I’ve always been scared to be myself.
Which is funny because that’s exactly how people see you, but in my head, I always wanted to be better before I was seen.
Fitter, smarter, more funny, more charismatic, a better writer.
But here I am, 28 years later and I have the same mindset I had at 15.
Still ‘not good enough’ to be seen.
And no matter how many times someone says the standard advice of “hey, just be yourself and love that,” this is how I feel.
What’s weird is on a daily basis I launch companies in the most basic version possible, the minimal viable product.
A version that is almost embarrassing to share because of how simple it is but with the idea that it will quickly turn into something that will be incredibly valuable.
Finding the smallest viable audience, and launching something for them that delights them enough to share it with people like them, and building from there.
But for some reason, I completely ignore this approach when it comes to being me.
And it’s started to dawn on my that I’ve been living with two different hats on.
One hat with the ‘business’ side of things, where I’m putting my ideas and ego aside to ensure I’m delivering the most valuable product or service that I can and having the best time while doing so.
And one hat with the personal side, ‘protected’ by my ego, scared of feedback or even connecting in case who I am doesn’t live up to everyone's expectations, which you can imagine is the recipe for failure 😂.
And it’s interesting that the business side of things is where I feel most alive and myself.
So I thought, why not at least try to view myself the same way I view my companies in an attempt to love fully who I am today and still have a fun time improving further.
How about I launch versions of myself? Not take the process so seriously and just have an awesome time delivering more value to myself and the world.
So today, I’m pleased to announce that version 1.0 of Steven Male is open for public access. 🎉
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My theory is if I treat myself with a progression mindset, I’ll be more comfortable being who I am now, and also enjoy the continuous improvements along the way.
I’m unsure how long this experiment will last but I’m aiming to document the process while I’m doing it!
So for those of you who love a drop of personal development, a dash of nerdiness, and some constant and never-ending improvement, this might be something for you!
Essentially I’d love to answer, what would happen if a person treated themselves as a startup?
Let’s find out.
