What Are You Outside of What You Do?

Who are you outside of what you do?

There's nothing wrong with loving what you do, but being defined by it is dangerous.

For me, I was completely defined by my title. I was defined by my job. I was addicted to work. I was a workaholic and it was all at the expense of my family. I had to ask myself a couple of questions, "Were the choices that I was making professionally and personally clashing with my values?"

And yes, they were. The way I lived was a total contradiction. And the other question, "Was I finding significance in something that was going to shift inevitably?"

Absolutely. My job and so many of us misplaced our significance in things that will shift. Whether it's a job or whether it's our status on social media or how much money we have stashed in our mattress or our bank account, that's all going to shift.

I was placing my significance in something that was going to shift. You can love what you do, but not allow it to define you.

I had to accept that my worth wasn't in doing and my worth wasn't just in a job. Once I did that, it released me, in a sense, to branch out and try new things. It made me discover who I was as an individual.

I think, so often, we're so focused on doing what we do for a living, and we don't ask ourselves, "Who do I want to be? What kind of person do I want to be? What are the parts of me that won't shift and shake?"

I interviewed Ian Cron where we discussed more about this here.