For the past 20 years or so, I’ve defined WHO I am by WHAT I do. Helping companies build better bosses, teaching workshops, and speaking at conferences. For a time, it was enough.
I think it took COVID to shake the routine for all of us, but for me it was significant. Just a few months before COVID brought the world to its knees, I pondered what life would be like when I finished my career. What would happen to all my travel status? No more A-List Preferred at Southwest Airlines. No more Emerald Club Executive lot. Just a regular Hilton guest. No more the Diamond variety. I didn’t want to think about it.
Until a few months later when everything changed. EVERYTHING! With the travel now over and my travel status on hold, I turned my attention to art. It was a latent discovery but as a boy, creating things was what I loved. I would sit each day in an endless school year thinking about what I would create when I got home. I could lose myself for hours. Using the Bikablo drawing technique, my management programs became a Bob Ross experience, and I really enjoyed it. The audience did too. For a while. But in the past couple of years, the training market has slowed significantly.
Since WHO I was centered around WHAT I did, I began to take it personally. Nothing I did seemed to work. I was discouraged and for the first time, losing my confidence. I started to wonder if I had finally landed on what was my greatest fear: irrelevance.
But then I realized that even if WHAT I did became irrelevant, I had the CHOICE to become irrelevant myself. So, this is what prompted me to lean completely into art with my newly-discovered hobbies of pottery, painting, and sculpting. This is where I channel my stress, fears, and anxiety. It’s my peaceful place.
And the best part is that it’s improved my attitude! I’m ok if a company chooses someone else to do their training or doesn’t select me to speak at a conference. I’m grateful when we get selected to do it. Nobody is rejecting ME. They just don’t need what I’m selling.
So, this week, look at your LinkedIn and other workplace profiles. What do they say about WHAT you do? More importantly, what does it say about WHO you are?
