How big is your Authenticity Gap?

How big is the gap between who you are and what you do?

Most of us have a gap between the person we know ourselves to be, and the person who shows up every day in the world. I call it the Authenticity Gap.

If your Authenticity Gap is small, like a crack in the sidewalk, there's a good chance you won't even realize it. You might notice the gap from time to time, but it won't be top of mind. You won't be in pain.

If your gap is large, like grand canyon large, you'll know it. It will be an endless source of suffering for you. The feeling of inauthenticity will haunt you. It will keep you up at night.

Chance are, you're somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.

But here's the problem.

The gap tends to widen over time.

Why is that?

Because life is dynamic, but we treat life as though it's a static system. We are in a constant state of change, growing and evolving. The world around us is in a constant state of change.

Even though we appreciate these facts, part of us wants to stay put. We get comfortable in our lives. In our habits. In our relationships. In our jobs. In our environment. We like things to be consistent because consistent is comfortable. We subconsciously choose to stay put.

This strategy works for a while. It works until the Authenticity Gap widens to the point where your story no longer bridges the gap.

Once that happens, you'll find yourself in pain, maybe even in crisis.

So how do you manage the Authenticity Gap?

The first step is to recognize it. How big is your gap?

Here's an exercise. Draw a circle. This circle represents what you do. Spend a minute thinking about all the things you do. All the roles you play.

Then draw another circle. This one represents who you are. Who you know yourself to be. Spend a minute thinking about this one.

Then draw the two circles again, this time represent the gap. Think of it as a Venn Diagram. The proximity, or the overlap, represents how aligned these two things are in your life.

If you are in perfect alignment, you'll have a singe circle. If your gap is huge, you may need another sheet of paper.

Your work, should you choose to do it, is to close that gap.

Ready to get started?  Here are two ideas...

Idea #1 - Treat your life like an investment portfolio.

One of the reasons that so many resolutions fail is because we design them in isolation. We identify one area of our life that isn't optimized and we design a strategy around that area. But our lives are complex, interconnected systems and this myopic approach won't work. What we do over here, affects our life over there.

Instead, we should look at our life in total. By taking a big picture view, we can design a strategy to make progress in one area without breaking the rest.

If that sounds daunting, don't worry. It's not. You can do this in less than an hour. Think of it as an investment. A one hour investment toward the 8,760 hours that will comprise 2021. It's worth it.

I've created a simple, guided program. I call it, Investment in Me. It's easy to use and the best part ... it's free. You can get it here.

Idea #2 - Design Your Superpower.

What is your authentic gift? The one thing that you do differently than everyone around you. (Notice I didn't say better.) That's where you'll find your Superpower. Once you do and you name it, you tap into a limitless source of energy and enthusiasm.

From there, it's all about designing your life around your Superpower. It's not enough to have a Superpower. You already have it. The magic happens when you design your life in such a way that your Superpower is front and center.

What's the best way to do that?

WARNING! It's about to get pitchy in here.

I'm a huge believer in Superpower. So much so that I wrote a book about it. Superpower 5.0, which you can get here.

But if you're not the type who can pick up a book and do the work on your own, I've got another opportunity for you.

Once each year I open the doors to my Superpower 5.0 masterclass. Those doors are open right now, but they will close in less than a week. That's because the Masterclass starts on Thursday, January 7th.

Superpower 5.0 is one of my most popular courses ever. It's fantastic. It's powerful and transformational, but it's also fun. And that matters. The things you learn about yourself will blow your mind, I guarantee it.

Not only is this a fantastic course, I've designed a fantastic offer to go along with it. I've packed too much into the offer to go into all the details here. Suffice to say, there's a 2-for-1 deal as well as free access to my newest course that will launch in April.

You can learn all about the Masterclass here:  Superpowered 2021

I hope you found this useful and I wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous journey.

peace,

-zog