Slingshot Weekly (6/25/25) | Start With Who, Not What

It’s easy to believe that what you do is who you are.

We live in a world that loves labels - student, teacher, CEO, cashier, truck driver, counselor, business owner. We carry our job titles, roles, or achievements like armor. Sometimes, like identity.

But here’s the question most of us forget to ask: What happens when the role shifts?

When you walk away from the classroom, switch industries, or take an unexpected detour in your plan, who are you without the title?

That’s where real clarity begins—not in the label, but in the person behind it.

For many of us, our default answer to “Who are you?” starts with a job:

• “I’m just a student.”
• “I’m in construction.”
• “I’m in between jobs.”
• “I’m a nurse.”

But try this shift:

• “I’m a student” becomes: You’re someone committed to learning, growing, and preparing for the unknown. You’re building skills, resilience, and mental strength. That’s courage.
• “I’m in construction” becomes: You’re a problem-solver. A person who takes vision and makes it reality. You build safety, shelter, and possibility.
• “I’m between jobs” becomes: You’re reflecting. Recalibrating. You’re choosing to believe something better is ahead, even in the waiting. That takes grit.
• “I’m a nurse” becomes: You’re a caretaker, an advocate, a person who brings order to chaos. You lead with empathy, precision, and calm under pressure. That’s a superpower.

You are not your title. You’re the strengths, values, and character traits that show up within that title - and beyond it.

And the beautiful thing? Those deeper parts of you don’t disappear when your circumstances change. They travel with you. They evolve with you. They show up in every room, every role, every version of the path.

Too often, we measure our worth by productivity or professional status. But that’s just surface-level. If you lost the title today, what would still be true about you? What qualities would still rise to the surface?

Maybe it’s your calm under pressure. Your attention to detail. Your relentless optimism. Your ability to listen, adapt, or lead when no one else wants to.

That’s what matters. That’s what lasts.

So the next time you’re tempted to shrink yourself to a label, pause. Start with who because who you are will always carry more weight than what you do.