So, if you are like most people, when I tell you your personality is important you might think:
“I already know my personality. I don’t need to learn more about myself!”
Let’s talk about that for a minute, because I want to share a secret with you that some of the smartest people know.
When your career does not resonate with the awesomeness of your unique personality, Mondays suck. Tweet That!
Last week I did a workshop for a group of college employees, to help them understand personality differences so they could communicate better. A very good friend of mine whom I’ve known since we were twelve and who happens to be a Hollywood producer now (awesome, right?) was there to figure out how to bring what I do to a bigger audience so that I can try to reach and help more people at once than I can in a workshop.
One of the things I talk about when I lead personality workshops is how easy it is to confuse your identity with your role. See, your identity is the part of you that is always the same, the part you bring with you to everything regardless of your job or your relationship or your mood. Your identity is who you are. Your “role” on the other hand, is what you do. It’s like your job or being a parent. Seems like a really simple concept, right?
Your identity can determine your role, but your role should never determine your identity.
So back to my friend. Halfway through the workshop, she had a giant breakthrough about her identity. Like GIANT. We were hugging each other and teary-eyed and having a moment.
She realized that her identity (e.g. true personality or Strongest Element in my personality system) is really about connecting to people on a deep, personal level and helping them grow. But her role as a producer is about helping everyone get a specific job done and keeping them motivated by making the experience as fun for them as possible. This takes tons of her energy, but people think it’s easy for her because she makes it look easy.
The conflict between her identity and her role was stressing her out, big time.
My friend is a smart person. In fact, I would even go so far as to say she is brilliant. I’m very lucky to have some super smart friends. But the point is that as brilliant as she is, she was still struggling with syncing up her personality with her career and the stress was getting to her.
To be happy in your career (role), it needs to be in sync with your personality (identity).
Now it’s your turn. Do you feel like your career and your personality are in sync? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments.
If you liked this, SUBSCRIBE + SHARE with someone it can help. They’ll LOVE you for it!
Leave A Comment