What have you built a reputation for?
And….
Do you want that reputation?
This is worth checking in on!
Sometimes we build a reputation for an aspect of our work or the way we approach it that no longer holds value to us. (Maybe it never did.)
Maintaining or defending this reputation can get in the way of us becoming more of ourselves.
This is often around some expression of perfectionism or morality. Anything that signals we are “GOOD”. Beyond reproach. Defensible. Safe.
Or!
Perhaps we've become great at something and now others expect us to be great at everything. We might expect ourselves to be great at everything.
An interesting thing about developing expertise in one area is it can make it hard to let yourself be a beginner in another. Our culture expects linearity (up and to the right!) and our brains are wired for globalized thinking (everything must be good or everything is bad).
This makes “beginning again” in public…. hard 🫠.
So again, it's worth asking:
What are you currently known for? What is it like to live up to that reputation?
Maybe being reliable, committed, or innovative creatively still matters to you… but the WAY you express that needs to be different.
You are reliable because you always do what you say you will, not because you always do it within two hours.
You are committed because you quit the right things, not because you never quit.
You are an artist worthy of attention and admiration because you keep making art, not because all that art is beautiful.
See what I mean?
You get to decide how excellence expresses through you.
You get to set the tone for yourself. You get to choose the yardstick you're measuring yourself against.
How you choose to view yourself will shape how others are able to see you.
If the container of your reputation has gotten too small, or limiting in an undesirable way, ‘repot’ yourself into a larger container.
As always, would love to hear what this sparks for you.
Here's to your growth,
