Every year I choose a word that I am committed to defining me for that year. This year’s word is AUTHENTICITY.  I believe that the struggle for authenticity is at the root of every human’s existence.  We ask: who am I?  What am I committed to?  What is my life for?  The ideal is that we spend every day of our lives wearing who we are proudly, like we would wear a medal around our necks.  Yet, instead, most of us are timid and careful.

I recently discovered a book by Chip Conley called Emotional Equations.  This book puts our psychology in layman’s terms, in a formulaic approach.  According to Conley, the book “explores our emotions by separating out the ingredients which combine to create Anxiety, Love, Jealousy, Curiosity, Regret, Happiness, and many more emotions which can run our lives.  It introduces a refreshing new way to better understand and manage the one thing we all have in common: our emotions.”

I have found the book to be a great tool to really distinguish emotions and values and give my clients access to what these values actually look like, in practice, in their lives.  Conley’s emotional equation for authenticity is:

AUTHENTICITY =  SELF–AWARENESS X COURAGE

The outward expression of authenticity is a no-holds-barred, in-your-face life, lived with passion and joy and no regrets. Our individual struggle for meaning and purpose is deeply linked to our authenticity.  If we are clear about who we are and where we are going, then we live authentically.  If we are unsure, goal-less or put on a “front,” then we live inconsistently and out of integrity.

Authenticity is the key to living a life in integrity and the on-the-field result of living that life with self-awareness and courage.  Do you know who you are and where you are going?