Your Job is not Your Identity
We are engineers, nurses, admin officers – it’s how we introduce ourselves at parties – I’m (enter profession or job title here).
But it’s not who we are as people. It’s what we do. It’s not all that we do either. It’s just what we get paid for. How we feed and house ourselves. If we’re lucky we love it and are able to build a career around it. Become known in an industry. Gain a reputation as the best in the business. This leads to earning more money – hopefully.
When this stops unexpectedly with a redundancy (you got fired OK) our whole identify is gone. Our professional identity is gone. We don’t see our workmates that we saw every day for years. No more gossip, or talking about football games.
There are no other jobs in your field you can get – because if you built up a good reputation – it’s kind of destroyed when you get put off (if they were that great why did they get canned?) – you know it’s what you would be thinking and trust me – everyone is thinking it.
So now, you’re just a person who used to be a (enter profession or job title here). So who are you now without your job to define you?
This question kind of haunted me for a long time.
Then after doing a life review, I realised that I had actually been many things – a customer service officer, a bartender, a videographer, a builder, an estimator, a secretary, a receptionist, a practice manager, a medical secretary, a typist, a reader, a researcher.
They were all things I had DONE – but they were not who I WAS or who I AM.
But, I hear you say, you have only ever been ONE thing and it IS who you are.
I counter your defence with this.
You know a lot of shit about ONE thing. You are an expert. Nobody wants you anymore – but that doesn’t matter. You are still you. You still have friends and most likely some form of family. You are not (enter profession or job title here). You are a friend, relative, role model, parent, (presumably my bad if you’re not) and maybe even grandparent. You’re a citizen of a country, a neighbour of a suburb, a member of a community – especially if you have hobbies on the internet.
You are lots of things – not just your profession. Your loved ones see you – not what you did for a living.
But there’s more because I can hear you saying – yeah that’s great but I don’t have my own identity anymore. I don’t care how people see me, I’m a (enter profession or job title here). It’s what I’ve done and it is who I am. It’s in my blood. I am (or was) really great at it too.
So take that knowledge and apply it. Become a mentor. Write a blog. Think about the pain points in your job and work out how to fix it. How many times have you said “If I was in charge I would change (enter pain point here).”
Now, you have the opportunity. Become a consultant to your industry. Write a book. Teach. Run a community class. Run an online class. Start a Youtube channel teaching your expertise to others.
It’s not who you are – it’s what you know. You can use what you know to your advantage now in this information age.
I know it’s devastating to have the rug pulled from under you with a redundancy (you got sacked OK), but it’s not the end of the world. It can actually be quite liberating. Use your skills and expertise to build a life and income that now suits you and which you can protect from corporate decisions.
You have plenty of time. You have nothing but time now. Learn what you need to get this done.
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