Imagine for a moment that you are at a party and you are chatting to someone who you’ve only just met. After discussing the decorations and the food, they pause and ask, “So, what do you do?” |
Your answer to this simple question reveals an incredible amount about your personal sense of identity. |
When faced with the question, “What do you do?” most people automatically respond by stating their 9 to 5 occupation. |
The problem with this response is that it immediately defines you in terms of your job and places you in a pigeon hole that is often filled with stereo types associated with your profession. |
For example, Claire is a receptionist who is working at a doctor’s surgery, however, her real passion in life is painting. When she is not working, she spends every spare moment surrounded by her canvases and paints. |
For a long time, whenever someone asked “So Claire, what do you do?”, Claire’s response was, “Oh, I’m a medical receptionist.” |
Almost inevitably, the person she was speaking to then asked about what it was like to work in a doctor’s surgery. |
She decided that she was no longer going to define herself as a ‘medical receptionist’ who enjoyed painting in her spare time. Instead, she was going to define herself as a ‘painter’ who was currently working at a doctor’s surgery in order to pay her bills. |
This simple decision had a big impact on Claire’s sense of personal identity. She realized that it was important to tell people who she really was rather than automatically reciting her job title. |
A few weeks later, Claire was at a friend’s housewarming party. As she stood by the fire with a glass in hand, she met a guy named Matt who asked her, “So Claire, what do you do?” |
Claire responded by saying, “At the moment I’m working at a doctors’ surgery but what I’m really passionate about is painting.” |
As soon as she said these words, Claire realized that this was exactly what she was looking for. It was a completely honest statement but did not place her into the ‘medical receptionist’ pigeon hole. |
Instead, it conveyed a sense of who she really was and opened up multiple options for conversation. |
To Claire’s delight, Matt asked her about her painting and they had a really interesting conversation. Matt was a web designer and he told Claire that a lot of artists were now selling their work directly to customers over the Internet rather than dealing with galleries. |
This was a revelation to Claire who had never really heard of Internet business before. |
As she was driving home from the party, Claire realized that her new sense of identity was already having an impact on her life. Instead of talking about being a medical receptionist, she was now discussing her painting with others and discovering new opportunities to explore. |
Today I’d like to encourage you to think about the question, “What do you do?” and make the decision to no longer be automatically defined by your occupation title. |
Instead, develop a response that is honest, reveals who you really are and opens up multiple avenues for conversation. |
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