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Comment by katzgrau | Hacker News Reader

Be unapologetically authentic.

Came from one of my employees.

Always struggled with being who I think the world will allow me to be as opposed to the person I am. I flip flop between those two states. That said, I think many of us do.

Not to be confused with allowing undesirable behaviors to run free, of course. I'm mindful of being the kind of person I want to be too.

Some things just feel easier when you're just being yourself and you choose not to give a shit what others think. It seems more attractive and confident.

It can feel scary because you somehow feel like you're putting your life situation or identity at risk. But I guess I've never been good at predicting the future anyway. Might as well be myself.

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> Be unapologetically authentic.

That would have me fired within 24 to 48 hours max. I'm a caustic potty-mouthed cynic outside of work, but have to basically hide a good portion of my authentic self in order to continue picking up a paycheck.

Perhaps you are not supposed to be employed? Or perhaps you are not supposed to be potty-mouthed and cynical?

Supposed to be? I don't get who's supposed to do the supposing?

I think they were a referring to the potty mouth individual. That is to say, being an employee in a uptight workplace isn't what they're cut out for.

Well then it sounds like you need to work on that. You weren't born a potty mouthed cynic, you choose to be. And if choosing to be that way makes you feel like you can't be yourself, well, you should work on yourself.

Lol, be your authentic self. Unless that authentic self is inconvinent in which case work on yourself to authentically be someone else.

If the life advice is you should be your authentic self whenever its easy and there are no consequences. Well that's easy but kind of meaningless advice.

There's a big difference between being something you're not and not being so abrasive that you'd be immediately fired.

Probably less than you think. Lots of workplaces discriminate against people based on the way they speak or cultural biases.

But nonetheless this is why be yourself, in the absolute, is bad advice. You always need a balance between individuality and conformance. Too much in either direction and you will have a bad time.

That's my argument though. If being yourself is such a threat to your way of life you feel like you'd be outcast, you need to change yourself.

If you don’t mind my asking, how has your life unfolded as a result of following that advice?

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