MONDAY BYTES – October 31, 2011
Hope everyone is having a fun Halloween! The holiday has got me thinking about costumes and assuming new identities. Halloween can be an opportunity to act in character and “try on” a new role, perspective, persona, career, or life. Maybe we should give each other permission to do this more than once a year?
Outside of Halloween and costume parties, we each, in a sense, adopt a persona (our “professional” self), to deal with career-related interactions. The persona we adopt is typically our “responsible adult” self mixed in with our sense of whatever is appropriate in the moment.
Unfortunately, sometimes this professional persona can be at odds with whatever we consider to be our “true” self. This can happen when we stifle our dreams to take on a job or a career path to satisfy others: a parent, spouse, or a mentor. Or it can happen in positions or work situations that aren’t a good fit. And sometimes we simply outgrow our habitual work persona.
So my questions are:
1. What is the persona you’re adopting to get through your professional work this week?
2. Do you wear it lightly or does it chafe against your more natural self?
3. Can you experiment with bringing more of your natural self to your work?
4. While you may not be able to immediately change your work situation, you can change the persona you bring to it. Why not experiment with adopting an improved version: What’s the best version of yourself you’d like to bring to your work?
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback—and I’d love to see photos of your Halloween costume!
For info on working with me: details are HERE.
Dream big, Plan smart, Live well!
