Does The Wall Protect or Limit: Find Your Gold Bricks
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably followed a path to success: school, working hard, taking on more responsibility, earning credentials, completing courses, and serving on boards.
You’ve collected numerous accolades, think of this as a strong foundation made of bricks.
Identifying Your Bricks
Take a moment to visualize this foundation by listing your ‘bricks’:
Earned degrees
Led teams
Completed courses
Received promotions
Won big projects
Celebrated accolades and awards
Positive appraisals
Recorded podcasts
Written and published articles
Met goals
Gained new skills
Delivered stage presentations
Helped a colleague out of a tough spot
Guided a mentee on a career path
Developed a new product or technology
Received positive feedback from customers
Built something from nothing
Made processes better, more efficient, or faster
Every line item could be expanded into a story, vignette, or example in an interview. Each of these moments, memories, and projects represent a brick. The bricks, together, tell the story of your career journey.
Building Your Wall
When you build a wall from these bricks, it acts as a protective barrier.
Those extra promotions, degrees, and moments of recognition serve as pieces of armor, protecting us from questions about our credibility.
The goal might be to be beyond reproach, to never have to answer questions about whether you’re qualified. To build a wall so high, that no one can peek over to see the ‘real you’ that might not feel up to the task.
Each brick has meaning and contributes to your story. But some of them matter more.
The Gold Bricks
Every person has a few bricks that aren’t the typical shade of maroon or orange. These are a select group of bricks that shine brighter than the others.
The special bricks – the gold ones – are the ones that resonate with your authentic brand of leadership.
They are the moments you are most proud of, and the ones you look back on with a sense of wholeness. These bricks aren’t measured by someone else’s success criteria. They aren’t always the ‘great on paper’ accolades that others admire.
These bricks are the most YOU of your professional experiences. They represent the moments that your entire professional life would be built around (if you were given the choice).
They are the once-in-a-lifetime career moments, the flashes in the pan that were special.
These bricks represent the times that your strengths shone bright and you made an impact.
When the time, people, and mission align perfectly, you are firing on all cylinders.
Take a second look at your list, and highlight the ones that jump out as your unique gold bricks.
What if Your Whole Wall Was Gold?
As you build a wall around yourself, ensure that the gold bricks are on the outside or around the top. Let them be the foundation of your narrative. Let them guide your next chapter.
By doing so, you build not just a wall of success but a legacy that truly represents who you are and what you stand for.
When we talk about rewires, we mean bringing the gold bricks to the forefront. Leveraging the best parts of you to create an inspiring next chapter. Living into your best life.
Are you ready to build with gold bricks? Check out our kickstart guide and take your first steps today.