On LinkedIn yesterday I wrote an article titled The Word For 2018 Is Authenticity. I wrote it and alluded to an article I read that gave me inspiration leading into the new year; if you want to see the link, check out that article (why make it easy for you since it’s on a different site? lol).
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The reason it’s important for me is because of my main consulting career. For those who don’t know, I’m a health care finance consultant as well as a leadership/diversity speaker and educator. If you look over there to the left you’ll notice that two of the books I promote are my missives on leadership.
Most of my articles on my business blog are on those particular topics. Because it’s my main business blog, I tend to temper my language and thoughts more than I do here because I thought it was the professional thing to do.
It’s always best to act professional, but sometimes you have to tell it like it is and call things out for what they are. The words I’ve used there, even when talking about controversial subjects, were meant not to inflame anyone… for the most part anyway.
It’s different here, however. I’ve been blunt while being nice… even if it doesn’t always seem nice. For instance, when I wrote a post titled 30 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Blog a couple of years ago a couple of people wrote me (one on Facebook, one via email) asking me why I was being mean and couldn’t I have phrased it better. I told both of them “no” because I had points to make.
Here’s the thing; authenticity doesn’t mean being “mean”; authentic doesn’t equate to mean in any way. So if I write a post like 9 Things People Do Wrong On Social Media, it’s not being mean; it’s being realistic. If I send out a link on guest posting to every person who writes me asking if they can guest post on any of my blogs without checking to see if I accept them (I send this out a lot), I’m not being mean, I’m educating.
Being authentic means being real. Truthfully, I’m normally a very nice person, but I do tend to get angry sometimes. I don’t yell when I get angry; I get sarcastic. I’m also known to call out names when I’m really irked; you can’t get any more real than that. I called out the sites that were stealing my blog content because I knew if they were stealing my content they were stealing the content of a lot of other people.
This is the last post of 2017 on this blog; it’s also going to be the shortest post of the year. Since I came to grips that I couldn’t be Neil Patel, I’m not all that worried about blog length (even though most of my posts are still long, they’re not “Neil” long lol). If you’ve enjoyed any of the articles I wrote this year, I promise you they’ve been as authentic as possible.
I plan on continuing that in 2018, but I have intentions regarding it. This year I proclaim my life, my business and my happiness. I’m going to be successful and happy… but happy is at the top of the list. As I said, I’m still going to be relatively nice; but authenticity is the goal for next year.
I look forward to an authentic and relatively nicer you in 2018. I will try my level best to emulate you.
Thanks Rummuser, although the “nicer” part might be a bit of a stretch. I find that many people don’t think one is all that nice when they’re being authentic. 🙂
I would like to connect with you on LinkedIn. I have read your article here and would like to know why you choose Authencity as a word for the year 2018?
I also believe that in today’s modern era of blogging most bloggers are stealing content from a lot of other sources without mentioning the credit for them. This is the newly arisen problem, we have to face for a couple of years.
Thanks for sharing.
Shubham, if you want to know more about Authenticity and me I’d suggest you click on the link to that article I shared and wrote on LinkedIn; I didn’t want to double down on it by addressing it further here.
There are a lot of thieves in the blogging and social media world. I went after a couple of those weeks ago, and at some point I’ll go after more. It’s not easy showing the world what you do when they read it elsewhere and don’t know who actually wrote it; I hate people who steal or claim credit for others.
Authenticity in blogging is of paramount importance to me. It is what attracts me to writers in general.
I want to know who you are and what you are about, not what you think will pull readers in and keep them.
Show me something about yourself and I might stick around.
It is not mean to say you like steak or hate Brussels Sprouts. It is just honest and there is too little of that.
Luckily I didn’t mention either steak or Brussels sprouts; I tend to like both lol Authenticity has always been big with me, but I write differently on this blog than I have on my main business blog. That’s about to change… hopefully for my own betterment.
I was hoping you were referring to my post, but I see that you were talking about Nikki’s post! 😉
I’ve been doing a WOTY for 3 years and it works for me.
Authentic is one of my favourite words and something I work on being too.
Wishing you a wonderful 2018, Mitch.
Sorry about that Corrine! lol Did you not get the option of selecting a CommentLuv link? I found your article on your word of the year and I’ll be checking it out soon. 🙂
Authenticity is the main reason that your blog is still very popular otherwise people begin to share for a new blog with more comparable authentic and informative blog. There is a lot of competition there and to survive in this competition is very difficult. (Y)
I wouldn’t say I’m all that popular now, although I had my day years ago. It is my intention to be authentic and give people something they might not get anywhere else.