17 Reasons You’re More Than Just Your Job Title
Your job title doesn’t define who you are. The people you care about, the hobbies you enjoy, and the way you deal with challenges show so much more about you. When you stop focusing only on your career label, you can feel freer and remember your true worth. Your work is just one part of your life — there are many other things that make you special. Here are some reasons why your job is only a small piece of everything that makes you unique.
Note: The content of this article does not reflect the writer’s personal beliefs.
Family Ties
Before being a journalist, entrepreneur, or nurse, you’re a mother, a sister, and a daughter. Just think about it. You may spend forty, maybe fifty years, working, but your family ties define you from the first day you are born or until your last day on Earth if you become a parent.
You May Change Job
Why base your identity on a job title, knowing you may change your career? While now it may sound absurd – especially if you just spent the last five years at university studying to be able to work in this position – it is not uncommon for people in their thirties, forties, and even fifties to leave their corporate jobs and completely change their lives.
Hobbies and Passions
Your hobbies and passions often define you way more than your job. Even if you like your job position, showing up at work every day is something you are forced to do to pay your bills. Hobbies and passions, however, truly make you unique from everyone else. These activities truly define you as, unlike your job position, you don’t have to do them but want to do them.
Success Is Not Only Tied To Your Job
We often associate personal success with our careers or, even worse, with our salaries. Someone earning $15,000 per month is surely more successful than someone earning $1,000, right? Wrong! Try to measure your success on other factors, such as your happiness levels, personal growth in terms of emotional and physical well-being, and whether other people feel safe in your presence.
Beliefs
Religious people will probably agree that their identity is way more rooted in their religious beliefs rather than their job position. You don’t have to be a Christian, Muslim, or Taoist to agree. We can all practice spirituality, regardless of whether or not we believe there is a god.
Promotions Are Often Not About You
Did you ever receive a promotion? If yes, you surely know the thrill associated with it. But what if we were to tell you that it wasn’t really about you? Of course, your boss decided to select you rather than someone else, but this may have never happened, even if you were to do your best job. For instance, someone might have deserved it more simply because he had spent more time working in that office. So stop running after that promotion as if obtaining it was your only sign of success.
You’re More Than Your Paycheck
Your worth isn’t tied to how much you make. Sure, a good salary is great, but it doesn’t define who you are. What truly matters is how you treat people, your kindness, and the values you live by. These are the things that really show your value, not the size of your paycheck. At the end of the day, it’s your character that leaves a lasting impression.
Work to Live VS Live to Work
So many people nowadays have forgotten that we work to live and not live to work. If work is your main thought 24/7, this probably applies to you. What’s the point in putting all your energies and efforts into getting a promotion and earning more money if you never get the time to enjoy your life outside of work?
Political Views
Another main factor at the root of our identity is the political views we decided to embrace. Do you consider yourself a conservative, liberal, or moderate? Are there any other struggles you identify with? These often shape our identity way more than a simple job position.
You Only Work Eight Hours Per Day
Let’s keep in mind that you work, or should work, only eight hours per day. What about the remaining 16? This is the time when you are free to be your true self. The time to spend on all activities you love, whether cuddling with a pet, hanging out with friends, or reading a novel with a cup of tea. Never sacrifice this time for extra work.
Volunteering
So many people think their job is their only chance to make a difference in the world. This is surely not the case. First, we need people doing all sorts of jobs for society to function correctly, from chefs to cleaners and construction workers. Second, suppose you want to bring a positive change to the world but cannot do so with your work. In that case, you can start volunteering, donating money to an organization you support, or simply helping the people in your communities.
Personality Traits
Unlike your job position, your personality traits rarely shift over time. How open are you to trying new activities? Are you an extrovert or an introvert? How agreeable are you? Do you tend to take little interest in others? Finding the answer to your questions is the key to reaching a deep understanding of yourself.
Values
Lastly, your values make up a considerable part of your personality. Would you rather identify yourself as ‘a teacher’ or someone who firmly believes teaching the new generations is crucial for progress? Of course, you can do both, but only the latter will stick with you all your life.
Job Performance VS Life Performance
We often associate our job performance with our life performance. If one of our colleagues or our boss says lately we are more disconnected and distracted at work, we immediately wonder what’s wrong with our lives. The truth is that poor work performance doesn’t necessarily mean poor life performance. Similarly, you may be a great worker and still struggle with all your relationships outside of work.
You Have To Work
Everybody – or almost everybody – needs to work for a living. We do not choose to do this out of passion and love; it’s an obligation. So why do we attach so much of our personalities to something we often didn’t choose? Identify yourself with what you have control over, such as your group of friends, passions, and political views.
Work Skills VS Life Skills
We are often taught that life and work skills coincide, but this is rarely true. For instance, you may need to be relatively submissive and follow your superior’s orders without questions. While this may work in a big corporation, adopting this behavior in your daily life may be extremely harmful. Here is another example. Many jobs require you to pay extreme attention to all details. However, it is better to let go of perfectionism in daily life and instead focus on the bigger picture.
Unemployment
Fully identifying with your job title can be dangerous, as you may lose your job one day. When people who base their whole identity on their own position are fired, they have a much harder time facing the struggles of unemployment. This is not only because they need to find a new job, re-write their CV, and figure out how to budget, but because they will also deal with an identity crisis.
More for You
Hopefully, we convinced you that your identity goes well beyond your job position. So, if you have kids, stop asking them, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Instead, teach them these 13 life lessons so that they will grow into confident and compassionate adults.
This article was first published on the RB ITALIA Blog.
