{"id":5218,"date":"2017-02-23T13:15:57","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T12:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/?p=5218"},"modified":"2017-02-23T13:15:57","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T12:15:57","slug":"are-you-authentic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/2017\/02\/23\/are-you-authentic\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Authentic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Be true to yourself\u2019 is a well-worn phrase, almost a mantra. I\u00a0 know I pepper talks (and writing<\/a>) with the phrase. I think I know exactly what I mean and had assumed others did too. I do not mean that you should give up all social graces and be blunt in every situation, telling people to get lost (or a more offensive equivalent) because that\u2019s what you really feel about them. I think there is a difference between honouring your inner beliefs and acting accordingly and simply being downright rude and unpleasant. So I was surprised to read an article in the Guardian<\/a>\u00a0 recently that seemed to think the phrase meant exactly that latter interpretation and therefore it was lousy advice to give.<\/p>\n

Likewise there seems some doubt about the wisdom of using the word \u2018authentic\u2019 (again I\u2019m guilty of this<\/a>, though less often I think than of talking about being true to oneself). The same article took exception to the phrase, as did Lucy Kellaway in a totally different context<\/a>. She noted that while being exhorted to be \u2018authentic\u2019 on a big screen in front of them, the women at a corporate finance event looked as if they were being anything but in their dress. As she put it<\/p>\n

\u2018700 immaculate, high-heeled women swallowing unquestioningly a series of platitudes about the importance of being themselves. The only diversity in evidence was that while some were wearing Miu Miu, others were in Diane Von Furstenberg and Burberry.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nevertheless I believe both phrases have their uses in researchers\u2019 lives. In particular, and where it is clear Kellaway\u2019s women fell down badly, I do not think being true to oneself, or being authentic, requires any sort of uniform (Designer or otherwise), let alone that they allow some norm to define us. In fields dominated by men such as physics and engineering, I also refute the idea that it means turning into an honorary man (which might be thought of as a different kind of uniform), assuming male-by-default is the only way to get on. A decade ago I rejected the advice to have voice-coaching to lower my voice that a well-meaning supporter offered me; I am who I am and I believe passionately what matters is what I have to say not the pitch in which I say it. In conversation with Alice Roberts<\/a> last week (recording to be up on the Churchill College website soon) she told us how she failed to be promoted and the only thing they seemed able to hold against her was her \u2018lack of gravitas\u2019. Gravitas does seem only to be associated with men, but Bristol University lost her \u2013 and all her talents \u2013 by being so short-sighted.<\/p>\n

My advice remains to those trying to find their feet: be true to yourself or, if you prefer, be authentic. What I usually mean by the phrase is not to allow yourself to be pushed into things that you don\u2019t believe are right for you. It is all too easy to think there is a \u2018right\u2019 way to do things, right choices to be made, right boxes to tick, which is all very well if they appeal but futile otherwise \u2013 not least because in all probability you won\u2019t excel at them if your heart isn\u2019t in the task at hand. We\u2019ve all known students who\u2019ve followed their parents\u2019 wishes in choice of subject at university only to regret it bitterly and possibly even drop out as a result. We only have one life, and it is important that it is one\u2019s own life that is led and not someone else\u2019s dreams that are followed.<\/p>\n

So, if you decide half way through your PhD that it was a mistake, there should be no shame in deciding to leave and follow some other dream. On the other hand, if you haven\u2019t yet worked out what that new dream is, it might be worth finishing off the PhD before trying your hand at something else. Only you can judge which feels \u2018right\u2019, but giving up \u2013 as opposed to positively moving on \u2013 is prone to leave an unpleasant taste.<\/p>\n

None of this is to ignore the fact that part of everyone\u2019s life involves donning some sort of facade to permit greasing of the social and professional wheels. One may have to work with colleagues one would rather not or turn up to work on days it would be nice to go out and smell the roses. But doing things like that, I don\u2019t believe is \u2018inauthentic\u2019, so much as a tedious necessity. When talking about being authentic I am talking about the big picture, not the mundane day-to-day dross. Which is why I think the Guardian article is wrong. One should distinguish between what needs to be one\u2019s primary focus day after day from the temporary social graces that may serve to cover other feelings.<\/p>\n

I believe things get corrosive if every day your job feels at odds with your aspirations and if the only way you can get through that job is by cultivating a persona that leaves you feeling diminished and uncomfortable; things are likely to go personally downhill if you feel the rewards for behaving like this do not match the cost. In the long term, if what you are doing just isn\u2019t \u2018right\u2019 for you, or if you\u2019ve accepted some responsibility which sits uncomfortably with either your values or what you perceive as your career\/life trajectory you need to focus on who you really are and decide if the game is worth the candle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Be true to yourself\u2019 is a well-worn phrase, almost a mantra. I\u00a0 know I pepper talks (and writing) with the phrase. I think I know exactly what I mean and had assumed others did too. I do not mean that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1114,1115,519],"class_list":["post-5218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-culture","tag-career","tag-choices","tag-decisions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/athenedonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}