You: ’So, what do you do?’ Me: *shudder*

Oh, hi friends!

I was wondering…when you meet someone new, and they ask what you do…what do you lead with? 

Do you go straight for the job title?
I am an ABC.

Do you name drop a company?
I work at XYZ.

Do you lead with a qualifier?
I am a 123…well, I’m trying to be, anyway.

Do you lean on your past?
I was a ***, but now I’m working on ###.

Do you reply with the job that pays your bills?
I’m at 456, but just for now, anyway.

Or do you go with what your working toward?
I’m writing a ~~~ at the moment…

I think about this a lot as my own responses have dramatically changed over the years.

I wonder what would happen, in your head and to your perspective, if you lead with what you want to be known for — whether you’re there yet or not. 

I’ll try it if you will.

(And I just remembered I wrote a piece about this for TED Ideas last year — funny how the same ideas always roll in your mind?)

“When you’ve had a career that lasts a while, the hard times impact you so greatly, especially if you allow yourself to feel them; they sock you in the stomach. The challenge is always to move forward out of them. But you do the work and your life such a terrible disservice if you aren’t able to feel the good. You would never have the strength to move on to the next place unless you took a moment to stop and say, ‘Something good is happening here. I have been successful. I am seen and appreciated.’”

Love this quote from Sally Field, from The Cut’s piece on 25 famous women on winning and being the best.

Great work has two ingredients: the strength of the idea, and the quality of its execution. So here’s a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed: SNL’s dark origin story of Oscar the Grouch. (~3 worthwhile minutes) (h/t Jenn Haltman)

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Thanks, as always, for reading.

Love, Kara