Authenticity: The Courage to Be Real

Welcome to Our Latest Newsletter! 

📚 Read Time: 10 Minutes 

Two weeks ago we explored Identity, the story that shapes how we see ourselves and how we show up in the world. Last week we turned to Progress, the steady forward motion that transforms who we are into who we are becoming. If identity is our compass, and progress is our stride, then authenticity is the ground we walk on. 

Authenticity is about alignment, making sure the progress we chase is true to who we are. Without it, we risk moving quickly but in the wrong direction, chasing goals that don’t belong to us or living by standards that leave us feeling empty. With it, we find the freedom to live without the weight of pretense, to build resilience that isn’t borrowed from anyone else, and to create success that actually feels like our own. 

If you missed the earlier issues on Identity and Progress, you can find them, along with our full archive, in the Tiger Resilience newsletter library. 

Share it with a friend who might need these words today; our community grows stronger each time someone new joins the conversation.

What we’ll cover: 

• What authenticity really means, beyond clichés and buzzwords  
• The brain and body science of authenticity, stress, and intrinsic motivation  
• Surprising statistics on authenticity, work, and well-being  
• The Tiger Resilience Lens: Authenticity vs. Transparency across body, mind, heart, and spirit  
• Michael’s Training Corner: Part 1 — training that aligns with you; Part 2 —avoiding fitness fads that pull you off course  
• A real-world spotlight on a thought leader who has spoken powerfully about authenticity  
• A journal exercise to help you identify where you’re most authentic and where you’re not  
• Final thoughts tying authenticity back into the Five Pillars of Tiger Resilience 

🧭 What Is Authenticity? 

Authenticity means living in alignment with your true self. It is the connection between your inner values and your outer actions, the ability to know what matters to you and consistently act in ways that reflect that. 

It is not about perfection, and it is not about revealing every detail of your life. Authenticity is about integrity. It is being genuine in your choices, honest in your relationships, and consistent with your beliefs whether anyone is watching or not. 

The opposite is self-alienation. When you consistently act in ways that conflict with your values, you create an inner tension. You may achieve success by outside standards but feel hollow inside. You may hit goals but lack fulfillment because those goals were never truly yours. 

At its core, authenticity is: 

• Alignment: Your inner truth and outer life match.   
• Ownership: Your goals are chosen, not imposed. Research shows that when goals are imposed, people disengage, procrastinate, or fall short.   
• Integrity: You live by your values across settings, not just when convenient.   
• Courage: You risk rejection to be real, knowing the cost of pretending is higher.   

Authenticity is not easy, but it is freeing. The relief of dropping the mask and the energy that comes from living congruently cannot be faked. At its heart, it is the daily practice of allowing your inner truth to guide your outer life, being yourself in the light and in the dark, in public and in private, and finding strength in that consistency. 

🔥 Michael’s Perspective: The Hardest Part of Being Real 

Authenticity is something we all claim to want, but most of the time, we don’t actually live it. We scroll through media that celebrates appearances more than truth. We copy programs, diets, or lifestyles because they look impressive, not because they line up with who we are. I know for myself, authenticity has been a struggle. That makes sense, given my own challenges with identity,  something I wrote about two weeks ago. 

For me, the clearest place this tension shows up is in training. On the surface, authenticity sounds like a soft, almost abstract idea. But in athletics, it’s practical. If your program doesn’t reflect your values and your identity, you won’t sustain it. You can white-knuckle your way through a training block for a while, but without alignment, burnout is inevitable. Research backs this up: when goals feel imposed instead of chosen, people fall short. When values and actions don’t line up, performance declines. 

I’ve seen this in my own life. It would be inauthentic for me to coach someone toward being the best swimmer in the world. That’s not my background, not my experience. But it is authentic for me to guide someone through running and strength because I’ve lived that process, studied it, and tested it on myself. Coaching has to come from alignment. Otherwise, you’re just selling a plan, not building a person. 

It’s the same lesson in my own training. Authenticity is the filter that keeps me from chasing every trend. Some athletes jump from one system to the next, CrossFit one year, ultra running the next, bodybuilding the year after. The problem isn’t curiosity. The problem is that constant jumping robs you of adaptation. Progressive overload, specificity, recovery,  these principles don’t care about trends. They care about consistency. And consistency only happens when you choose a path that actually fits you. 

Authenticity doesn’t mean avoiding discomfort. It doesn’t mean picking only what’s fun or easy. It means that the hard work you’re doing connects to your identity and your goals. When I line up for specific track session or stack a higher volume training week, it isn’t because it looks good on Strava. It’s because I know who I am as an athlete, and I know those sessions move me closer to that identity. The strain feels purposeful, not imposed. 

The same principle applies outside of training. In the corporate world, authenticity often feels at its lowest. Many people don’t feel authentic in the work they do, and that lack of alignment bleeds into everything else. But here’s what I’ve learned: authenticity isn’t about whether the work itself is perfect. It’s about who you choose to be in that work. I can show up with integrity, bring a collaborative attitude, and not let the work define how I approach life. That is authenticity too. 

In both sport and life, authenticity is ownership. It’s saying, “This is who I am, this is what I value, and this is how I’ll train, coach, and live.” When we stop imposing and start inviting, whether in teams, workplaces, or training groups, people feel like they’re writing the story, not just reading it. And that’s when resilience actually lasts. 

Authenticity is not chasing every trend. It’s building consistency around what truly fits who I am.

Bernie's Perspective: Authenticity is in the Ordinary

When I think about authenticity, I don’t picture a big stage or a loud declaration. I think about the quiet places where it’s tested, in conversations with family, in the way we carry ourselves at work, or in the promises we keep to ourselves when no one else is watching. Authenticity isn’t something we announce. It’s something we live, often in the smallest choices that never make it to a post or a highlight reel.

Take this past weekend. Valerie and I had a busy Saturday lined up. Fall is our season—it’s the time of year when the house feels alive with color and pumpkins, and when we let ourselves lean into the things that make us feel grounded. We headed out to our favorite Amish market, the kind of place where time slows down a bit. We loaded up the truck with mums that looked like fireworks exploding in red, yellow, and purple, and of course grabbed a pumpkin to plant right by the front steps. (Because if you don’t have a pumpkin out in September, your neighbors might revoke your seasonal license.) 

Back home, I was unloading plants when I saw a message that had come through earlier. A friend of mine, an ATV rider, was inviting me to hit one of the ATV trail systems I love. Now, you have to understand, riding through the woods on an ATV is one of my purest forms of therapy. It’s freedom. It’s mud in your teeth and wind in your face and silence you can’t buy anywhere else. My gut reaction? Heck yes. I hadn’t been out in a while, and I felt that spark of excitement. 

So I went all in. Packed my gear, loaded the trailer, and even had a little ritual with Valerie of watching a couple of horror movies before heading to bed. (Because you can’t go into fall without at least one scary flick under your belt.) I set the alarm for 5:15 AM, planning to be on the road by 6:45 sharp, visions of crisp morning air already in my head. 

But then the real test of authenticity showed up. When the alarm went off and I dragged myself into the shower, my mind started racing. I thought about the Tiger Resilience projects on my plate, the content we needed to finish, the housework still staring at me, and the momentum I didn’t want to lose. If I went riding, half my day would be gone before I knew it. And I had to ask myself: is this really the best choice for me right now? 

Here’s the thing—authenticity isn’t just about “doing what you love.” Sometimes that’s the easy way to spin it. The harder part is being real with yourself about what you actually need in that moment. That Saturday, what I needed wasn’t mud and trees. It was putting on my Tiger Resilience hat and doing the work that gives me purpose. 

So, I made the call. I stayed home. I planted the mums, chipped away at projects, and got into that flow state where things actually move forward. And you know what? I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I felt more aligned, because I was living out my priorities instead of escaping them. 

That’s authenticity to me. It’s not about performance. It’s not about pretending you always have it figured out. It’s about being comfortable with your own decisions, even when they don’t match what looks exciting on the outside. Sometimes it’s choosing the ride in the woods. Other times it’s choosing to sit at the desk and build what matters most. 

So let me turn it over to you—how do you celebrate authenticity in your own life? And what hat do you need to put on today that truly reflects who you are? 

🧠🩺 The Science of Authenticity: Your Brain and Body on Realness 

Authenticity is not just a nice idea. It changes how your brain and body function. When you live in line with your true self, you reduce stress, free up energy, and create conditions where motivation becomes sustainable. 

🧠 In the Brain 

• Reward pathways activate: Expressing your authentic self engages dopamine and serotonin systems, giving your brain a natural “green light” of motivation and calm.   
• Lower cognitive load: Pretending is mentally expensive. When you maintain a façade, your brain runs two scripts at once. Authenticity frees up working memory, leaving you less drained and more focused.   
• Reduced stress response: Studies show that people who live authentically experience lower cortisol levels, the body’s main stress hormone. Over time this lowers anxiety and builds resilience.   
• Ownership matters: Research shows that when goals feel imposed, people disengage and underperform. When goals feel authentic, effort and achievement increase. This applies whether you are training for a race, pursuing a career, or leading a team.   

🩺 In the Body 

• Stress relief and immunity: Chronic inauthenticity acts like a low-grade stressor. Cortisol stays high, weakening immunity and increasing inflammation. Authenticity lowers that load, giving your body room to repair and restore.   
• Energy efficiency: Hiding who you are burns through physical energy. Living authentically leaves you with more stamina for relationships, training, and daily demands.   
• Health and well-being: People who score high on measures of authenticity consistently report higher life satisfaction, lower anxiety, and stronger overall mental health. These psychological benefits translate into better sleep, cardiovascular health, and recovery.   

Takeaway: When you choose authenticity, you are not just making a moral choice. You are aligning with your biology. Your brain rewards you with motivation and calm, and your body thanks you with resilience and health.

📊 Stats Worth Knowing 

Authenticity is hard to measure, but the numbers show how deeply it shapes performance, motivation, and well-being: 

• Most people hide who they are at work. A Deloitte study found that 60% of U.S. workers engage in “covering”, downplaying or hiding aspects of themselves to fit in. This comes at a cost: lower engagement, more stress, and reduced creativity.   
• Authenticity boosts engagement. In a leadership survey, 93% of employees agreed authenticity at work is important, and those who felt they could be authentic reported higher confidence, greater engagement, and stronger morale.   
• Authentic goals are more successful. People pursuing self-concordant goals, ones aligned with their true interests, are significantly more likely to persist and succeed than those chasing goals imposed by others. They also report higher satisfaction when they achieve them.   
• Younger generations demand it. Surveys show that 92% of Gen Z say authenticity is their most important personal value. They seek out communities, leaders, and organizations where they can align their values with their daily lives.   
• Authenticity improves well-being. People who report higher authenticity consistently show lower levels of anxiety and depression and higher life satisfaction, according to multiple meta-analyses on authenticity and mental health.   

Takeaway: Authenticity is not a luxury. Most people struggle to live fully authentic lives, yet the research is clear: when you align your goals and actions with who you really are, you perform better, feel stronger, and build resilience that lasts. 

🐅 Tiger Resilience Lens: Authenticity vs. Transparency 

Authenticity and transparency are often used as if they mean the same thing, but they are not. Authenticity is about inner alignment, your life matching your values. Transparency is about outward openness, how much you choose to share. You can be authentic without being fully transparent, and you can be transparent without being truly authentic. 

Through the lens of Body, Mind, Heart, and Spirit, here’s how they compare: 

Bottom line: Transparency is about what you reveal. Authenticity is about what you live. Both matter, but resilience starts with authenticity, because when your foundation is real, you can choose transparency in ways that build trust without losing yourself. 

🏋️ Michael’s Training Corner: Authenticity in Training 

Part 1: Training That Aligns With Who You Are 

One of the strongest predictors of adherence is whether training taps into intrinsic motivation. Self-determination theory shows that when exercise feels self-chosen and meaningful, people train longer, recover better, and are less likely to burn out. 

• Athletes who train authentically, meaning their program reflects their preferences and values, display higher autonomy and consistency.   
• Studies in exercise psychology show intrinsic goals (health, enjoyment, mastery) lead to stronger long-term outcomes than extrinsic goals (appearance, comparison, approval).  
• Authenticity doesn’t mean avoiding hard work. It means the strain feels connected to your identity. When your workouts reflect who you believe yourself to be, whether that’s an athlete, a builder, or simply someone committed to health, the effort feels purposeful instead of imposed.   

In physiology, this matters: consistent stress + recovery is what drives adaptation. If you enjoy the modality, you’re more likely to maintain enough volume and frequency for adaptation to actually occur. 

Part 2: Avoiding Fitness Trends That Pull You Off Course 

The fitness industry thrives on novelty. Every year brings a “hot” modality, CrossFit, powerbuilding, hot yoga, hyrox, pilates, etc. Trends aren’t bad, but authenticity means you filter them through your own values and physiology. 

• Jumping programs too often disrupts progressive overload, which is the backbone of strength and endurance gains. Authentic athletes pick a lane and adapt it to their goals.   
• Forcing yourself into a style that doesn’t fit raises injury risk and psychological dropout rates. For example, runners who add heavy lifting without proper progression often strain connective tissue because volume tolerance isn’t there.  
• Trying different modalities is useful early on to learn what excites you, but experience should guide commitment. Once you find alignment, specificity matters more than novelty.   

Authentic training = knowing the “why” behind your workload. When your values match your physiology and plan, the science and the psychology reinforce each other. That’s when consistency sticks and adaptation compounds. 

🌍 Real-World Spotlight: Carl Rogers on Authenticity 

Carl Rogers, one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, believed that authenticity is central to human flourishing. He described it as congruence, the alignment between our self-concept and our lived experience. When our actions reflect our true feelings and values, we experience wholeness. When they don’t, we experience inner conflict, anxiety, and stagnation. 

Rogers emphasized that authenticity is not a luxury. It is essential for growth, resilience, and healthy relationships. His research and clinical work showed that when people felt safe to express their authentic selves, they were more creative, more motivated, and more capable of handling life’s challenges. 

Key insights from Rogers: 

• Congruence fuels growth: People thrive when their actions match their beliefs and values.   
• Incongruence creates distress: Living in conflict with yourself raises stress and blocks progress.   
• Authenticity builds trust: Relationships deepen when both people feel free to be real.   
• Authenticity is active: It requires ongoing self-reflection and the courage to adjust course when you drift from your values.   

Rogers’ perspective reminds us that authenticity is not about external approval. It is about reducing the gap between who you are and how you live. When that gap closes, resilience rises. 

📖 Want to dive deeper? On Becoming a Person is Rogers’ timeless work on authenticity and human growth. You can find it here: Amazon link.

📝 Journal Exercise: Where Are You Most Authentic? 

This week’s practice is about noticing where your life feels aligned, and where it doesn’t. Set aside 10–15 minutes, grab your journal, and work through these prompts: 

Part 1: Alignment Check 

• Write down three areas of your life where you feel most authentic right now. What are you doing, and why does it feel aligned?  
• Write down one area where you feel least authentic. What part of your behavior, role, or environment feels disconnected from your values?  

Part 2: The Cost of Inauthenticity 

• How does that inauthentic area make you feel, drained, anxious, resentful, flat?  
• What would change in your energy, health, or relationships if you lived more authentically there?  

Part 3: Small Shifts 

• Identify one step you could take this week to close the gap. It doesn’t need to be dramatic, it might be speaking up once, saying no to one thing that feels wrong, or adjusting your training to reflect what you actually enjoy.  
• Finish the sentence: “Living authentically this week means…” and write your answer.   

Authenticity is built in small moments of truth. Capture them, practice them, and let them accumulate. 

📘 Want more structured prompts to help you track growth and alignment? Our Awaken the Tiger and Phoenix Self-Esteem Journal is designed with daily exercises to strengthen self-worth and live authentically. Amazon link 

🔥 Final Thoughts: Authenticity Through the Five Pillars 

Authenticity is not a single choice. It is a daily practice of aligning what you value with how you live. When your actions match your beliefs, progress feels sustainable, resilience deepens, and the path ahead becomes clearer. Through the Five Pillars, authenticity takes on a practical form:

• Purpose: Authenticity clarifies your “why.” You stop chasing goals that do not belong to you and start investing in the ones that truly matter. 
• Planning: Authentic goals create authentic plans. You design steps that reflect your values, not someone else’s blueprint.   
• Practice: Authenticity grows through repetition. Each time you act in alignment, you strengthen the muscle of integrity.   
• Perseverance: It takes courage to stay authentic when it would be easier to conform. Perseverance means holding that line even under pressure. 
• Providence: Life will test you with setbacks and opportunities you cannot predict. Authenticity allows you to respond with integrity, trusting that your path stays aligned even when circumstances shift.   

Resilience does not come from pretending. It comes from being real. By bringing authenticity into your purpose, plans, practice, perseverance, and providence, you create a foundation for the next step in this journey.

📚 References 

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68 

Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999 

Goldman, B. M., & Kernis, M. H. (2002). The role of authenticity in healthy psychological functioning and subjective well-being. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 5(6), 18–20. 

Grandey, A. A., & Gabriel, A. S. (2015). Emotional labor at a crossroads: Where do we go from here? Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 323–349. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111400 

Kernis, M. H., & Goldman, B. M. (2006). A multicomponent conceptualization of authenticity: Theory and research. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 283–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38006-9 

Luthans, F., & Avolio, B. J. (2003). Authentic leadership: A positive developmental approach. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline (pp. 241–258). Berrett-Koehler. 

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin. https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Person-Therapists-View-Psychotherapy/dp/039575531X 

Schmader, T., & Sedikides, C. (2018). State authenticity as fit to environment: The implications of social identity for authenticity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22(3), 228–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317734080 

Tyler, T. R., & Blader, S. L. (2005). Can businesses effectively regulate employee conduct? The antecedents of rule following in work settings. Academy of Management Journal, 48(6), 1143–1158. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2005.19573114 

Wigert, B., & Harter, J. (2017). Employee engagement and authenticity at work. Gallup Workplace Research. Retrieved from https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236441/employee-engagement-authenticity-work.aspx

Yoshino, K., & Smith, C. (2013). Uncovering talent: A new model of inclusion. Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/about-deloitte/us-inclusion-uncovering-talent-paper.pdf