There’s this rapper I discovered a while ago named 6ix9ine who, as I’ve heard, exploded from Soundcloud, Instagram, or some other social media means. When I first listened to him, I was just shocked to be honest. Here’s one of his tracks for reference (NSFW):

I just didn’t understand how someone who’s essentially yelling random stuff on every song could be considered a successful rapper. And in fact, his tracks are hitting top of charts, including his latest single with Nicki Minaj, called FEFE. I was so fascinated by him that I decided to scroll through his Instagram, and I came across this video:

This video had me rolling. Though I’m aware of crimes he had committed and I’m not about that at all, suddenly, I liked him more after he admitted to his ridiculousness and lack of seriousness when it came to his craft. And I just went into this thought train, like how can some face-tatted, rainbow-colored haired kid who yells on his tracks, admitting that his lyrics are garbage, get on top of the charts and receive props from millions of people around the world?

It blows my mind, but the answer is obvious that his “I just do what I want” type of swag appeals to the masses, especially the younger Gen Z crowd. Even I was starting to get drawn in by his no fucks given demeanor because I love authenticity.

Relating This to My Upbringing…

And I started relating this to my own life and how one of my biggest problems is how I care way too much about what people think and how people perceive me. I’m all about authenticity and being my true self…but I still seem to overthink how other people see me and how my actions affect others (which is good but bad at the same time).

And then I related this back to my upbringing. Something I learned in Psychology class is the difference between Asian culture and American culture. American culture usually emphasizes leadership, being outspoken and extroverted, and individualistic with your own voice. Asian culture and upbringings usually emphasize harmony, community, responsibility, and duties. The more I thought about it, the more I realized Asian culture is focused on OTHER people, not yourself. You’re always trying to be socially accepted, be self sacrificing for your parents and your future children, and you’re expected to achieve high levels of “status” and success to honor the family. So they’re all about putting your head down, working hard, being soft spoken and subservient, and conforming to society.

As I have very traditional Asian parents, the way I was raised was more to account for other people. So when I go about my day-to-day I seem to care about what other people think a little too much, and how I need to save/invest to provide for my future generation or parents if necessary. There are a lot of benefits to both cultures and upbringings. But being raised with harmony and duty as priority also hinders my ability to lead a more individualistic “do whatever you want” sort of life and mentality. Being aware of that, I’m realizing I need to embrace my individuality more without fear of how others perceive me. Because how can you live life to your fullest potential if you’re always catering to others? I think a mix of caring for both yourself and others is important, but I know for my own self I will need to focus on the “DOING ME” side to make strides in my personal development.

How Being Yourself Can Lead to Success

Gary Vaynerchuk always advocates “being yourself”, and that authenticity can bring success. When he first started, he worried that his loudness may turn people off – but by shutting down those fears and just being his obnoxious self, he now has an estimated net worth of $160 million and inspires people all around the world.

If you’re authentic, people trust you, like you, and you know you’re always going to be consistent with your message. And the more you communicate your own thoughts, the more chance you’ll bring something fresh and new to the table rather than communicate what everyone already says:

This quote in the video is great: “If you encourage yourself to share in an impactful way, 9 times out of 10 you might say something valuable. That 1 time out of 10 that you say something you would have preferred to say differently is better than if you had just spoken once.”

Essentially it’s better to share in an impactful way than worry about feeling embarrassed and not saying anything at all, cause you’ll bring more value that way.

I think when it comes to being true to yourself and accepting yourself, however, you still want to strike that balance in which you’re empathetic to those around you and are trying to improve negative personality traits rather than accept that that’s just how you are. Like Jay Shetty says, when it comes to skills, focus on your strongest skills and improve those, and when it comes to personality traits, focus on your weakest and improve those.

So what I mean by being true to yourself is, if you’re passionate about gaming but your parents are telling you to stop playing and society’s telling you to get a “real job”, you might disregard the outside noise and focus on consistently building a gaming Twitch channel. Or maybe you absolutely love creating a certain style of content, but a few people hate on what you’re doing. You might continue on despite what haters say, which may ultimately appeal to the niche of people who DO love your content. If you’re smart, passionate, and work EXTREMELY hard at what you love doing, most everything can be monetized. And not just in the business realm, being authentic with all your interactions and who you are usually creates inner confidence, as well as trust and likability from others.

For a period of time, maybe in the last year, I found myself occasionally refraining from saying things or posting things in fear of what other people may think. I also found myself forgetting to appreciate the different qualities of me. Now I’ve become more conscious of these things, and I’ve been accepting myself for my strengths and weaknesses and improving accordingly. I’ve also been less scared to follow my gut. This has in turn created a new surge of confidence, which actually leads to more productivity and decisiveness. So I think it’s all a cycle, the more you “DO YOU”, the more confidence and energy you get to “DO YOU”. This is all easier said than done, and it’s still a work in progress for me. But it makes sense that the more authentic you are, the more you find your own voice and not give a fuck what other people think. And in turn, the more being yourself can lead to success.

So when 6ix9ine is being his ridiculous self and when Gary Vaynerchuk is delivering his loud content filled with cuss words, rather than judge or hate, maybe it’s better to focus on what we’re doing rather than what others are doing. I mean, I’m still guilty of the whole judging thing from time to time, but again it’s all a work in progress. Cause their authenticity is bringing in their personal success, and we should be focusing on our own authenticity and our own personal success instead. Creating strong opinions and hate just makes for negative energy. Life is short, who gives a shit!