HELLO FRIENDS!

If you are hearing “3 4 6 0 1!” as you read the title of my blog – you are my people. (Les Miz reference, I told you last blog I am a proud theatre kid!)

But really, do you ever ask yourself that question?

Not to refer back to some “corporate speak” but, it’s in my blood so…have you heard of the term “elevator pitch?”

In a nutshell – think of riding in an elevator and you encounter someone you want to network with. You have a brief (think 30 seconds the length of an elevator ride) to introduce yourself and make a connection. What would you say??

I have often adapted that concept when I am career coaching to help people find a simple way to create a good “grabber” about who they are.

I work a lot with clients trying to understand who they are because the reality is, that it isn’t a resume that gets you a job. It might open a door but once you are in there it is YOU who will need to convince the hiring manager(s) that you are the right fit. You can’t do that if you don’t know how to articulate who you are and why you are the best candidate. All the other stuff (resume, networking, interviewing) flows from that.

So to get back to the title of this Blog Post – “Who AM I?”

It seems like such an obvious answer, but I sometimes struggle to put it into words. AND…it can change from time to time. Life events in particular can shift it (if you everyone want to learn more about your career after a life event check out my Your Career After… course!) Therefore it is an important practice to reflect and figure it out now and then.

You can call it a brand review (I know, some people get wired about that word!) or simply a check-in with yourself to see where you are at. I don’t care WHAT you call it, just know it is valuable work. I call it the foundational work.

I am constantly checking-in and reworking “my brand” to algin with who I am.

It is important for me as I operate from an authentic space, so when I am misaligned with my values, I feel it. Plus I like to walk the talk. If I am preaching it to others, I better be doing it myself!

That said, I struggle with it sometimes. Especially my most recent shift in 2020 after my cancer recurrence. That one shook me to my core and made me realize that I need to make some significant life changes starting with my career.  

Fundamentally I know EXACTLY who I am and what I want to do, that’s the beauty of facing your mortality, everything becomes crystal clear. But where I struggle with it is – expressing it to others.

My path isn’t a conventional one. I have leaped from a very “traditional” career path into something that isn’t easy to define. But I need to figure out how. It is important. 

Which takes me back to my question – who am I?

One of the words I use to define me is that I am a creative soul.

So what does that mean? (Important note: make sure you can speak to the words you are using to describe yourself!)

You have probably heard that who you are as a kid, and what interests you, can help to influence who you grow into. We don’t always listen to that little child in us and sometimes shut them up entirely as we get older. I think I did that.

I was always a creative kid. Books. Writing. Theatre. I loved it all. I tried to make a career of it but I wasn’t sure how, so I always said I made it part of what I did as a Corporate Leader. That was true, at least I tried to. But the reality is I wasn’t fully living who I was meant to be.

By calling myself a creative soul I am putting a stake in the ground to say – this is it. This is who you are stop denying it.

When I was going through chemo in 2020 I thought about this a lot. At that time my future was uncertain. I had a lot of time to think particularly the week after a chemo treatment for me was tough and although I made sure to get at least 30 minutes of movement a day, sometimes taking a shower and walking downstairs was all I could muster. I couldn’t read, for some reason, I wasn’t allowed to work which used to encompass my WHOLE LIFE as a workaholic, I had to be very isolated. So listened to a lot of podcasts and imagined what my life would be like once this was all over.

I wasn’t at the point where I was fully realizing my cancer was with me for a lifetime, so I was still thinking of it in terms of: before cancer and after cancer.

Ultimately I knew I needed to change, whether I only had a few months or many years, I didn’t want to keep doing what I used to be doing. It wasn’t healthy.

Thinking about the things that brought me joy – I couldn’t help but think about all of the creative things I loved as a kid. So I knew that whatever I did being, creative had to be a part of it.

Recently I read this post from one of my favourite authors Suleika Jaouad that resonated:

READ THE ARTICLE HERE!

Watching her video from her hospital room, when she said, “The best form of creativity is urgency”, I said out loud – THAT IS IT!

I commented on the article about how urgency brought my creativity back to me but I was still struggling with my descriptor of creative soul. I shared how I have taken “some” steps from my 2020 epiphany to fulfill some of those goals but I have a bunch I haven’t tackled (Podcast!!) because I am scared.

Suleika, as always, gives such wise advice and responded to me with this: