Stop Introducing Yourself with Slashes

Yesterday, I was leaving at the same time my next door neighbor was walking out. I had seen her in passing but we had never talked before, so I decided to say hi.

We ended up talking for nearly 10-minutes before getting to the cliché and expected question:
so what do you do?

…

I’ve had a lot of answers to this in my career, and I’m rarely sure how to answer. I either just say “Oh I do a lot” or I name the easiest thing that everyone knows.

But this time, I had a different mental process.

I thought:
who cares what this person thinks of me?
I should talk about what I’m really excited about.

I’m ONLY going to introduce myself as a co-founder of Caveday. It takes time to explain, but there’s energy behind it. I’m proud of it.

And it actually led to a really interesting conversation.

We all do a lot of things.
We have slashes and lists of things that could describe what we do (or who we are).

Rather than go for the expected or easy-to-explain answer, go with the one that brings you to life. Because if you do consider yourself a musician or artist or traveler… maybe your work is just a means to support that identity. And you’d be better off talking about the thing that you’re thinking about most of the day instead of the thing that you spend most days doing.

Chances are, you're working on something you’re excited about. Or have a part of you that gives you energy (even it’s not work related. Musician? Gardener? Baker? Parent? New Yorker? Traveler?)
Start with that.

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Caveday is a company aimed at improving your relationship to work. We write regular posts on Medium and send out monthly newsletters with productivity tips, life hacks, and recommendations. Sign up for the mailing list here.

Jake Kahana is a cofounder of Caveday. Sign up for his personal emails, called “The Email Refrigerator” here.