How to Be Unapologetically Yourself

As you head into the holiday season, it’s natural to think of what you want to change in your life. You’re likely to be bombarded with a host of messages heading into the new year—all about what should be different. You may have a plan to change your body, your weight, your attitude, your job, your schedule, or something else entirely. 

I’m here to propose a different plan for the New Year: 

Focus on what should remain the same. 

Focus on being unapologetically You. 

Stop Being Who You “Should Be”

If you’re anything like me, you had a picture of what your life would look like right now. 

Maybe your life is actually pretty close to what you had planned. Or maybe it’s entirely different. 

Either way, you probably put a lot of pressure on yourself for what your life should look like. What sort of job you should have. What sort of relationship you should have with your family. What your career and home life balance should be. What your health or body should look like.

Hey. 

Stop. Just stop. 

Release those expectations of who you should be by realizing that most of those are made up anyway. 

Unrealistic expectations create an undue burden on ourselves and our lives that don’t need to be there. 

The first step is to release that expectation of where you should be and start focusing on who you are right now. 

What is the good in your life? What are the things you are thankful for? Where are your expectations coming from? 

There is nothing wrong with desiring to grow and to change, but there definitely is something wrong with forever being discontent with who you are as a person. 

So start there: release those expectations. 

How to Figure Out Who the Real You Is

Now that you’ve released yourself from the burden of unrealistic expectations, it’s time to start asking honest questions about reality as it is right now. 

Who are you?

Right now. 

Write down a list of things you like about yourself: your talents, your skills, personality traits, physical traits—everything you can think of. 

These are things about yourself that are true right now. 

Lean in. 

Start acting like yourself more often!

You have your strengths, your personality traits, and the things that you appreciate about yourself right now. 

Maybe it’s the first time you’ve ever thought about yourself on these terms before. Now, it's time to start leaning into those good things and acting like yourself more often. 

Now that you’re aware of the qualities you already have, it will be easier to focus on those in a special way—maybe in a way that you’ve never done before. 

Lean into your unique strengths in your home life, in your family, in your career, and in your planning for the future. 

You may find that you need to change far less than you think. 

Be unapologetically you in the workplace

The workplace is one of the most common places where we put on an act that is different from who we really are. 

Maybe you feel like putting on this act is the only way you can be successful or get the job you want. 

I don’t think that’s true. 

In fact, I believe that acting fake in your career and in the workplace—a context where you should be leaning into your strengths the most—can’t get you nearly as far as being unapologetically yourself. 

You heard me. 

That means during interviews, on the job, interacting with colleagues, networking, and in the career change process, continue to lean into your strengths and be unapologetically yourself. 

You’ll be surprised how far it takes you. 

Tyche Takeaways

• Stop focusing on what you need to change about yourself, and start focusing on the things you already are and have. 
• Write down the things you currently like about yourself and your strengths. 
• Think about how you can use the strengths and skills you already have in different aspects of your life and workplace.
• Start leaning into your strengths. 
• Be unapologetically yourself even (and especially) on the job

P.S. If you would like help in discovering your strengths and skills, and how this can apply to your workplace or changing careers, feel free to sign up for a free, 60-minute coaching session with me, where I can answer your questions, and walk you through the process from start to finish.