Diversify your self

 

Hasui Kawase

The key to a strong identity is to diversify your sense of self. 

Called "self-complexity," it makes you less scared to fail and more enduring, robust, and resilient to change:  

The more you define yourself by any one activity the more fragile you become. 

If that activity doesn't go well or changes, you lose a sense of who you are. 

The opposite is "self-complexity," a term researchers use for having multiple solid components to your identity.

We all wear many hats.

Examples include:

• Writer

• Spouse 

• Athlete 

• Parent

• Employee

• Artist

• Neighbor

• Entrepreneur

• Baker

Take an inventory of your own identities. Are there any upon which you are over-reliant for meaning and self-worth?

What would it look like to diversify your sense of self?

Even if you desire to go “all in” on a certain endeavor, you've got to ensure that you don’t leave others completely behind.

It's okay to put all your eggs in one basket—so long as you have other baskets available when the one you are currently pouring yourself into changes.

Challenge yourself to integrate the various elements of your identity into a cohesive whole. 

This allows you to emphasize and de-emphasize certain parts of your identity at different periods of time.

If you want to be really good at something you have to be willing to fail.  Being will to fail is easier when you have a strong sense of self. 

Having a strong sense of self requires not identifying too closely with any single activity, dimension, or pursuit.