Does my job define me?

Has someone ever asked you, “tell me about yourself”, and you start by telling them your job? Does your job define who you are? Does your job dictate what you do in your life? In this blog I want to share with you some thoughts after learning from Tony Robbins.

I have been a Civil Engineer for over ten years. A long time. As a Civil Engineer one of my primary functions is to deliver projects. However, what I was never taught was leadership early on in my career, it was something I had to go out and actively develop myself (which I loved by the way). Something I noticed about myself after a few years in the industry was that in my life I started to behave the same way I did at work. I was behaving in the same fashion. For example, I was not empathetic and was only focused on doing, I was switching off from caring about others, and I was becoming a person not in alignment with who I was. I was becoming unauthentic. I allowed my job to define who I was.

After learning from Tony Robbins, I understood that my job does not define who I am. I define who I am. My actions define who I am. My communication defines who I am. My caring and giving defines who I am. And the same goes for you.

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• Just because people in your industry are toxic, you don’t have to be.
• Just because people in your job are negative, you don’t have to be.
• Just because the nature of your job is aggressive, you don’t have to be.
• Just because they tell you to act a certain way, you don’t have to.
• Just because they try to change you, you don’t have to.
• Just because you’re supposed to be a certain type of person, you don’t have to.

Your job does not define who you are. Who you are is entirely within your control. It’s your life, are you going to life it on somebody else’s terms?

So the next time someone asks you, “tell me about yourself”, don’t start with what you do. Start with what type of person you are, your values and what’s important to you. It will be difficult at first, but try it. I won’t tell you the benefits yet, but you’ll notice it immediately.

Thank you for reading, JT.

If you would like the opportunity to work together and explore your best self. Contact me.

How to reference this page

Toor, J. (2020). Does my job define me? Available at: https://pmgrowth.co/does-my-job-define-me?