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What Happens When Your Career Becomes Your Whole Identity?
Your Career Doesn’t Define You
For most of us, our Career is a significant part of who we are. We spend 40 hours per week working towards achieving goals that impact the company’s success and our sense of accomplishment.
So it’s not uncommon for people to feel like their work is an essential part of who they are and defines them as a person. But what does happen when your Career becomes your whole identity?
Your Career Isn’t Who You Are – It’s What You Do.
You are much more than just a job – and your Career is much bigger than you, a single job.
Your Career will come down to what you’ve done. And that has no particular value if it’s all tied up in one thing or if you haven’t taken advantage of opportunities outside of just working at that one place.
It can be challenging to find balance when work becomes all-consuming; it can result in a feeling of emptiness or isolation from those around you. But there are ways to maintain your identity outside of your job and re-energize yourself.
Table of Contents
How To Make Sure Your Career Isn’t Everything
The most important thing you can do is not to let your Career become everything. After all, you are a lot more than just the work you do – so make sure that you remind yourself of that often. Try these tips:
Identify the aspects of your life that are not related to work
Make time for these things in your schedule, so they don’t get neglected
Find a way to make them enjoyable – find new hobbies, take up a sport, learn an instrument, etc.
Take care of yourself and make sure you’re happy with what you do outside of work as well.
If it’s not working out, rethink your career goals or consider finding another job that will allow you more time for other things.
Remember that even if you love your job, it is possible to be too invested in it and neglect other important parts of life
1) Identify the aspects of your life that are not related to work
It’s normal to be career-focused when you’re first starting in your Career, but it can quickly become unhealthy when every aspect of your life becomes a way for you to advance at your company and show off.
Try this tip: take some time to identify the things you need outside of work (family time, social activities, hobbies), and schedule these into your calendar just as seriously as you would any other meeting or commitment. Then, make sure you take time for these things in your schedule!
2) Make time for these things in your schedule, so they don’t get neglected
If you do plan to make time for other parts of your life (schedule some bonding time with loved ones into your calendar just like any other meeting or appointment), it can be easy just to let them slide.
Try this tip: If you write down which activities are important to you outside of work and plan on doing them, it’s a lot harder to neglect them.
Writing it down helps cement the importance of these activities in your mind – if you don’t put them into practice, that goes against what’s important to you!
Or try using an online calendar system like Google Calendar or iCalendar.
All activities from work and home are written out together as one extensive list (rather than having two separate lists); this makes it easy to see at a glance what activities you have planned for the week, month or year so that nothing falls through the cracks.
3) Find a way to make them enjoyable – find new hobbies, take up a sport, learn an instrument, etc.,
It can be challenging to stick with something if you don’t enjoy doing it.
Try this tip: Make sure to pick activities that you genuinely enjoy – and don’t just keep going with something because it’s an obligation and everyone else is doing it too!
Instead, figure out what makes you happy and stick to those things.
If you’re not getting much joy from your hobbies, maybe it’s time to rethink them or try searching for new ones.
Also, make sure that the things you enjoy are really about you and your interests – rather than trying to fit in with a specific group because they seem like they’d be fun.
4) Take care of yourself and make sure you’re happy with what you do outside of work as well
Even if your work is excellent, there’s still a chance that it can take over your life if you let it.
Try this tip: If your job is stealing so much time from other parts of life that it’s making them suffer, then maybe it’s time to rethink how much simply working matters to you – or whether or not another job would allow for better balance.
Try to make sure that you are happy with what you do in your off time while you’re working.
If it’s not fun for you anymore, or if there are aspects of life outside of work that causes more stress than happiness, then maybe it’s time to consider changing jobs or searching for ways to improve the parts of your life outside of work.
5) If it’s not working out, rethink your career goals or consider finding another job
If Everything else fails and you’re still having trouble getting yourself motivated at work because all your energy is going into other parts of life, then maybe it’s time to tweak how much your job matters.
Try this tip: Once you’ve looked into ways to make everything work together so that “work” and “life” don’t feel like two separate things.
If you’re still struggling with motivation at work, then maybe it’s time to consider a career change or look into jobs in other companies.
There are plenty of jobs out there where being productive is just as crucial for your job security as any amount of overtime – so try searching for one!
6) Remember that even if you love your job, it is possible to be too invested in it and neglect other important parts of life
Even if you love your job, there’s a chance that it can get unhealthy to be too invested in it.
Our work is important and valuable because we need the money and experience – but trying to make everything about our work, whether it has anything to do with it or not, can make things unsustainable in the long run.
So instead, try this tip: Just because you have a job doesn’t mean that you don’t still need other parts of life like friends and family time as well.
Final Thoughts:
There are many reasons people stay in the same profession for years. They may enjoy it, they might not be able to find a better job than pays as well, or they have been working there so long that changing careers seems like too big of a risk.
However, even though you love your work and can’t imagine doing anything else with your life.
If you feel like you’re neglecting other essential parts of yourself because you spend all day at work- then maybe it’s time to make some changes.
Would this describe how you feel about your Career? If so, I encourage you to consider taking steps towards finding new meaning outside of what is familiar and comfortable.
I hope that you find the fulfillment and happiness you are looking for at work. After all, if we aren’t happy with what we do daily – then what’s the point of even going to work in the first place?
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