Ditching the labels. What do you value?

I had feedback and an invitation this week to show more of who I was, I realised I was holding some parts of myself back that I felt didn’t fit into the label I had put on myself.  Which was hard to hear at first because I really believe one of the most stifling and limiting societal habits we have is the oversimplification of who and what we are.

The boxes that we so often put ourselves and others in.  

‘Creative, serious, playful, corporate, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, strong...I’m mean the list goes on and on (and we're not even getting to the systemic stuff like gender, race, nationality).  Usually they start with an ‘I’m not/I am...’ or a ‘They are/They're not...’.

It’s helpful to have ways to define or describe aspects of our self but not when it limits our ability to be and feel all of who we are and continue to change and evolve to be.

I know I’m a seemingly paradoxical, contradictory jumble of a human, being. And I know you are too.

What have you told yourself that you are or are not, that may or may not be true? What label are you walking around with in life (or that you've been given at some point along the way) that is limiting you from expressing parts of yourself that you know you also are?

If we practice letting down the walls of our boxes, can we get a little bit deeper, a little more real, a little more fulfilled, a little more whole.

And...I understand, there are many reasons why this is not an easy practice. 

As a start, what if we practice knowing what we value instead, and let that be our compass for how we show up?

Right now I value freedom, wonder, service, compassion, depth, expansion, expression, adventure, rest... These things rise and fall in importance and priority depending on what’s going on in my life, but they all remain as a compass for me.

 So rather than box yourself or anyone else in, ask yourself, and others; what do you value?

If there’s a place where labels and boxes are at play in the workplace, it’s the recruitment process.

In the latest The Ambitious & Unconventional interview, I talk with Man Wong of CandidateX, a global, community driven movement focused on accelerating genuine equality in the workplace. Both Man and I share a background in recruitment (it was my first job in the City in London when I was 19!) and I loved talking to him about why Co-founding CandidateX is so important to him, his family and what he values. 

Check out his story and as Man says...

 Be kind.