What do you own?

I’m posing that question as an antidote to what I call ‘CV-itis’.

CV-itis can make your career look and feel like nothing more than a series of tenancies in a sequence of jobs, defined solely by responsibilities and somehow detached from you.

Yet your career is so much more than that, and so are you.

So think instead about what you own, rather than what you were temporarily attached to.

Here are some things on my list:

I own a long and varied career which gives me rich insights into how the world works, how work works and how people work.

I own a strong set of interpersonal skills and a good deal of intellect which I enjoy combining to great effect in my coaching.

I own achievements in my career which reflect how I go about things, not just the fact that I turned up at work.

I own a unique perspective on the world based on who I am, how I am, what I’ve seen, what I’ve done, what I’ve learnt and what I’m interested in learning next.

I own the rights to the story of my past.

I own the rights to my future.

Now tell me what you own.

You did it. You are it. So own it.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash