01/10/2024
I overthink way too much when it comes to socials.
9 out of 10 times I’m COMPLETELY in my head and overthink what to say.
Yes, I’m practicing becoming more vulnerable.
Yes, that s**t ain’t easy.
Yes, my fear is coming across as performative.
All these thoughts (and many more) are continuously rattling around in my head.
That’s the first problem. I’m in my brain, when I SHOULD be in my heart. I'm overthinking 'authenticl'.
I was re-watching a James Kemp coaching session from earlier this year. In it, he shared that years ago, he fell into the trap of posting what he thought people WANTED to hear.
Since moving to this new, more authentic style, he’s had tremendous success and built an offer that has generated $1M in revenue (probably much more by now).
Mind you, his business is just him and an assistant. Very impressive. (yes, 🤯)
In the training, one of the attendees asked whether he should tone down his self-deprecating humor in his posts.
James provided a wonderful response:
𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ.
𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙.
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐷𝑂𝑁’𝑇 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒’𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡.
𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢.
🤯 Dayummm.
He went on to say:
𝐴𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐼𝑆.
𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦. 𝐼𝑡 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠𝑛’𝑡.
𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒.
𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑠 𝑓—𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦!
🤯 Ooooffff.
I’m telling you, this training was bonkers good.
This made me immediately think of how I present myself on my 2 shows.
When I started Podcast Junkies in 2014 I was pretty intimidated by my early guests and I’m sure if I listen back, the cringe factor is high. After 10 years and 350+ episodes, I now feel like I'm more myself with these conversations.
With my 2nd show, Vertical Farming Podcast, even though I interview CEOs and Founders, all that interview experience with Podcast Junkies has made me much more comfortable 1:1.
My goal with these shows is always to make the conversation engaging for both my guest AND the listener. It’s a fine balance for sure.
Current and aspiring podcast hosts, please don’t forget this.
There nothing more authentic than you being the same way, whether you’re home with family and friends, online, or interviewing a guest on your show.
It’s SO much less work to just be who you are, rather than trying to be someone you’re not. You know EXACTLY what authentic sounds like.
Comment below if you’ve ever heard a host share a personal story and thought ‘I can totally relate to that.’
That’s magical.
When hosts are honest, we don’t just listen, we connect.
Authenticity builds trust.
Trust builds a community.
Coming back full circle to James’ response:
AUTHENTICITY IS.
Keep that in mind next time you hit record.
