(apologies for any tweet embed errors, working on that lol)
From when I can remember, I always preached being different.
My mindset was “create unique solutions, unique perspectives, unique-” blaahhahahah. And it made sense because I am a creative freak that wants to do literally everything different.
I want to ‘hit different,’ I want to ‘stand out,’ I want to be better.
I’m like “oh this guys not unique, oh he’s spilling out basic asss advice,” and totally deny their hard work and creation like I was that guy that was ‘different.’
There was that egotism that boiled up inside of me.
Bullshit right?
Then the week I was doing free brand coaching sessions, it made me think:
“They aren’t creating anything ‘new’ here, but I can tell they are being authentic with their content.”
This made me break outside of my bubble and realize something.
It was that being different isn't the focus to begin with.
But to be authentic.
The shadow in uniqueness No, it isn’t bad advice to be different and let’s be honest, we all want to be unique and different than everyone else. As a natural law, we all strive for differentiation and individualism as creators.
But we must acknowledge the shadow behind only striving for uniqueness.
I mean bro, telling someone to be "just be unique bro!" is overwhelming advice especially if they are new. Because they would need to think that they have to be original all the time.
Which guess what? Prevents them from even creating to begin with since you're already pressuring yourself from the start.
At this point, the striving for 'uniqueness' became a negative to you than a positive.
But what if there is another way we can do this?
Uniqueness Isn’t The Goal We need to put uniqueness out of the picture (for now) and replace that with authenticity.
As a creator, it isn’t about being the most different. But it's about having you create from a place of your deepest, truest, authentic self and showing that to other people.
To be more human.
To be more relatable.
To be more natural.
Then your uniqueness will become the byproduct.
Let me use @SeemaRatadiya ‘s reply to my video (of this topic)—because it’s soo good:
Being able to open yourself up to being YOU in your content, automatically differentiates yourself from other people. Even if it doesn’t show right away.
Because everyone is unique in their own way (as cliche as that sounds)
Everyone has their own:
Beliefs Interests Story Perspectives Personality Voice This list would go on and on because we are all complex, distinct people to begin with. But the thing is, we aren’t creating from the place of our own uniqueness and authenticity. Let alone share it.
Now what if you were able to share some of that? Then you will automatically differentiate yourself from other creators over time.
But in this case, you’re not forcing to ‘stand-out’ for the sake of it, but you’re doing this because it’s natural , since you are being literally yourself.
Expressing your true-self is the absolute first principle when it comes to cultivating an authentic, alive, fertile, and unique, personal brand.
Which you can eventually offer and sell to.
Soooo enough said, how can we become more authentic then?
Authenticity Constellation This is a constellation of absolute principles when it comes to cultivating an authentic, highly-engaged, fertile brand—while having it’s natural uniqueness to it.
(I also showed you how to do this here)
But I'm not afraid to repeat myself here, so here you go.
Quick ass run-down of what I’m talking about:
1 - Vulnerability
2 - Stories
3 - Beliefs
4 - Polarization
5 - Interests
6 - Life Updates
7 - Boundaries
These are the absolute principles when it comes to cultivating an authentic, highly-engaged, fertile brand—while having it’s natural uniqueness to it.
This is all the practical before we get into the philosophical, so let’s buckle up and let’s go 😽
1 - Vulnerability Write content about your failures and your current situations while delivering some sort of lesson will make you human to other people.
You aren't doing this for the sake of higher engagement (that's not the point), it is to be truthful and honest with your audience.
And I mean cmon, if someone writes a tweets about their failures or mistakes in their current journey, I have major respect for them. And many others the same as well.
That is how you inspire others that they aren't going through 'things' alone.
So be open to communicate your ‘low points’—not for the sake of vanity, but for the sake of being honest and open!
2 - Stories Okay okay, I'm not story-telling guru and to be honest, that's an area I need to improve on —so I’ll keep this introductory.
Everyone has a unqiue story.
A time of tragedy.
A moment of triumph.
A discovery of their selves.
Create content about them, deliver a lesson and you’ll attract similar people that have went through the same experiences (or who are inspired) with your relatability.
This is where you can builder a stronger, deeper connection with your audience while you practice your story-telling muscle.
3 - Beliefs Every creator has their own different beliefs, perspectives, and preferences.
Like for example, as a creator, I go against:
o - Always tweet 3x/day
o - Always engage “x”/day
o - Always DM people
o - Always create top quality content
o - Never talk about anything else
o - Never be creative
o - Never experiment
o - whatever
Whatever that doesn’t work for most or whatever I disagree, I go against and BEAT IT like a dead horse in my writing.
Let’s use another example:
Hot-take haha and obviously there’s nuance. But of course, it's an opinion.
If there’s a message that you want everyone to know, why the f u c k would you hold back? Exactly.
You’ll either attract many people towards you that have the same beliefs or repel others that disagree. And that’s the point. Have you heard of the filtering system? hehe.
The people that don’t like what you’re saying, can ‘fuck off’ lack of better wordsss.
The more you keep writing about your beliefs, the more you’ll be known for it.
The people that like it, can stay and enjoy.
Share without any remorse.
4 - Polarization Being polarizing is natural way of seeming different than everyone else.
To be polarizing means to:
1 - Very strong opinions
2 - Be extremely direct
3 - Unconventional
4 - Magnetic
5 - Divisive
I believe being polarizing is a pillar of authenticity, but the point is to focus on authenticity than polarization.
Why? Because polarization is the byproduct from being true to yourself. And all it takes is a small shift in how you approach creating.
Allow yourself to be:
o - open
o - upfront
o - shameless
o - whacky & witty
Again, that makes you naturally stand out more than everyone else.
That’s the magic of literally just b e i n g y o u
And nooo, polarization isn’t being a loud mouth and forcing yourself to do it. It's about saying what you believe with conviction and pizzaz.
Maybe you’re a more quiet individual and that is fine, but not matter what type of personality you have, you can be polarizing in your own way.
Polarization is finding your ‘groove’ and allow it to be as natural as possible.
It isn’t something that is forced.
It is something that is natural.
True polarization is an essence of being.
5 - Interests I think I said this way too many times and I feel like I preach this more than I practice it (as of current time)
Talk about whatever the hell that you value.
You like story-telling bro? Talk about it
You like actualization bro? Talk about it.
You like philosophy bro? Talk about it.
Bro, anything.
If one interest sticks out to you the most, lean into it and make most of your content around that (like story-telling for example). Then create content about it alongside other interests.
From there, you can monetize with that.
Yes you can’t write about everything, that’s not humanly possible but talk about whatever lights you up right now and write about it.
Being open to writing about your other interests especially if you like them SO much shows your audience that you have multiple dimensions and depth to you.
This makes you come out as authentic.
This makes you come out as “unique”.
Lean into your passions and talk about them openly.
6 - Life Updates Everyone l o v e s lyfeee updates.
So don’t be afraid to chuck out some tweets or content that are just blatant life updates.
Talk about:
a - how you’re feeling
b - your thoughts and mood
c - what you’ve been going through
d - what you’re doing along-side creating content
This also supplements showing your vulnerability to others.
Bonus points if you record a video of yourself doing this (and people LOVE IT!).
Like this video recorded from my friend, @lancer_lobo:
Seeeeeeeeee? this shit hits DIFFERENT.
I’ve said this countless times through calls with people:
"Your audience doesn’t want to only see your advice, they want to see you."
It's about showing what you’ve up to, what you’re doing, etc. Also putting into consideration that you don’t have to always take yourself so seriously—you can open yourself up and talk about you.
Sometimes we've gotta humble ourselves.
The life update thing may seem a bit selfish but naturally, you're delivering something inspiring.
Anddd people love that.
7 - Boundaries Authenticity doesn’t mean sharing everything about your life.
Authenticity means having boundaries.
Only share what is natural and what is comfortable to you—nothing else, nothing more.
I have to say this because I don’t want to put up the expectation that someone needs to talk about everything about themselves.
To be honest, the content that I create is like only 30% of what who I am and what I like.
I know many interests that I don't want to share.
I know many esoteric topics in philosophy that I don’t want to share.
I know many things about myself that I don’t want to share.
And that's good. They either take time to share to others, or not AT ALL.
The point isn’t to nakedly expose everything private to EVERYONE, but to show only show you're comfortable with.
Maintain your boundaries.
Staying true to your principles I know, we just covered a shit ton of things, so let me recap this so we can continue going from here.
Constellation of Authentic Content:
That is (currently) all I can write about being authentic for right now.
But that’s only diving into showing your authenticity to other people, but being only authentic for other people isn’t the real goal.
You don’t create only to be authentic to others.
You create to be authentic to yourself.
This is called creating from your own truth— which needs to be your first principles of ANYTHING you do.
If you recall back to your vision, goals, aspirations, values, path, identity, interests, etc.
Those would be your first principles as a creator. It is a non-negotiable is to devote yourself to them and don't severe your bond from them.
The goal for you is to create from a place of truth, honesty, authenticity, and depth. Listening to yourself and doing what YOU like.
Now I want you to look at being a creator like this:
Through every word you write,
Through every word you speak,
Through every thing you create,
Through every service you offer,
Through every decision you make,
Needs to come from a place of personal truth.
That is your first principles for you to navigate the creator economy.
Abide by them and you will have a force-field of “anti-bullshit” around you.
You’ll less likely going to get swayed away by any trends, dogma, stupid advice, or any bs. Through your own devotion of your personal truths, your uniqueness will show in your writing.
But if you don’t abide by them, you are then being inauthentic to yourself, which I’ve caught myself doing for some time.
This is what I call lying to yourself. Going against yourself defeats the purpose of creating out of authenticity, value, fulfillment, enjoyment, and fun.
Good luck trying to do this for more than 1 year. Sorry bro.
Now what the heck can you do then?
Personally for me, I check myself as frequently as possible through questioning myself so I can be grounded to my own principles.
The few questions I’d ask myself on the spot is:
o - Am I writing as me?
o - Am I following advice objectively?
o - Am I following my brand's messaging?
o - Am I actually enjoying most/everything that I’m doing?
o - Am I being as authentic as a I can to myself/others?
o - Am I connecting with the people I resonate with?
o - Am I able to do this for at least 5 years?
o - Am I abiding by my principles?
The purpose isn’t to write these down but to remind yourself of these questions and say out loud with “a hell yeah!”
If it’s a “hell no”—go back, grab a notebook, evaluate why, so you can go deeper so you can become conscious of the problem and move forward to solving it.
When things get ‘noisy.’ confusing lack of better words, slow down, and question yourself.
Make those changes and go forward from them.
That is how you create from a place of true integrity, and authenticity.
You Are Always Longing For Self Expression Knowing me, I had no room or no place to communicate myself and have others to hear my voice before I became a creator. That is why I believe this is the most, fundamental driver for most creators I know.
It is the ability to be heard by others.
To have the power to express and communicate your:
o - voice
o - ideas
o - thoughts
o - personality
o - energy
And yourself, through creation.
It's to improve on what you're creating and be seen for that.
While delivering storms of value, profound insight, and true radiant authenticity.
This is what creates impact.
This is what differentiates you.
This is what penetrates the hearts.
This is what moves people to buy from you.
This is what makes you learn about yourself.
Your self-expression will stand out and influence more people at a profound level.
So, again I'm repeating myself.
Do. Not. Hold. Back. Express yourself and let yourself be noticed by the world.
If you do this, you will stick out in people's heads more than anything they consumed that day because there is that allure to you.
You ‘pierce’ through people’s minds and make them stick as much as something that is only unique or novel. Perhaps even more than that too.
Now even if what you’re doing isn’t that unique, that’s okay. As long as you’re creating from the place of honesty and your true essence, it doesn’t matter. People can see it in you that you are doing your best to be you and they’ll like you for that.
So it doesn’t really matter. Your writing and creative process will evolve and transform through time.
Give it patience.
Stick with what you're comfortable with and express yourself with boldness and vivacity.
Self-Expression Will Leave Room For New Creativity Now I don't want people to cut out creativity. Were all creatives after all trying to create fresh, novel, new things.
But authenticity comes first. And through 'mastering' that first, you have space to let in intentional creativity in your creative work flow.
Or perhaps make it a staple in your work.
Whether that is:
o - experimenting more with your writing-style
o - using what you consumed and integrate that to your content
o - picking a part your unique perspectives and talking about the
o - taking your other interests and merge them (like philosophy + writing
o - looking at your environment and taking things from it to add to your creativity
Always open yourself up for communicating things in your own creative way, while being ‘yourself.’
That makes your content more novel which sticks out to more people.
And no I’m not saying your authenticity isn’t creative per se, but you get what I mean.
Focus on creating with intense honesty.
Then you will leave room for true creativity.
(and I have a newsletter issue that will help you here :))
Your Authenticity Prevails Over Uniqueness Many things will come and go, but your authenticity and truth will remain timeless because it is the foundation and position of your brand.
If you nail down the authenticity and find your ‘groove’ at the early stages of your brand (which takes pain-staking time and experimenting), then your journey towards building a strong, potent audience and monetizing will be easier and enjoyable.
There is nothing better than just being you and creating quality, valuable, creative content, and making money.
That’s how all things need to be 😌
Closing off The concept of authenticity had been an epiphany for me recently, especially through all the consulting calls I’ve had.
Such a deeper topic than what meets the eye and I’ll get deeper into this in the future since my experience in my opinion is shallow.
But I don’t care. I learn, I must then bestow.
I hope you enjoyed this issue and you’ve gotten something from it.
Go take this and implement this in your creative journey online and offline. And make sure to have fun as well :)
Plug —
You already know I don’t give shitty, basic advice. You won’t not lose anything from booking a free, spicy, jubilant call with me, mister 😸
I help personal brands that struggle with:
1 - standing out
2 - authenticity
3 - clarity
4 - growth
Along with a ton of valuable, insightful, and fun stuff in 60m-75m call.
I’ll see you there 😽
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What I’m consuming I’m adding this section just for fun for whoever reads all the way through :)
Love listening to rn:
REMEMBER
SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] · Song · 2019
open.spotify.com/track/6hWgT3JvlaN6HxYIl0aEIp?si=16ff48f3ecad4ac4
Taking my previous Carl Jung knowledge, I’m going deeper into astrology (Somya inspired me to do this):
VIDEO
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