🤔 You are not your job―or are you?

An exercise to prevent the danger of occupational identity crisis & more.

In the span of your adult life, how many times have you been asked the question: “So, what do you do for a living?”. Then you try to explain your job in a simpler way to others, and then people will construct what kind of person you are based on your occupation.

“Oh she’s an engineer, must be a logical thinker!” “Wait, he’s a painter? He must be in touch with his sensitive side.”

Though often go unnoticed, there are quite a few dangers in defining who you are and your identity based on your occupation. It could lead to identity crisis when you have to move on from the job, which could lead to anxiety and depression.

Source: psychology.iresearchnet.com

Is it even a real thing?

According to the American Psychological Association, occupational identity is a term that refers to the conscious awareness of oneself as a worker. Basically, it’s a sociological term that describes the degree to which your self-image is attached to your career.

Many researchers have done studies on occupational identity. One report from the University of Iowa states that occupational identities are highly recognized in social settings and institutionally clear, which is why people tend to say their occupation first when asked who they are.

A notable characteristic of occupational identity is consistency. More specifically, the notion that consistency of work will produce a consistency of self. As work involves a routine, it creates a solid identity. This is supported by a paper previously published by AUT University.

So in short, yes—it is very much real, and actually more common than we think.

What should I do if I have it?

One thing to note is that it is not always a bad thing for you to identify with the work that you do. It might start to get concerning when you depend solely on your work to describe who you are. To tell if you’ve crossed the healthy occupational identity line, ask yourself these questions:

• Is it difficult to participate in conversations with others that are not about your work?

• How quickly do you tell people you’ve just met about your job?

• Has anyone ever complained to you that you are in your workplace too much?

• Do you have hobbies outside of work that do not directly involve your work-related skills and abilities? 

• How would you feel if you could no longer continue in your profession? 

If most of the answers are yes, then you might consider trying out some of these suggestions below:

1. Make more free time. Keyword: delegate.

2. Start small. Ease yourself into a new hobby.

3. Rebuild personal network. Reach out to distant friends and family.

4. Review your principles. The “Values Clarification” exercise is a common practice—more about this on the section below.

5. Reframe your job title. Understand that your skills could be used across different contexts.

Read more on “What Happens When Your Career Becomes Your Whole Identity” in this Harvard Business Review article.

So who am I, actually?

Our identity is closely related to what we value as a human being. The values we live by are very dynamic. In the case of occupational identity, the values we hold could change as we move from one job to another. To prevent this instability of self from happening, a very common therapeutic practice called “Values Clarification” is often done.

First Step

Snippet of the Personal Values Clarification Worksheet

The idea is that you go through a total of 31 values, and you score them based on:

• A = How satisfied you are of this value currently (e.g. I feel very accomplished, so I’d put a 5 in column A).

• B = How concerned you would feel if you didn’t fulfill this value (e.g. I’d be very concerned for myself if I can’t go on many adventures, so I’d put a 5 in column A).

• C = How much happier you would feel if you fulfilled this value (e.g. I’d be extremely happier if I could express myself creatively, so I’d put a 5 in column C).

• D = A sum of B + C.

Second Step

Table 2 of the Personal Values Clarification Worksheet

After filling in the columns, go ahead and mark the 5 or 6 values that score the highest in column D. These 5 or 6 values represent your most important personal values. Assign a different importance weight for each of these values (e.g. out of my 5 highest-scored values, I think Freedom is the most important, so I’d give it a 10).

Third Step

Now, you have ranked your top 5 most important personal values—which you will bring to whatever job you will have. Here’s what you can do after gathering these values:

1. As I think back on my experiences (job, career, life), do these values seem to be the most important values for me? If not, what changes do I need to make?

   Example: If your number 1 most important value is Adventure/Courage, and you haven’t implemented it at your current job, you could change your work process to be more experimental.

2. How do my five or six most important personal values from the worksheet compare with the satisfaction scores in column A? On which values do I want to increase my satisfaction?

   Example: Out of my 5 most important values, I’ve put Creativity at rank 1, but it only scores 2 in column A. Therefore, Creativity is a value that I need to work on more.

Download the full Personal Values Clarification Worksheet for free and try it for yourself here.

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Editor’s Note:

Like mothers, writers are not supposed to have favorites. But personally, I would like to say that this Monday Mavens edition might be my favorite one that I’ve written so far.

I hope you find it as helpful and resourceful as I did. And if you did, don’t forget to subscribe and share the good thoughts to your peers, colleagues, friends, family—everybody.

Cheers, we’ll see you next week!