Adam's Notes

Share this post

Staking your identity

adamming.substack.com

Staking your identity

Who you are and what you do.

Adam Ming
Mar 29, 2022
1
Share this post

Staking your identity

adamming.substack.com

šŸ“ What happens when you stake your identity?

Last week a cafe owner asked me what I do for work, and for the first time in public I said ā€œI’m a picture book illustratorā€.

That said, ā€œillustratorā€ is an identity that I had already adopted a year ago. Before I got an agent or my first book contract.

It was a series of little steps; updating twitter, getting a domain name, and the biggest step of all was updating my linked in profile. It was going out on a limb, saying no to a whole host of opportunities, so I could say yes to a chosen few.

When you do stake your identity:

  1. Your habits and actions will start to reinforce your identity.

  2. Your network will start to reaffirm your identity

  3. Your reputation will grow as someone who does the thing you have chosen for yourself.

When you stake your identity, it can start to work for you. If you don’t then you’re still making a choice to stake your identity on nothing, or too many things.

If you’re not sure of yourself, how can someone else can be sure about you?

Thanks for reading!

P.S: If your’re subscribed to Extra there’s more…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Adam's Notes to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
Previous
Next
Ā© 2023 Adam Ming
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
SubstackĀ is the home for great writing