Do You Define Yourself by Your Day Job, Or by Your Passion?

What’s in a title?

The other day someone asked what work I do. “I’m a production planner. I plan production.” She politely nodded her head and made a note.

Yeah, she had no idea about what I do twelve hours a day from that. We define ourselves by our work, so why do we minimize it? Most of us handle multiple roles; why do we settle on the one title we use by our day job and not the one that makes us happy?

Now, if I had said I’m a writer, that sparks interest in people. Does it matter that I’m not making a full-time income from it yet? Apparently, it does to me. Otherwise, I would say, “I’m a writer, I write engaging articles sprinkled with sarcasm, and I love what I do.”

You limit yourself by your own thinking

If we continually label ourselves by our day jobs, how can we ever follow our dreams? If you aspire to be a writer, you need to tell yourself and others that I’m a writer! If your title is dog catcher, but you really want to be a veterinarian, your focus needs to be “I’m a veterinarian someday.”

You go where your thoughts go. Try this sometime: Draw a box and tell someone not to look at it while you’re pointing to it. Where do they look? Where you point. If you focus on where you want to go, that’s where you’ll look as well.

We like to focus on the negative things. After a long day, I tell my husband about work. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the work. Some of the people, meh?

As people get back to work, manufacturing is like a hamster in a wheel right now. Everyone wants it yesterday, even though they failed to see they needed it until today. We are crazy busy expediting orders and constantly pushing in new orders because someone has a line down now.

If you’re a priority customer, your order trumps the smaller customer who put their order in months ago. Sorry, that’s the way it is. We scramble and rearrange our schedule to make this happen.

We had just this scenario this week

We got an urgent expedite email at about 3:30 p.m. We scrambled to get the material pulled (oh yeah, that’s an issue too) scheduled the order for the third shift to run. Not only did the third shift finish it, but took the extra step to make sure the packaging guy got it first thing when he came in at 5:30 a.m.

We made the 8:00 a.m. truck for shipment.

When top management came in, emailing like crazy and following the wrong work order, they didn’t hear in the production meeting that it was complete. Slow down. It’s finished, in stock, and they’re loading it on the truck right now.

Later, we were told that the Sales Director thanked them for making it happen in a Friday meeting. Crickets.

We planned it. We scheduled it and had everything in motion. Management had no clue because they left for the day. All they had to do was put the bow on top and take all the credit for our hard work.

So why do you define yourself by your day job when your passion is something else? You may put in long hours writing and proofreading, but the kudos go to you, not your manager, when you publish. Even if your stories aren’t getting the views, you want yet, wait a while and watch them grow.

What if you’re writing for someone else? I don’t know yet. But I’m willing to find out how that feels and let you know. You may get a long-term client or referrals for other work. Sure, there will be good and bad in this path.

But you get to choose who you want to work with. Even if you need the work, it’s your choice. If you’re debt-free like I write about so often, this lessens the desperation of the situation. When you’re struggling for every penny, you do what you have to.

But, it’s still your choice.

What’s next?

I’m a writer. I write engaging articles sprinkled with sarcasm, and I love what I do. That’s how I’m going to introduce myself now. That ignites my passion for work and for life.

What about you? There’s nothing wrong with being a dog catcher. If you love dogs and it’s your passion to help, it’s what you do. If you aspire to offer treatment and wellness to animals, then follow that dream to be a veterinarian if it’s what you want.

You always have a choice; it’s the motivation behind the choice that counts.