Sunday, June 9, 2013

Don't define yourself by your paycheck

You've probably seen this Chevy Silverado commercial before; however, I see it as a perfect metaphor of how to define yourself...and it's not by how you make a living.  When asked, "So, what do you do?", the actor can't really say, but the montage indicates that he and his family actually live life and work is just a small part of it.  Actually, there are 16 total scenes and only two are work related - that's about right.

I can't think of anything so sad as a person defining his or her self as their job yet, more than 9 times out of 10, that's exactly what people do.  It's not to say that someone can't make a living doing what they're passionate about, but is that really what life is all about?  The pediatric surgeon or the cancer researcher are doing important work, there is no doubt about that, but that's not the sum total of their humanity.

Try to define yourself by the totality of you and if the montage of scenes are blank or full of work, create new scenes.