Burnout Prevention: Bring Your Authentic Self to Work
This article was first published on LinkedIn on 14th June, 2023
Authenticity is talked about a lot these days. Be yourself! Don’t be fake! It has almost become cliché. Many of us now feel we can express our feelings and opinions more freely than at any other time in history. Confident self-expression is great for our sense of self-efficacy and an effective burnout prevention strategy.
But can you really be yourself at work? Is your ‘Friday night with friends’ demeanor welcome at the Monday morning all-hands meeting? Sorry, no.
If your work mood followed the relentless ups and downs of hormone imbalances or your favorite football team scores, you would disrupt your colleagues and damage your personal brand. Pretty soon your manager would pull you aside to ask what was wrong. You might feel far from burnout, but you wouldn’t have a job for long.
Let’s face it, it is natural to match our behavior to our environment. We act professionally at work for good reason.
So how can you bring your whole self to a place where it’s frowned upon to be yourself…?
The way to do it is to ACCEPT your full self and CONTROL how much of it you reveal to the people around you.
Who are you, anyway?
Who am I? is a question we all ask ourselves from time to time, as if we are defined by a laundry list of traits and beliefs.
The truth is, being who you are doesn’t mean:
Knowing who you are, or
Openly reflecting your every hobby, interests, and mood all the time
Being who you are just means accepting yourself, whoever you are at this moment in time and however you evolve over time.
Why hanging your identity up at the door only adds to your problems
If you go to work and deliberately hide what you did or who you were with over the weekend for fear of negative judgment, part of your energy every day will be used to feel bad about yourself.
It might seem like a harmless lie, but the act of not accepting yourself requires emotional energy. It takes effort and a large dose of shame to conceal an important part of yourself, and that is clearly not good for your self-esteem or mental well-being.
How to ‘be yourself’ at work
I like to think of authenticity as a dial. I can turn up or turn down certain aspects of myself given the context.
When I am facilitating workshops in financial services, I use more formal language and know that I can’t wear jeans. If I am facilitating workshops in tech, I use more informal language and know that I can be more casual in my clothing choice.
Does this mean I am faking or being someone other than who I am?
No, not even close. At the core, I am Neelu and I adjust based on my context.
Some might call this code switching. I call it simply accepting the truth- That we CAN’T fully bring our full selves to work but we can bring our core self and adjust aspects of our personality based on who’s in front of us.
