You are not your resume
The separation of the professional self from the entire self isn't taken seriously enough. They are not the same. People are not resumes. People are personalities with unique emotions, ideas, and opinions, and, unless one’s career fulfills their life’s mission and they are content with nothing but work, a job title alone does not suffice for a biography. Your LinkedIn profile should not be tied to your self-worth.
Yet, it commonly is.
What probably worsens the issue is that society demands progress and praises status, yet defines both with broad, quantitative metrics because numbers are easy to track. Happiness can’t be measured… right? True individual success should be measured by metrics that are often personal and can’t be evaluated with numbers alone. Despite this, we assess ourselves against the people beside us instead of against our own potential. We chase the goals we’ve been given and run away from ourselves in the process.
Here’s an analogy to illustrate my point.
We often approach life like a series of mountains. Someone says, “Hey, you should climb that mountain over there! The view from the top is great and it’ll help you climb the next one!”, so you might go without much forethought. After all, who wouldn’t want a great view and more experience? We fail to ask ourselves, however, if that view is right for us and whether we actually want to climb the mountain behind it. Nonetheless, we start our climb.
Partway through the trek, we get a feel for what makes someone a fast climber versus a slow climber, and of course we want to be fast climbers, so we do everything in our power to speed up, regardless of whether or not we’re going the right direction. We benchmark ourselves against the people around us — those who are fast and those who are slow — to measure our progress. “Where is she now and how do I get there?” is dangerous because it implies that they’re ahead of us when, in reality, they’re hiking a different trail altogether. Their path is not ours and ours is not theirs. Just because their resume boasts the titles, achievements, and accolades of a great mountain climber doesn’t mean we need those same status markers. Can’t we succeed by being ourselves?
So, as you stand at the foot of your next mountain, ask yourself why. Why is view A better than view B, or why might you want to climb the mountain here instead of the mountain there? What will this summit offer you that no other mountain can? Intent matters. Until you’ve found the right trail, the number of mountains you’ve climbed does not. Scrutinize for character before quantity and you might hit fulfillment along the way. Assess yourself by the standards of others and you’ll guarantee failure. Your climb is personal. Judge it accordingly.
Asking ‘why’ helps you understand your motivations. Ask it enough and you'll discover your values. Maybe you value creativity or maybe you value altruism. Ultimately, the more you pursue mountains because they align with who you are, the more fulfilled you’ll feel once you reach the summit.
In choosing to do something because of internal motivation rather than external expectation, you’ll realize that no job title will ever say enough about you. You will never be your resume, and you’re better off for it.