Be Your Own Friend

In marketing there is a saying. Okay I don't really know if it's a saying but it's a thing - give your customers what they want, not what you want to give them. As a spoiled only child I used to have to work pretty hard to remember that, at least until I made it all about me. 

See it started with all of the social media sites... I've been on Twitter and Facebook since 2007.  When I first joined I followed anyone who followed me. As my followers grew I noticed something - most of these people had nothing interesting to say. They weren't inspiring me, educating me, conversing with me. They were just posting crap. I don't need more crap in my life... so I changed my follow policy. I take a hard look at someone's profile and look at what they are posting and if at that point I'm interested in them and what they are saying I will add them. As a result, my streams got really interesting and fun to read. 

And then the light bulb went on... I needed to look at my postings AS IF I were assessing my own friend worth. Would I want to follow me? Are my posts interesting, funny, inspiring, engaging? It's not about what other people will think of me. It's about editing myself as if I were a rough draft of a book - the words are all there on my paper I just rearrange them until I love to read them. 

What face would I show the world if I would want to meet me? It's a new kind of authenticity. It's not about putting on a mask and pretending to be someone I'm not, it's about editing my stream and deciding to be the person I'd want to hang out with. And it's not just about social networking, it's about who I am in all things. When I write in this blog I write from my heart and I write things I want to read and learn. I'm not pretending to be something. I simply choose to act from my heart and put my best foot forward. 

So I know you read all the time not to worry about what others think of you and to be more gentle on yourself and to let your authentic self shine forth into the world. I will tell you the same thing. But you can choose what that looks like and what you bring to the table. See now as an only child this totally makes sense to me since I am very often my own best friend...  You can choose to be the kind of person you'd like to have a cup of coffee with or you can choose to be the person you would edit out of your stream. 

So, who will you choose to be today? 

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