Comments on: Is Who You Are What You Do?

By: kenyantykoon

kenyantykoon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:47:16 +0000

my work adds a lot of value to my life and to some extent gives my identity. i have been doing it for a few months and life has really become enjoyable. my passion test for work is whether it can make me get out of bed on a cold rainy morning willingly to work, without necessarily thinking about the end result-cash or a promotion. i am happy to brag that i could do this for free if i did not have any financial needs that keep a calling every so often

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:05:35 +0000

A job is just a job, until you truly start loving it. AFter that, it becomes who you are.

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:46:13 +0000

This is why I do what I do. I detest working with clients but I love doing web/nerd stuff

By: Matt_SF

Matt_SF — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:15:00 +0000

This is why I hate trading. There is no sense of fulfillment or sense of building anything other than the bottom line.

Days like today (down days) are when I really miss the old job more and more because there was a sense of building something or making a difference. Granted, I was only lining big pharma’s pockets with more cash, but that was still somewhat gratifying from a “seeing a project come full circle” principle.

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:12:35 +0000

This is such an important topic, and soooo hard to sort out. I’m in academia right now but I don’t have it any easier. I would say that ideally the “job” IS your career and IS your passion/who you are. So that if things were ideal, then YES, “who you are is what you do.”

This is what we should all work towards. We get stuck along the way, though, and then things become confusing. Because the process works in the other direction, too, so that if we end up doing the same thing long enough it DOES start to make us who we are.

Anyone else feel that way too? I don’t have the answers, seems this one is the ultimate problem we have to keep working at.

By: Jason @ MyMoneyMinute

Jason @ MyMoneyMinute — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:33:38 +0000

“A job is a source of income, your career should by your passion.” ~ Excellent line, Kyle. I may not be where I want to be in my particular job, but I am proud of the career choice I’ve made, for better and worse!

What’s more important than the job you do, is the people you meet day in & day out, and the effect you have on their lives. Life is about relationships, not paper pushing.