Jobs and Personal Identity
One of the fundamental questions that an individual has to answer is who he or she is. Often the answer to that question involves a discussion of a person’s job and what that job entails. While a person’s work is certainly a key component of his or her identity, it does not define an individual. While a person may do any number of jobs over a lifetime, an individual’s identity remains over the course of his or her span of life. Why should your job not define who you are and more importantly what should?
A job provides many positive benefits. It provides an outlet for a person’s skills, it gives him or her a sense of confidence in participating in and affecting society, and it provides an income that allows a person to live comfortably, support any dependents, and participate in other activities. What a job should not do is be the one activity that defines who a person is. When the activities of a job become all-consuming, a person loses his or her identity in one activity and as a result all other personal development, responsibilities, and other activities become secondary. The danger of locating all of one's focus on a job lies both in the fact that other areas of a person’s life become less rich and more importantly loss of a job leads to a complete loss of identity. A person should always have a number of activities that combine to bring richness to his or her life. No one activity should solely constitute a person’s identity.
A person’s identity should start with core beliefs and character. An individual is first defined by how he or she views the world. In choosing a word view, a person determines what is truly important, the purpose that he or she has for being in the world, and the general approach that he or she will take in living on planet earth. An individual’s identity rests in how he or she treats other people, his or her daily choices in appearance, language, and attitude, and the set of priorities that order his or her everyday life. Ideally, a job should be an extension of a person’s core belief system that best represents the person that he or she is. When an individual allows a job to define his or her life then that person is living an out of order life. Such a life will inevitably become corrupted both in its affects on others and also on the individual. Placing a job above a person’s fundamental moral character will over time lead an individual into self-destructive tendencies that end up in ruin.
Character must always come before action. The best employee is one who does his or her job with the highest level of character. In doing so, this employee honors the employer, the customer, and his or her co-workers. The manner in which a job is done is just as important as what is done. Success in a job is not truly success if it is achieved at the expense of a person’s core values. When a job becomes a person’s identity then achieving the demands of the job is placed above a person’s core values. When this happens, the inner person is violated and the individual becomes not only less of a person, but a less valuable employee. A job should always be done at the highest possible level, but always in concert with a person’s core character and world view. When this integration exists, the individual will work not only harder, but better, and will make everyone around him or her a better person and employee as well. Jobs may come and go during a person’s life, but his or her character, the inner person, continues wherever he or she may go.
A job is a set of activities that a person does to express the natural gifts that he or she has been given. While a job should have an important place in a person’s life, it should never be that which defines an individual’s identity. A person’s identity consists of a person’s beliefs, character, and approach to life and while this can be expressed through a job, it should never be defined by it. The activities of job are always secondary to personal development and growth as an individual and as a contributor to society and supporter for his or her dependents. The pressure to place the demands of a job in a place where they should not be are strong, but they must be rejected for a person to have a fulfilled and complete life. A job is a tremendous blessing, but a person’s identity must be greater than just a job. The loss of a job, whatever the cause, should never lead to a loss of a person’s essential self. Personal growth, core beliefs, and world view all mix together to create a person’s identity. Placing a job in the proper perspective will make for a more rewarding work experience and will allow for an easier transition when a job is no more.
