Be yourself, everyone else is better

Yesterday I was looking up who it was that said “Be yourself, everyone else is taken” (attributed with some controversy to Oscar Wilde, apparently), and autocorrect suggested: "Be yourself, everyone else is BETTER." 

It made me laugh, but it was a hollow laugh with a haunted stare into the middle distance. It landed as a bit of a gut punch because it exposes a fear we all too commonly experience: if I’m just myself, isn’t that like giving up? Relaxing into mediocrity? 

It’s not that we don't know who we are, but that often we aren’t convinced that who we are is good enough.

As I’m getting older with less time for nonsense and, hopefully, with a bit of wisdom, I am realising more and more deeply that the only version of you that has any lasting power is the unedited one. The performed version is always more fragile, always more exhausting to maintain, and in fact less effective. 

So go on, be yourself. 

Until next week,

Madeleine

I help accomplished professionals untangle difficult career questions so they can thrive in work and life.

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