What is your persona?
How do you present yourself to others? How do they perceive you? Does your persona help you? Does your persona limit you?
Let’s look at, say, a professor of Chinese history, with a focus on the Warring States period (476–221 BCE) through the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907). The professor would have to work diligently in school for years to earn her undergraduate degree, her masters degree, and her doctorate. Among many other things, she would need to know about multiple dynasties and great thinkers such as Lao-Tzu and Confucius, each of which, alone, could be a singular area of expertise. Our professor would have more material to sift through than one could absorb in a lifetime. And a lifetime is what she would spend to keep up her persona as an expert in her field. And the more renowned an expert she would become, the more time she would have to devote to her profession. Her persona would depend on it.
Our professor would present herself to others as the expert she is. Likely, most would perceive her as such. Her persona would help her: she’d have a job in her chosen field; she’d be compensated for her work. She’d have the respect of her students and her peers. How, though, would her persona limit her? Would the pressure of being a scholar and an expert cause her to feel like she needs to carry herself in a certain way and do the “right” things for her career? Would the opportunity cost be high? Sure, the period in Chinese history from 476 BCE – 907 AD is rich, but it is only a portion of China’s long history. China’s history, of course, is but one national history among many. And beyond history, there are so many other subjects to explore–sciences, languages, mathematics, and finance, for example. What if our professor wanted to spend more time exploring other subjects? As a revered expert, leader, and teacher, would she be able to humble herself into the role of a neophyte student? Could she invest her time in new subjects, activities, and people at the cost of less time spent in her chosen field? What if is she just didn’t want to have to be “on” about the damn Warring States period all the time? And what if…what if she wanted to walk away from Chinese history altogether?
Maybe our professor could find balance and maybe not. In the extreme, maybe she would walk away from her profession toward something or someone else. More likely, though, our professor would stick with her persona. It’s just easier that way. If she enjoys her persona and doesn’t mind the opportunity costs, that’s great! She’s living her dream. However, if our professor is limiting herself not because her passion requires it but because her persona demands it, her profession has enslaved her. She’s living a life that is no longer her own.
How about you? Not a professor of Chinese history? Maybe you are a real estate agent, a plumber, a doctor, a lawyer, a business owner, a salesperson, an elementary school teacher, a musician, a grad student, a comedian, a photographer, a techie, a service member, a writer, a painter, a father, a mother, a coach, a bum, a rebel, a hiker or a soccer player. Maybe you’ve achieved some level of success, however you define it, doing something. Whatever that something is, has it become your persona? Has your persona helped you? In what ways? Has your persona limited you? In what ways? Do you continue to build and defend your persona? Do you hide behind it? Do you tweak it? Do you supplement it? Do you grow beyond it? The choice is yours!
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present.