Create Yourself

If you look just above this sentence, you'll see my banner head, GROW, with the smaller script below it reading, "Create Yourself."

When I came up with this tag line many years ago, I didn't think twice about it. I felt it was a perfectly reasonable, catchy little phrase that aptly described my career philosophy: I believe in creating your own career path using your amazing and unique combination of talents vs. trying to squeeze into a one-size-fits-all career mold.

(Think Chief Software Developer at Creative Design Solutions, Inc. vs. The Butcher, The Baker, or The Illustrious Candlestick Maker.)

But as I've spoken with people regarding this "create yourself" concept over the years, I've met a lot of raised eyebrows. As in, "What the $^%# are you asking me to do?!" I quickly learned that the idea was not as intuitive and accessible as I'd expected it to be.

And yet, this concept of creating oneself isn't some new-fangled buzz phrase in modern career thought. Rather, it's inspired from a source that is as far from new-fangled as you can get:

George Bernard Shaw. 

Born 1856. Dublin, Ireland.

I'd always been fascinated by Shaw's expansive and dynamic career journey in which he played multiple roles during his lifetime of 94 years. These included: playwright, essayist, novelist, orator, politician, social activist, music and literary critic and co-founder of the London School of Economics. He also won a Nobel Prize in Literature and an Academy Award for the screen adaptation of one of his plays.

Not too shabby!

And so, as you can imagine, it was with great delight that I stumbled upon this gem of a quote from Shaw:

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

As shown by the life he led and the career choices he made, Mr. Shaw obviously didn't wait for a career to jump out at him. Instead, he engaged his talents and particular fascinations in a way that would carve out his own unique and wildly successful career journey.

But somehow, across the Atlantic and over a century later, most of us are still conditioned from childhood to believe that, if we want to succeed, we have to follow a narrow, much trodden career path. If it's been done, we think we stay safe by going the same, well-lit route. (Never mind that well-lit routes are more fleeting than ever!) We are too scared at the daunting prospect of the unknown, of the initial confusion that must exist in order to create our own way that we back away from creating ourselves.

Leveraging our unique strengths? We can't risk that!

But how about the risk of losing our sense of self when we constantly focus on everyone else's career trajectories? For example, we slave over getting perfect grades in brand name high schools in order to gain entry into brand name universities and then even cooler companies. But what then? What happens when we discover that the prize was nothing even close to what we really were looking for? What happens when we personally and professionally flounder because we're now so far removed from what we're really good at?

I suppose that's why, whenever I see someone who dares to create his or her own path in life I take notice. These people always seem to be some of the most fulfilled people I meet. They know their strengths and use them to create solutions for others. They don't focus so much on finding the path they are supposed to take; rather, they actively create a layered, rich life that allows them to engage their multiple talents and fascinations in many different ways. They openly recognize, appreciate and leverage their unique combination of abilities and interests in ways that only they can. They stick with what they value and, if what they value is useful to others, people come to recognize and even pay handsomely for that value.

And so, despite the occasional raised eyebrows and skepticism, I'm going to stick with my "create yourself" battle cry. It's what I value, how I approach my life and, most of all, it's a philosophy that's proven effective time and again with clients. However, unlike Mr. Shaw, I'm not so patient when it comes to ideas catching on.  In fact, I'm not-so-secretly hoping for the idea of "create yourself" to go all viral on me. You know, like a social meme or something like that.

Drumming fingers on desk

Aaaaany day now....