"You can be yourself."

We all know the cliché, right?
"Why be someone else when you can be yourself? Nobody can be like you. You are one of a kind.". Yeah, all that's true.

But today I want to talk about a different approach. One that will help you in the digital world, in the digital era, in the era of AI, in the era of everything changing around us. In the era of fast-paced communication. This will be different because I think this is what helps the top performers in our lives—this is what helps them achieve more, fulfill more, and provide more to others, to themselves, to their families, to everyone.

We Allow You to Be Yourself

Here's the key insight: Society allows you to be yourself. Do you get that? We as a society actually allow you to be yourself. We will reward you for being yourself.

Let me share a story. The other day we had a shooting day, and I was preparing for it. I made short-form videos—the kind you post on TikTok or Instagram. We had the shooting day right here on the roof. When I saw the footage, I felt bad, but not because of what I was saying. I felt bad because of the way I looked. My hair was too long, and I didn't want to post it. I was on the verge of deleting those videos with my long hair.

But I didn't delete them. I posted them.

And here's why I'm telling you this: Not only did I get the most feedback on those videos I'd ever gotten, but more importantly—sometimes the way we perceive our value is not the way our value is perceived by others. In fact, it's never the same way.

Society looks at you and gets the whole picture of you. Not just what you want them to think about you. Not just what you prefer other people to realize about you. Not just the words you want associated with you in their brains.

Because we don't care about what you're trying to make us think about you. All we care about is what we see and what we find is real.

The Difficulty of Pretending

I can be myself. I can be myself in front of others. I don't have to pretend to be someone else.

It's so difficult to pretend to be someone else. Pretending to be someone else will never get me to where I really want to be—where I want to be is in a calm, peaceful place. Being disloyal to myself, being dishonest with others, will never reach the point where I'm at peace with others.

I can only be myself. My value is myself—and it's not what I think is my value. My value is just me as a person: my experiences, my background, my genes. This is my value to the world. This is why I'm here.

I'm here because I won the race of becoming myself, and I became myself.

Beyond Measurable Results

The problem with measurable results is that we can measure them and compare them. If I have 35 views and a different YouTuber has 47,000, I can compare those two and say, "Okay, this is more, this is less."

But I don't know his background. I don't know how many years he's been doing that. I don't know how old he is. I don't know anything about him. How can I compare?

Those measurable results cannot be compared to my journey, because my journey is my journey—my path, my decisions, my mistakes, my successes, the money I made, the money I lost, the smiles I created in others, the emotions I generated. All of this is part of who I am. It's part of what has built me.

Discovering Who You Are

How do I discover who I am? You can only look backwards and realize, "Oh, that's the type of person I am."

I'm the type of person who sits here on a Saturday filming this video for you guys. This is who I am. Apparently I didn't know that until now, but now I realize it.

When I was 15, I was in charge of 300 people making a very big ceremony—a theater show. Apparently, this is who I was. When I was 24, I started calling realtors overseas to find real estate transactions and eventually was able to pull that off. Apparently, I didn't know that about myself then.

What I'm doing here is creating a biography in my brain that helps me realize who I am. But I don't really know who I am. I just discover who I am. It's a never-ending process of discovering, of realizing who you are.

The Path of Authenticity

Think about really successful people—the most amazing, most remarkable people. The ones with the most longevity, the most long-term success, the ones who penetrated the world. They were weird in the beginning.

Michael Jackson was probably the biggest star, and he was super weird. He was strange. He was unique in his own way. He didn't copy anyone else. It was just him—just himself. He danced like Michael Jackson.

Donald Trump—very unique person. Doesn't copy anyone else. It's just him, and he's very honest and direct.

Adele, when she was 19, exploded because she was so authentic with her lyrics and with who she was. She was overweight, she was 19, and she sang like she was out of this world.

You can pick whoever you want—artist, performer, politician, YouTuber, your mother, your father. You'll find that the very common path of success is being uncommon.

The Courage to Be Authentic

It's more than just a cliché. It's more than just words. It's about being brave. It's about exposing yourself vulnerably. It's about showing exactly who you are to the world.

It's about stopping hiding. It's about showing your face—your true face, your essence. And you don't really know what your essence is. You just discover it retrospectively. You look backwards and realize, "Oh, that's who I am."

Your actions determine who you are, but you can only look at them backwards. You cannot really talk about yourself in the future.

The Now of Authenticity

Explore this option: being satisfied with just this—just you. No one else. Be satisfied with it. Not by what your time creates for others, not by what other people want from you, not by what you want from yourself. Only by discovering who you are now.

And it's constantly changing. This is why it's so interesting—constantly changing.

Your journey toward authenticity begins now. But this now is already gone. So it begins now. Oh, but it's already gone. So now, now, now.

Dan Shimony is an international real estate investor and speaker on personal development. He believes in the power of authenticity and helping others discover their true selves.