 Let's talk about authentic content and authentic social media. What does that really mean? One of the concerns that a reader has told me, one of my viewers, is that she doesn't want to, she's concerned about being on social media because she's not sure she can keep up the image of who she is continually. Or if she creates content, she's afraid that she'll run out of things to say. So I think of it as, I think of authentic social media kind of like having an authentic friendship. Let's talk about this. Think about this. What does an authentic friendship mean to you? When you have a friend that you feel you can be authentic with, do you feel like you have to always show up in a certain way so that the friend will keep liking you, that you can't really be yourself and you have to keep up this image of you being, you know, whatever perfect, good, smart, funny, whatever it is, so that the friend will keep liking you. If so, that's probably not the most authentic friendship, right? An authentic friendship is when that person likes you, loves you for just who you are. Sometimes you have bad days, sometimes you have good days, sometimes you're funny, sometimes you're boring, sometimes you are smart, sometimes you're, you know, she can't believe you didn't know that or didn't think that through or whatever, whatever may be. That's an authentic friend that she still keeps loving you and appreciating you and enjoying you. And same thing, you enjoy her, you know, whatever she does, sometimes she's on, sometimes she's off, but you still, just somehow you still feel connected to her and feel resonant that you care about her. That's the same thing with social media. If you feel like you always have to show up in a certain way, then it's not authentic and it's not sustainable. You can't really sustain pretending to be somebody you're not for much longer because, you know, eventually you get the exhaust, you break down, you have burnout, etc., which is why a lot of social media influencers burn out because they have to keep up this image of themselves. That's something that I hope I can be a different model for, is I don't have to try to keep up and to be some kind of image of myself. Marketing is, there's a lot of things that marketing is and one, some of the things that marketing is, is something I don't have energy for. For example, you know, influencers might feel like, oh, they have to always look good. They always have to have a different shirt color, different shirt, you know, different backgrounds that's always looks interesting. Sure, that's part of marketing too, but that's not the part of marketing that I want to engage with. I don't have the energy for that. I do other kinds of marketing. I focus on the substance of the content more than the style. Nothing wrong with the style. Some people might enjoy doing that. They might feel it's sustainable to do that. For me, it's not sustainable to try to keep a really interesting style all the time. No, if you're, you know, just like with an authentic friend or with your many friends, if somebody doesn't like you for who you are, you have to always show up. You don't need them. So if you don't like that, I always wear the same thing. You don't like my background always saying, no worries. There are plenty of people you can go watch on Instagram. You don't have to watch me. But if you're here for something different, if you're here for something maybe a little deeper, you know, the actual content, the actual thoughts, a different kind of presence, then maybe that's maybe it's a good fit. Right? I don't know. So the same thing with you on social media, you can show up just as you are without having to be anybody else. And you will find people who love you for just who you are. You don't have to be smart all the time. What you need to do though, is to be honest with what you really believe. What you need to do is to try to be helpful to the people that you're trying to serve. Be honest about what you really believe and what's really alive for you right now. And try to be helpful also in your content. Sometimes be helpful. Sometimes to be honest. Sometimes to be both. Right? One of the influencers on Instagram, as you probably know, is Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary Vee. Right? And he has a phrase that I really like. He says document, don't create. I think it's brilliant because some of you are so nervous about showing up on social media because you're like, oh, I can't create the perfect video. I can't write the perfect article. I can't, I'm not sure I can curate the perfect Instagram profile. Gary says document, don't create. What does that mean? Document your journey. Document your truth. Document what is, what is alive for you now rather than trying to create anything. Just show up and share today. This is alive for me today. This is important for me today. Or this I feel recently, as I've been helping people with my expertise or whatever, this has been alive for them. This has been really important for them. I wanted to share that with you in this video. Document. Document what's going on with you now rather than trying to create perfection. So another way of saying it is presence over perfection. Focus on presence. Just showing up and being real rather than trying to be perfect in any way because trying to be perfect is exhausting and it's a recipe for burnout. But working on showing up as you are with your most truly in-depth powerful presence, okay, that is not only sustainable. It makes you more powerful over time. It makes you more creative over time. So don't worry about keeping up an image. Be whoever you are now in front of everybody else. And that's the other thing that some people are concerned by is, oh, it's so scary to journal publicly. Here's a simple way of doing it. Create a secret Facebook group, okay, and see if there are a few friends or a few colleagues who want to do this experiment with you. They can share their content too if they're just getting used to doing it. And in that secret Facebook group, you just, you show up just like I'm saying, honest, real, try to be helpful, right? And get used to the platform. Get used to the technology of sharing stuff online. Get used to seeing yourself online and notice the praise and the admiration and the support that you get from the others in this secret Facebook group that you put together. And then over time, you might feel bolder about growing that group and then eventually you'll feel bold about sharing publicly. But you'll realize something. I've been sharing publicly for 10 years. And I've realized something. None of us have to worry about the first impression. I know it sounds strange, but it's true. In some ways, the internet has a long memory, but in the terms of content creation and audience building, the internet has a very short memory. You're watching me right now. You don't know how bad I was years and years ago when I first started. You can't even find it. I dare you to find it. You can't find it. Okay. Maybe on YouTube, you can sort by oldest videos, but even when I, but by the time I got into YouTube was already, I was already practicing a lot, right? So, you know, the internet has a very short memory. You just have no and very, almost nobody goes and sorts by oldest video on YouTube. Like the most number one super fans might do that. And that's, they're already a super fan. So whatever your oldest stuff that was not as pretty or not as interesting is not going to, not going to turn them off. They'll just find that amusing and like, oh, they might even encourage them to get into their own documentation and public journaling. So I hope this is helpful. Document don't create like Gary Vaynerchuk says or think about this one, presence, not perfection. Just show up. Your life is important to share. Whatever thoughts you have can change. It might change somebody's life, but you got to show up. You've got to show up. I hope this is helpful.