Another topic I’ve been thinking about lately is professional identity. I know a lot of people who are happy to come in to work eight hours a day, but don’t plan to continue their work at home. I know others who seem to spend every waking minute on some aspect of their professional life. I fall closer to the second end of that spectrum.
I think that is because I view professional identity as something bigger than a job. It’s tied up in conferences, writing, presentations, committee work, consulting, and lord knows what other areas in addition to the day-to-day job. And though when you’re involved in all these areas it takes more time, it also gives you a bigger area of impact. For me, as one who gets a lot of self worth from my professional involvement, I think it’s actually a bit healthier. All my eggs aren’t in the work basket. If nothing too exciting is happening at my library, maybe I have a presentation coming up. If I don’t have a piece of writing in the works, there’s probably something good going on at work. You see that ebb and flow here. There are times when work, committees, etc. are keeping me so busy I don’t have time to check in. There are other times that the blog is a life line to professional involvement.
And in the end, everything enriches everything else. Every presentation I give helps me learn something new that I can take back to work. Every interesting project at work is potential fodder for an article or talk. That interconnectedness is my professional involvement, and I’m thankful for it.