“It’s not what you do creates the impact, it is who you are being (whilst doing it)”
For the longest time I have known that the difference between making it and staying behind is not in what I was doing but in who I was being. There are a number of reasons why you need to start to separate who you are from what you do. My first ‘aha’ moment was when I realised that my dreams are always outside of my comfort zone and to get to ‘there’ I had to actively change who I was being so that my dream was inside my comfort zone. That started me down the path of choosing who I am rather than just accepting that I am who I am and I will always be that, which is who everyone has told me I should be.
“Who I am is not set in stone, it is a choice I get to make, it is a habit I get to create, it is something I can change to match what I want.”
Yes, I have been reading Simon Sinek and now Seth Godin and it feels like a door has blown open in my mind. If you are serious about creating change and living your dreams then these are two books you MUST read – ‘The Icarus Deception’ by Seth Godin (don’t be put off by the use of the word artist and ‘Start with Why’, by Simon Sinek. But back to the blog….
With that one thought I managed to create a habit that meant I no longer need be stuck being me for the rest of my life! And I loved the idea of not being me. If I wasn’t me then I was no longer the victim, instead I could be the fearless explorer. It probably sounds odd for someone who sees the world record and not the fragile, insecure girl who created that record through nothing more than sheer desperate refusal to let go of my dream. I just don’t know how to give up!
So what happens when you start focusing on who you are being and not what you are doing ?
My perfect place to practice this is in a large, large corporate where being good at what you do doesn’t necessarily differentiates me from everyone else who is good at what they do. These days workplaces tend toward the uninspiring, places where individuals aren’t really required, where better than in what is mostly a rather uninspiring work place. Yes, I am afraid that for the majority of the people out there work is an uninspiring place and for the most employees there isn’t the option to just up and resign and move to a new job. Which got me asking, how do I live my dreams if I am stuck at work ?
Do I make what I love my work ? But that means new skills and starting from the bottom and I have a lifestyle to support and bills to pay, so there is no way I can afford a change like that unless I change my lifestyle to match a lower income ? Do I really have to change careers so that the skills I use daily match what I love ? When I look around me all I can see are people who are over the corporate world and want to do something that adds value. These are people who have become what they do and lost who they are as a separate entity. These are people like me.
But, What if who you are isn’t what you do ?
I need to ask that question again because I never really got it until I started reading The Icarus Deception.
What if who you are isn’t what you do ?
We are so focused on qualifications and skills and certificates and the labels we have that we loose the ability to define ourselves without all that. What you do is merely the platform, the vehicle that allows you to be present with people and so create an impact. Impact isn’t dependant on what you are doing. You don’t have to leave the corporate world and start volunteering to be making an impact – who you are makes an impact.
Who you are brushes off and every person you interact with regardless of what you are doing. So what happens if you stop focusing on what you are doing and instead start focusing on who you are being no matter what you are doing ?
If you can start to live that it doesn’t matter where you are on the ladder, because who you are now makes a difference. Who you are now has impact. You can leave a room and the people in it are angry or you can leave a room and the people in it are smiling and feeling empowered. It doesn’t matter who is in the room or the ‘what’ , it matters how you left the people after interacting with them.
Did you choose the impact ? Why not ? Who is it you want the people around you to become ?
These are the questions I am living with as I let go of using ‘what’ I do as a way of defining myself. I have always know to reach my dreams I have to claim who I am and start to choose that instead of just accepting who I have been told I should be. I have always know that true freedom comes from not focusing on the outcome and instead focusing on doing what is right for who I am choosing to be and now I can escape ‘what’ I am doing and create impact no matter what or where.
What impact do you want to make ? What will happen if you stop focusing on what you are doing and start to focus on who you are being and how that affects the people around you ?
Have you subscribed to the Weekly Question ? This is designed to present a number of different questions you can use during your week and so bring your knowledge into practice and actually create the life you have been envisioning.
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