Never be afraid to tell others what you do
By: Tiffany Sun
Tags: Life Lessons, Work, Self-awareness, Careers, Career Advice

Earlier this year, I managed to catch up with a childhood friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen for years, even though we’d been keeping touch on and off every few months.

We met for coffee and started talking about what we had been up to, the jobs we had, what our lives were like, and the guys we dated. And then she started telling me about this guy she had met at a wedding and how they had hit it off really well.

“He is the PERFECT guy. He’s a doctor, he treats me well, he loves kids, and once in awhile he likes to do pedicures.

So what’s the problem?

“Well…he’s a doctor and from what it seems, he has no idea what blogs or bloggers are. I wasn’t sure what to tell him, so I lied instead and said I was working as an associate for a marketing firm.”

I was shocked. It’s bad that she felt like she had to lie to a potential boyfriend but the worse part was, she had felt unworthy, embarrassed of being a blogger even though it was a job she was passionate about.

You see, there’s never any shame in what you do or what you’re passionate about. If you truly believe what you’re doing is right, and that it’s for the greater good or for yourself, then why lie about what you don’t do? Why lie to yourself? You’d only be crippling your own self image and undermining what you’re truly capable of — and for what? To impress others who probably don’t give a shit anyways?

Just because others don’t understand what it is that you do doesn’t mean your profession is mediocre or unimportant; it’s far from that. They don’t understand because they’re simply not knowledgable about that part of the world. And if they judge you for a profession they don’t understand, they’re not worth knowing in the end.

Remember, job titles aren’t everything. They shouldn’t matter that much. What matters more is your dedication, your persistence, and your passion to do something more.

There are people in the world who work jobs that are nowhere as glamorous as let’s say a doctor or a lawyer, but they still became successful in their own right and have turned their passion into something extraordinary.

Take Joe Ades for example. He’s spent most of his days, sitting on the sidewalk of New York City, selling potato peelers for $5 each. Eventually, as he kept selling one potato peeler at a time, he began making millions. His job title? Potato peeler salesman. If anyone heard that and judged Joe by his title, they would’ve never known about his capabilities and would’ve probably missed the opportunity to connect with someone of his stature as a world class salesman.

Take Brian Scudamore as another example. He invested his savings to purchase a truck and drove door-to-door asking people if they had any trash. He even patrolled the alleyways for junk that the city wouldn’t take. You might think this kind of job, one where glorified garbage trucks drive around to haul broken TVs, bulk trash, smelly sofas, and abandoned gardening tools, doesn’t make much, but the truth was, Brian had made hundreds of millions in revenue year after year.

This just shows us that people with a simple or unimpressive job title can still become something great. They can still be wildly successful in what they do. And even if they’re not, who’s to say they can’t be?

Remember, there’s no such thing as a mediocre job; it’s all about how far you want to take your passion and whether you feel good about what you do. If you’re afraid of telling people about what you do and why you’re doing what you love all for the sake of someone’s else approval, then you’re missing the point. You’re forgetting that you have already achieved more than what others have not — a job of your choice that you’re actually passionate about. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. Ever.

This post was originally published on misstiffanysun.com. You can find all of my posts, including ones I don’t post on Medium at misstiffanysun.com.