For most of your career, you operate within the corporate structure with a clear objective: perform well, advance, and continue progressing. Perhaps you begin as a manager, move to a Director role, then to Vice President, and continue climbing from there.
Then, sometimes for reasons completely outside your control, everything changes. A shift in the market, a merger, or a broader financial downturn can quickly eliminate a role that once felt secure and that you identified with. Suddenly, the position you worked so hard to build is gone.
When that happened to me, it forced a difficult realization. Over time, I had unintentionally allowed my professional title to become closely tied to my identity. When the role disappeared, it felt as though a part of me had disappeared with it.
In hindsight, that moment became one of the most valuable turning points in my career and personal growth. But the perspective shift didn’t happen in isolation. My wife made a simple comment one day that stayed with me: “Your title is not your identity.” It wasn’t new information—I knew it intellectually—but hearing it in that moment gave it new weight. It took time for the idea to fully settle in.
Looking back now, I can see how much of my life had become centered around the job—my identity, my professional network, even my sense of self-worth. In many ways, I had allowed the role to define the boundaries of who I was. As a result, I wasn’t operating at my full potential. I had become somewhat disconnected from the curiosity, energy, and perspective that had originally driven my career.
It has only been a few weeks since that conversation, but the impact has been significant. I can already see the shift. The passion is returning. The curiosity is back. And with it, a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
I am reminding myself of who I am, that I am a lion, I am a king, and that “I can do everything through God who gives me strength”.
Let me know if you have ever lost yourself at any point in your career. And if so, how did you find yourself again?
https://scottdarchibald.com/2026/03/17/my-job-is-not-my-identity/
