OK, fess up. Are you playing The Great Pretender Game? You ask, "What exactly is The Great Pretender Game?" (Don't be surprised if you find yourself playing it.)
- If you feel the need to be someone other than who you really are just to keep your job, you’re playing The Great Pretender Game.
- If your personality stays on the curb on the way to work, you’re playing The Great Pretender Game.
- If the person staring at you through the mirror of work is completely different than the one you let out at home… there’s your sign.
It’s extremely easy to get caught in The Great Pretender Game. In fact, society teaches it in many ways. I’m sure you’ve heard the advice to make your resume look like exactly the person they are seeking. Or maybe you’ve been told to keep your resume businesslike and keep your personality out of the resume. Hmmm… sounds like a recipe for The Great Pretender.
I'm sure you've seen it before. I have. It's the artist at heart who pretends to be the filing clerk. It's the straight-laced accountant who moonlights in the rock band. It's the professional who refuses to put on a tie elsewhere.
Does any of that sound familiar? If you still can't figure out whether you’re playing The Great Pretender Game, here's a little help. You’re probably a player in the game if you accepted a job primarily because of:
• the pay, or
• the reputation of the company, or
• your friends who already work there, or
• the company’s products or services, or
• the location of the office, or
• someone else told you to take the job.
The only time you're not playing The Great Pretender Game is when you take a job primarily because the duties of the job.
There are two predictable outcomes for players of The Great Pretender Game…
Predictable Outcome #1 - You become a truly great pretender, and live one life at work and another at home. You put a brick wall up between work and home to keep the two identities separate. This outcome sometimes leads to short-term success, but it almost always leads to long-term discontentment. When you’re living two lives, you count down the days until you can retire so you can go back to being yourself full time.
Predictable Outcome #2 - You turn out to be a lousy pretender and eventually your cover is blown. Your employer finds out you’re actually somebody very different from the person they thought they hired. You get fired, decide to leave or are forced to resign gracefully.
Be the real you in your job, your resume and when you interview. Know the real you, not the one masquerading as your job title. Make a promise to yourself that you're going to be the same person at work that you are at home. You might be surprised how good it feels to stop living one life at home, and another at home.
If you’d like to find out how much you’re living true to the real you in your life today, click HERE and take our Free Reality Check. It’ll take less than five minutes, and you’ll receive a special customized report based upon your answers with lots of great information in it.
Have some fun with just being YOU!!
Author:
Dave Dutton - Founder of stuckinarut.com - Answering the question for all ages... "What do I want to be when I grow up?"
