Being Yourself Inc.

These last couple of weeks I've been doing a lot of soul searching about who I am as a professional. I've written before about professionalism and how much it matters in the field of singing. What kept entering into my thought process was more about personality and how this matters in your chosen profession.

It doesn't take very long for anyone that meets me to figure this out that I like to make jokes and laugh. I love to enjoy life and I have a difficult time taking things very seriously half of the time. I do care very passionately about what I do however and I often wear my heart on my sleeve. My family, friends,  and students know I care about them. But does caring make someone appear incompetent?

I spent most of the first day of school attempting to recruit students in their study hall class to join choir. I was able to observe the football coach engage with his classes and I realized that he earns their respect by taking himself seriously. They way they responded to him made me realize that even though I am a nice person, first impressions go a long way.

We live in a highly competitive world. The impression someone gets of you, once formed, can be very difficult to overcome and you never know when it's going to come back to haunt you. But I don't believe this means that you have to be someone else to be successful. Lately I've been reading the book "Give and Take" by Adam Grant at the recommendation of the business teacher. I love books like this because I think principles in business apply to so many more things than just business. I'm only a few chapters in but I feel pretty hopeful about my role as a professional after reading what he has to say. I highly recommend checking this book out!

Perhaps I'm not the most conventional person when it comes to my career. I've pursued a teaching job that you'd have to be insane to keep at. I have kept working at my singing when so many people urged me to pursue other avenues. I don't regret it, not for a second. I may be the soprano giggling at a dirty joke or making silly faces to make my accompanist crack up during a rehearsal, but I put out a good product and I'm proud of how hard I work.

Forever the optimist I believe there's room for everyone to do what they love if they're willing to work for it. I think it's people like me - the wierd, the silly, the unconventional - and even the people who aren't like me that make the differences in their field. Great people in our history were not typical. I hope no one can ever accuse me of being typical either.