Ditch the Label

Free yourself from a "career" and find a life

I’m Ruth. I want to help you reclaim your sense of purpose and find clarity, congruence, and confidence, so you can have a more fulfilling career. I’ve been on this journey myself, and I want to share what I’ve learned with you. Please feel free to reach out to me at ruth@confidentcareersearch.com or connect with me on LinkedIn if you have a question about your job search or feel a mismatch with what you’re doing now. Trust me: Career happiness is possible.

Oscar Wilde is credited with saying, “If you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it. That is your punishment. But if you never know, then you can be anything.”

I love this because it points to something fundamental about humans: We are creative and evolving through learning and experience. We are capable of many things as individuals. Our brains are unique in this.

Wilde’s observation also underscores my discomfort over the years with choosing something to call myself and staying in that lane. I have long been puzzled by the idea of labeling ourselves as our professions, and I’ve striven over two decades to stop doing it to myself.

I have achieved some success in this, and I think you can, too. It can be extremely freeing.

Labels are tough to avoid

Ever notice that the first question people will ask you is, “What do you do?” The answer gives the asker a picture of you in a specific role, behaving in a particular way, and having a particular personality. Engineer = nerd. Writer = creative. Rocket scientist = genius.

There are many reasons why we do this. The top reason is that humans like to sort, arrange, and categorize things. It helps us make sense of the world. But then there’s the cultural aspect. In the U.S., the strong association between vocation and identity has deep historical, social, and economic roots in the Protestant work ethic, the “American Dream” of prosperity, capitalism, personal achievement, and the glorification of financial success.

But it’s not this way across the world. In many other cultures, identify shifts from profession to other aspects of life, including community or kinship roles, one’s place within a collective community, social and moral values, and personal interests or passions outside of a paid job.

Many indigenous cultures, such as those in parts of Australia, North America, and South America, define individuals by their communities and relationships with the land. In countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the emphasis is more on work-life balance and the idea that one's job is just one part of life. Social identity is more likely to be tied to values, community, and hobbies than strictly to a profession.

But a shift in thinking about one’s identity is tough when you have been raised to find work to do and then keep moving up a ladder in that chosen work; when your self-concept is built on the work you choose.

Untethering takes effort

When I worked in my first profession, print journalism, it did not take long until my persona as a “reporter” clung to me wherever I went. It permeated my relationships. Friends would jokingly say, “This is off-the-record, right?” or “Better be careful! She might quote you!” Just mentioning what I did for pay would spark a lot of comments and questions.

Never mind that I also acted in local theater, was a volunteer in long-term-care facilities, and had a whole other part of my life that nothing to do with working at a newspaper.

One of the reasons I left the profession after more than two decades was that I didn’t want to be type-cast. I love to write. I love to create. Why did I have to do it in a specific way for the rest of my life? Couldn’t I marry my values of community service, relationships, creativity, and love of learning in other ways?

Here’s what I did. You can, too.