and connect with you in a way that feels authentic.
When I first began my career in Human Resources, I was a young college student with a small child at home to care for. Due to my fear of being judged for being a young parent, I did not reveal this to my boss or co-workers for almost a year. Then, one day I received a call from my son’s school mid-day to inform me that he was sick, running fever, and would need to be picked up from school immediately. Since I did not have anyone else that I could delegate this task to, I was forced to reveal to boss my circumstances. To my surprise, she immediately told me how she was even more impressed with me given the fact that I had impeccable work ethic, was attending school part-time, all while being a full-time single parent. From then on, she became my mentor, sponsor, and by biggest professional advocate.
Action:
Take some time to think about your backstory. What obstacles have you had to overcome to get to where you are today? How did they make you wiser, stronger, better? Write them down and begin to tie them back to the person that you are now.
B. The Secret Sauce
Growing up with a mother who was very frugal, I was taught to buy quality products that would last a long time. I also learned to identify what was a need versus what was merely a want. These life lessons have now followed me into adulthood, and I am able to benefit from these lessons in life and business. Having a career in hospital operations, I am often tasked with finding ways to reduce operating costs. Some of the same principles that my mother taught me to buy quality and to differentiate between wants and needs, I use in my career and have been able to save organizations millions of dollars as a result. This has in turn allowed me to progressively advance in my career to provide for my family and fund the other dreams that we have.
No matter what your unique story is, you can turn it into a strategy that could allow you to advance in ways that others cannot. Take the time to do an inventory of your life’s experiences and think of ways that they give you a unique advantage, THEN maximize them to work in your favor in life and business.
“Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.”
— Coco Chanel
Action:
Write it down!
IV. Executing the Win!
A. Creating the Vision
Now that you have taken the time to figure who you are and what your secret sauce is, it is time to turn it into your winning formula for success in life and business. To know what you will consider a win; you must first take some time to envision your future. What type of lifestyle do you desire to have?
Action:
I want you to pause here to take out your journal and write out a detailed vision of your future. Do not rush through this exercise; be bold, be courageous, and create a life vision that inspires and fulfills you.
Dream Big!
B. Determining Your Goal
Once you have envisioned the type of lifestyle you want to have, you must break it down into long- and short-term goals. For example, your long-term goal may be to acquire financial freedom for your family so that you can eventually have full control over your schedule to do the things that you all really want to do each day. However, your short-term goal may be to create a side hustle that would give you an additional source of income to help pay off your debts at a faster pace. This side hustle could be to start your own business doing something different than your 9-5 career, to get paid for speaking on your expertise in your current field of business, or by investing in the stock market or real estate property. Take some time to write out your long and short-term goals and the tactics that you will take to execute them.
C. Positioning Yourself
Once you have determined the goal that you are ready to execute, you must position yourself for the opportunity. This normally begins with educating yourself on the field or task that you plan to pursue. For example, if you plan to begin taking up photography as a side hustle you may want to enroll in a class or workshop to sharpen your skills behind the camera. If you want to begin to speak in public regarding your current field of expertise, you may want to get involved in a professional organization for your field. This allows you to begin to speak for free to sharpen your skills and build an audience as well. If you want to begin to invest, you may want to begin listening to investment podcasts and attending meetups with other investors. Positioning yourself around people that are doing what you want to do, could lead to opportunities that you would have never had access to had you not put yourself out there.
D. Pitching Yourself
Once you have positioned yourself for the right opportunities, you must find the courage to pitch yourself to others. Pitching yourself begins with just sparking up a conversation, but instead of just talking about the weather you must go directly into your area of interest. We normally only have a short window of opportunity when we are amongst others to make an impression, so spend your time wisely by having an authentic elevator pitch ready. I was once granted only a 15-minute meeting with a corporate executive that I was trying to pitch myself to for a growth opportunity, so I came to the meeting prepared with the key things that I felt qualified me for the role. The executive later called me to request a follow-up meeting that led us to discuss some new opportunities that would give me the exposure that I needed to get to the next level.
Determine how your current experience has positioned you for the goal that you are trying to accomplish and tie it all together in your pitch. Often no matter what your story is, you can tie it into your goal by figuring out the expertise or transferable skills that it gave you. Make sure that your story is compelling enough for others to believe in you and gives them the visual to see you in their next opportunity. This is where having passion for what you want to do comes in handy and if you do not have passion for what you want to do, you may need to revise your goal. If YOU do not believe your story, neither will they!
“Authenticity is when you say and do the things you actually believe.”
— Simon Sinek
V. Conclusion/ Call to Action
Now that you have identified:
1. Who you are
2. What your secret sauce is
3. What your desired goals are
4. How to pitch yourself for opportunities
You must actively practice executing this in a way that is authentic to you and becomes natural. You never know when you will be faced with the chance or need to make a pivot and you always want to be ready. Over the course of your life, you will experience numerous opportunities to go in for the win and now you have the framework for winning in a way that is uniquely authentic to you!
Next Steps
If you are ready to kick up your personal development a notch and execute your next level goals amongst likeminded women, consider joining The Mastermind which begins in September 2021.
The Mastermind is an exclusive 3-month group coaching program that only opens for enrollment once per year. It offers a combination of brainstorming, education, peer accountability and support in a group setting to sharpen your business and personal skills. It helps you and your mastermind group members achieve success in executing your goals. Members challenge each other to set strong goals, and more importantly, to accomplish them. As the Mastermind facilitator, I help the group to dive deeply into discussions, and work with members to create success — as each member defines it.