Our brain clings to habits, and when meeting a new person, familiarity often keeps us in the comfort zone of talking about the past. We believe that our past defines us, and it’s a narrative that’s easy to fall back on. However, this narrative can be limiting. It confines us to our past successes, preventing us from exploring possibilities.
A frequently encountered question is, “What do you do?” Many of us unknowingly limit the breadth of our experiences and aspirations by encapsulating our identities in our professional worlds. Some of us say, “I work in sales (or finance or manufacturing, etc.);” however, can these succinct statements accurately capture who we are and what we aspire to be?