Ask yourself a simple question, “Who are you?” It’s one of the most unnerving things you can ever do. It’s one of those questions that forces you to look in the mirror of your own life and face the reality of who you are.
The Star Wars movie trailer, “The Force Awakens”, had a voice over that asked the main character the question, "Who are you?" Not surprisingly, it was never answered but with any luck it will be in the next installment of the blockbuster franchise.
So many of us define ourselves through external factors such as our job. When asked “Who we are” we respond with, “I’m a lawyer or teacher or even a domain investor”. These may be what you do but they certainly do not define “who you are”.
One of the reasons why many people become depressed upon losing their job is because they define themselves by what they do. They lose a sense of identity as they’ve built their self-worth around what they do. You are worth more than your job, don’t fall into the trap of building who you are around it.
I’ve seen other people define “who they are” by where they live and how much wealth they’ve accumulated. Their self-worth is tied directly to their bank account, assets or whether they drive a better car than their neighbour.
When all is said and done, possessions don’t define who you are. What happens when they’re gone? During the Global Financial Crisis too many people defined themselves by their accumulation of wealth…..sadly, a lot of them committed suicide when they discovered their reason for meaning had vanished overnight. You are worth more than the money in your bank account and your possessions don’t define who you are.
The 1980’s movie Wallstreet had a great line in it where Martin Sheen’s character said to his son, “What you see is a guy who never measured a man's success by the size of his WALLET!” The character was making an obvious statement that is often forgotten, a person is more than money.
So who are you? Reverend Martin Luther King pointed us in the right direction when he espoused, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Character. That’s who you are. It’s by the content of your character that you will be known. We have all met people of low character in the domain industry. They tend to be the ones that will crawl over their dying grandmother for another dollar. We have also met those that have a generosity of spirt born out of a strong sense of character.
In my opinion, the adventure of life is not about getting more or climbing the corporate ladder (not that these things are wrong in themselves). It’s about getting a revelation of “who you are” through the development of your character. This can only be done as you interact with others and more importantly, take onboard wisdom from those that are closest to us.
I hope I’ve given you something to ponder this week in my Saturday Musings. Have a great weekend.