I’m curious. Do you have a work persona and a home persona?
Or are there elements of yourself you choose to dial up or dial down depending on the situation, so you flex between the two a little?
Mike Robbin the author of, ‘Bring your whole self to work,’ explores what bringing our whole selves to work means. He sees it as, “showing up authentically, leading with humility, and remembering that we’re all vulnerable, imperfect human beings doing the best we can.”
When looking at how you can juggle all the things across your life, it helps to look at your work and home lives as one. You’re looking to work on your career, there will be elements from across your life that will impact and influence the decisions your make. If you’re looking to make changes at home, these could impact and influence your work. Segmenting your work and life means you’re working boxes rather than looking at the whole picture to build the life you want.
Your life needs you to be lots of things to lots of people. You might be a parent, a daughter/son, carer, partner/wife/husband, brother/sister/sibling, mentor, volunteer, friend, co-worker, colleague and leader, as well as roles I haven’t captured here!
By being you, your whole self in every part of your life, you have the opportunity to make stronger connections, your wellbeing benefits and you’re more productive.
Robbin’s equation for authenticity is (Honesty – Self-Righteousness + Vulnerability = Authenticity).
The links between growth mindset, emotional intelligence, teamwork, family life and being able to be who we are without fear and feeling safe are also well documented.
So how do you move from knowing to taking action and being your whole self?
Gain a strong sense of yourself.
What’s your why?
Why do you do what you do?
What are your strengths and talents?
It might surprise you, the things you do naturally and instinctively are not what everyone else does! The things you do brilliantly are your superpowers. You might be amazingly organised. There might be others who are amazingly organised. They won’t be you. They won’t be amazingly organised in the way you are, with your own twist and passion.
Have you ever had a moment of, ‘oh, I thought everyone did this?’.
Well, whatever ‘the thing’ is you thought everyone did so brilliantly, it means you’ve found one of your strengths.
If you’re a natural introvert you may feel you need to be more extravert in a work setting to be noticed. How could being an introvert be your strength?
Or you might be more of a chameleon, adapting to the styles and behaviours of those around you and the environment you’re in. This can sometimes lead to feeling at odds with who you really are and your true sense of self. If you’re aware you do this, could it be one of your strengths?
It takes courage and vulnerability to be who you are. It also brings an empowerment and confidence knowing who you are, what’s important to you and how you show up each day.
Google’s Aristotle study found that ‘psychological safety’ is by far the most important of five key elements that allows a team to excel. It also means that individuals feel they can be themselves.
How are you holding yourself back by not being truly you?
What are the similarities between you at home and you at work?
What clues are these giving you?
Could these be your strengths?
How are you using them every day?
If you’re looking to bring out your strengths, work on your values, and your why across your career and life as a whole, I’d love to help.
Drop me a line at hello@seabreezecoaching.co.uk
