Who Are You Being?

As a sole-trader or the owner of small business, you’re probably used to wearing several different hats during the course of a typical working day.  And then you go home, take off all the work hats and put on the hat of the person you are at home - father, mother, spouse, son, daughter.

In Stephen Covey’s book First Things First he writes about the ‘balance of roles’ and how each of the roles we play interact with and support the others.

When he wrote the book back in 1994, social networks hadn’t even been thought of, but today belonging to them gives us yet another role (or set of roles) to play - to the online world. 

Playing all these different roles is rather like being an actor who is constantly changing costumes AND characters between acts.  Totally exhausting!

Are you being yourself, or are you being who you think other people want you to be?  Here’s a very good reason to be yourself:

“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life, everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.  .....  Thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.”  (Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning)

People will see through an act sooner or later and be turned off, wondering if you’re being dishonest about anything else! 

Being authentic and genuine is attractive. 

Have you noticed that the blogs and newsletters you enjoy reading most are often those where the author shares something about themselves?  Whether it’s short snippets about their everyday life, what they did at the weekend, or perhaps a kitchen disaster, by sharing they reveal a part of who they really are.  You feel you know them a little, which leads to trusting what they say. 

You are unique and simply being yourself is not only liberating, it’s one of your best marketing tools!

How do you juggle all the roles you need to play?  If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share :)