Shauna Moerke is…

… When your job defines who you are.

When you meet someone new, besides asking for their name, what is one of the first questions you ask? What do you do? Our job says a lot about who we are, whether we like that or not. We spend insane amounts of time over our life working and it would be silly to think that it doesn’t matter. But how much of it should matter to who you are? How much do you define yourself by your job?

If your definition of self and all your self worth is tied into your job (or even career) what happens if you are laid off? If you have been in the same job, with the same company, for 20 years, how can you not feel you are your job? Is it inevitable to become this tied to your position? Isn’t that part of buying into the company culture that we HR pros want to see from our associates? No, it’s not. If a person is more than a sum of their parts, then a career is more than the positions held.

I’m not saying not to love your job, company, whatever. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be proud of what you do either. But your job defining who you are? That’s setting yourself up for trouble. No job is secure enough that you should tie your self-worth and identity to it.

So, apparently this week’s posts will be inspired by music. Today’s is courtesy of Missy Higgins Where I Stood.

Cause I don’t know who I am, who I am without you. All I know is that I should.