The Stuck Blog

In my previous post, I introduced you to the Great Pretender Game. Let’s talk more about how the game is played.

If you feel the need to be someone other than who you really are just to keep your job, you’re playing the Great Pretender Game. If your personality stays on the curb on the way to work, you’re playing the Great Pretender Game. If the person staring at you through the mirror of work is completely different than the one you let out at home… there’s your sign.

It’s extremely easy to get caught in The Great Pretender Game. In fact, society teaches it in many ways. I’m sure you’ve heard the advice to make your resume look like exactly the person they are seeking. Or maybe you’ve been told to keep your resume businesslike and keep your personality out of the resume. Hmmm… sounds like a recipe for The Great Pretender.

I’ve seen the game played hundreds of times. It’s the artist at heart who pretends to be the filing clerk, or the straight-laced accountant who moonlights in the rock band, or the professional who refuses to put on a tie elsewhere.

So, how do you know if you’re playing The Great Pretender Game? Here’s how. You’re probably a player in the game if you accepted a job primarily because of:
• the pay, or
• the reputation of the company, or
• your friends who already work there, or
• the company’s products or services, or
• the location of the office, or
• someone else told you to take the job.

The only way to keep from playing the Great Pretender Game is that you took the job primarily because the duties of the job fit the real you.

If you’re playing the Great Pretender Game, it’s just a matter of time before one of these two predictable outcomes happen…

Predictable Outcome #1 - You become a truly great pretender, and live one life at work and another at home. You put a brick wall up between work and home to keep the two identities separate. You have to remember to check your personality at the curb on the way to work for fear the real you will be found out. This outcome sometimes leads to short-term success, but it almost always leads to long-term discontentment. When you’re living two lives, you count down the days until you can retire so you can go back to being yourself full time.

Predictable Outcome #2 - You turn out to be a lousy pretender and eventually your cover is blown. Your employer finds out you’re actually somebody very different from the person they thought they hired. You get fired, decide to leave or are forced to resign gracefully.

To join the 14% who love their job, it’s absolutely crucial to be the “real you” in your resume and interview. This all starts with knowing the real you. Sadly, most people don’t have a clue who the “real you” is because they are so identified with their job title. What you’ve done has absolutely nothing to do with who you are.

Just how do you find who you are… the real you? That’s a great question that I’m sure many of you have asked yourself. That’s what The Clarifier is all about. It answers the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up.”

Have some fun with just being YOU!!

Dave

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 7:40 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.