(This is a copy of my LinkedIn Newsletter article 4-1-22)
Right now, there is another pandemic sweeping most of the world … it is inauthenticity.
Fake news … fake posts … fake facts … fake truth … fake people.
Fuelling this is an ever-increasing capitulation to shortened attention spans, where the real facts behind a headline are often missed, distorted or absent.
As the saying goes … Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good headline or story.
The time and rigor required for critical thinking and objective analysis have no place in a world where shortened attention spans are accepted as the norm … oh wait – a butterfly!
If that’s true (and it is), the result is meaningful conversations and dialogue are at risk.
THE EVIDENCE
In office meetings, casual conversations or over dinner with family or friends, just like Pavlov’s Dog, for many, it seems to be acceptable now for this incessant, irreverent, and rude auto-response to a buzz, bell or tune interrupting the moment and enticing, teasing, compelling people to tune out from the present in search of what might be more important than the people they are with or the moment they are in.
Oh look … another butterfly.
We are at a tipping point where this pandemic of combined shortening attention spans and the rise of fake in our lives is putting relationships at risk … and when relationships are at risk, everything is at risk.
THE ANTIDOTE
The antidote is intentional authenticity.
Intentional authenticity is making the decision (and acting upon it) to turn up and tune in to the moments that matter in your life … and most, if not every moment matters.
Intentional authenticity isn’t easy. It means being clear on your personal values and basing your decisions and actions on those values.
Intentional authenticity means deciding to be the best version of yourself as often as possible.
None of us is perfect, and striving for perfection, while admirable, may not be all that healthy.
Intentional authenticity is not only knowing your WHY (the reasons why you do what you do). It is being mindfully aware of how your actions will positively impact the lives of others.
This is the antidote to an erosion in the value of relationships.
TURN UP AND TUNE IN
When we each turn up with the intention to make life better in some way for others, rather than just looking for ways to make life better for ourselves, we release the power of empathy, reciprocity, meaning and purpose.
People WILL get our truth. Over time, your intentions, promises, actions and results will either promote you as trustworthy or expose you as not.
This applies in your professional and personal life – People WILL get your truth!
In reviewing her 2021 blog ‘The Marginalian’ (formerly ‘Brain Pickings), Maria Popova wrote this:
“We bring to anything — a book, a love — the whole of what we are, projecting onto it every experience we have ever had and every unanswered question reverberating through the deepest chambers of our being.”
Let 2022 be the year each of us takes a stance to intentionally and authentically bring the whole of what we are to as many moments we can.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
My intention by writing each of these LinkedIn newsletter episodes is to help you reflect on where you are now, take stock of your truth, and provide you with meaningful content, tips and evidence-based research to help you succeed professionally and personally.
Some Questions for you:
- What’s your take on this lessening of attention spans and how they might be impacting your world?
- In your work-life, how is the potential decrease in critical thinking and objective analysis playing out?
- What gets in the way for people to be more intentionally authentic at work?
My best to you,
