Hey and welcome to the new episode of the Free and Fearless podcast. This one is on such a fun topic, that – as it happens often – applies to much more than business. That’s being weird, embracing it, and actually using it as your superpower in business.
Tune in below:
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Show Notes:
- [7:49] What’s wrong with trying to fit in and why it never works for some people
- [11:00] The first steps to embracing your weirdness
- [12:28] How the Ego makes us defend ourselves, and what to do to take our power back
- [15:40] The importance of sharing your real story in a vulnerable yet confident way
Mentioned:
Transcript
I can say that any person I’ve learned from over the years, anyone I’ve been interested in – be it for a friendship and just because they are somehow magnetic and I want to be around their energy, or because they have this really great business or have created something that I admire – well, they were all definitely weird.
By that, I mean they had different interests than average people. They created their own path and because of that, many judged them.
Such people are often misunderstood, they are deep, they do things differently and that gets attention in society and can often be disapproved. That’s because you’re a whole different category that goes together with different needs, expectations, interests, and mindset.
Such people rarely have a lot to talk about with anyone average. They might take risks in life, start businesses, be into personal development and spirituality, and feel like they don’t fit in for most of their life.
Until one day, one of the most important realizations takes place – they understand that they will never fit in, and most importantly, they don’t want to and they don’t need to.
To fit in means to live a life that’s expected by others, not one that truly satisfies you.
The moment you believe that, you then start focusing on what’s unique about you. You devote even more time to the unusual topics that engage your mind, the hobbies that make you lose track of time, the people who understand you, no matter where they are in the world or how few of them you can find now. You slowly get close to the extraordinary lifestyle you were meant to live in the first place.
In business, you stop following the strategies that worked for everyone else. You stop following the shoulds, you stop trying to be less weird in your branding and content. You let go of all the false beliefs and the rules someone created, and you start finding all the answers within.
You turn your business into something different – a business that no one else can replicate, because you are its biggest asset and no one is like you.
Then you might start covering different topics, infusing more of your personality in your content, going bold with the design of your website and the copy you use. Targeting a different audience, making a big investment, doing a crazy photoshoot that really shows who you are and what kind of thinking and living you encourage and using all these elements to attract only the people who vibe with you and your brand.
A business can scale only thanks to all this, which happens after you embrace your weirdness and start using it right.
This is also one of the most liberating things you can do. It goes together with pleasure, ease, staying true to yourself, and loving every part of the work you do.
It will most probably shock people, especially those in your life and in your circle who have only seen you behave in a more understandable way till now. And they aren’t ready for the real you, but that shouldn’t stop you.
So let me share some ways in which you can become more authentic and fearless, and as weird as you feel like, in your business so you can allow it to grow and so you can live a more enjoyable life.
1. Don’t be afraid to be weird.
Most of the things you want to do with your life and in business but which aren’t happening, most probably have an underlying fear that you need to uncover, acknowledge and to actually feel and understand. That’s usually the process it takes to release it, as well as any other negative feeling.
Most people are afraid to dig deeper, to feel their emotions. They stuff them but the pain, the fear, the shame, the guilt – all these remain there, below the surface.
If you want to be free, if you want to really be yourself and build your dream business, it’s time for some reflection and to discover the fears preventing you from embracing your weirdness.
2. Become your most authentic self.
There’s a whole podcast episode I did on achieving radical authenticity in your business.
But in a nutshell, authenticity is being real, following your true desires, keeping your word, saying No to anything that doesn’t feel aligned, expressing yourself freely, speaking up, being true to your values no matter what, embracing the good and the bad within you, overcoming past conditioning, which means to recognize mental patterns you’ve adopted but which aren’t yours and releasing them so you can do, say and think whatever you feel like.
3. Stop defending yourself.
When you choose to be yourself, you stop explaining yourself to others. I definitely had a hard time working on this, and am still learning, but it’s been a big step in my journey to embracing and even celebrating who I really am.
There’s this desire inside of us to defend ourselves. In fact, it’s always a desire of the Ego, never of the Higher Self.
The Ego is afraid. It needs attention, it seeks approval, it needs to be recognized and to feel comfortable.
That’s why most people live a life according to the rules society created. Every day they are being rewarded for their hustle mentality because they believe working longer hours equals more money, more success and higher status.
We live in a world where masculine energy is the dominant one and anyone who isn’t productive, initiative, constantly taking action and being on the go, and competitive, is considered weak. That’s especially true for the corporate world.
So then many women, business owners, and people in different industries and stages of life try to keep up and this destroys them.
Any time they don’t see progress with their business, they will feel bad about themselves and try to explain it to others. That’s usually by saying there’s too much going on in their life, or there are a few more programs they need to take, books they should read and strategies they want to test.
It’s always about doing more.
But what if the answer is in doing less? What is productivity is the opposite of what patriarchy teaches us? What if it’s all about releasing, removing, stopping, letting go, and unlearning, instead of constantly setting more goals and adding more tasks to our to-do list?
The point is that as long as you keep following this way of living, you’ll never get where you want to be, especially if you aren’t average and you want more out of life.
As long as you’re part of this world, the one with rules, hustle mentality, false beliefs and expectations, you’ll always feel the need to defend yourself, to do things their way, and to find excuses when you aren’t getting the results you want.
Embracing your weirdness is for the fearless because it means saying one final big No to all of this, to everyone and every rule that ever existed in your life.
It’s scary before you do it and it’s ever scarier while you do it. But honey, once you do it, the liberation kicks in immediately.
You take your power back – because till now you were just giving it to everyone around you. Once you take your power back, you realize you make the choices, it’s all for your highest good, mistakes and failures aren’t really an option because now you trust your abilities.
Your follow a path that’s clearer than ever, and all the distractions – such as people’s opinions, living by someone else’s standards, limiting yourself in business because you don’t want others to feel comfortable if you earn more, and all the rest of it – this isn’t an issue anymore.
You’re focused on your vision, it doesn’t scare you how big it is, and because you are weird, you find joy and have fun along the way.
4. Share your real story.
Okay, you might have a website with an About page sharing a bit about you. You might post pictures, be on socials, get more personal sometimes, have a podcast or YouTube channel and show your face and connect with people.
But still, what are you not sharing that you deeply believe you should?
Here’s the thing – people want to connect with the person behind a business these days. That’s why business owners become personal brands.
The more real you are, the more you attract those people who really love everything you create, who want to work with you, invest in your programs, read or listen to or watch your weekly updates, follow you on social media, reach out to you, and tell their friends about you.
Your story is unique and sharing it, in a vulnerable yet confident way, makes you magnetic. This is the energy you want to be coming from.
Because the opposite of that is to hide things, to avoid some topics, to assume that people won’t like that aspect of your life or personality. What you end up doing is showing them a different side of yourself, one that isn’t authentic.
I know it’s hard to share your real story, with the ups and downs, but it can be a profound experience for your growth and something so inspiring for your audience. They have heard enough average stories online, don’t be yet another one if there’s more to yours.
It’s not something I’m doing fully yet, but still, I just had to put it out there. To encourage you to share more than you feel comfortable with, see how others react, embrace these reactions and not let them define you, and feel more powerful and confident than ever. Which in turn, will make your brand bolder and your business more successful.
Conclusion
All these tips I shared actually just require you to have a lot of fun, to stop pretending and be yourself, no matter who that person is and what others might think of him.
What do you think? Does this resonate with you? What have you done to be more weird and more yourself in life and in business and how did it work out for you?
You can share this episode on Instagram Stories, tag me @letsreachsuccess and let me know.
If you’ve been waiting for permission to be crazier online, to ditch the old ways of doing business and do things your way, to live an extraordinary life, this is it – go do it and have fun.