Identity Diversification: The Case for a Well-Balanced Sense of Self

[zachsnow]

I was looking forward to reading this article as the concept (even just the name, identify diversification) immediately resonated with me.

What I found was an anecdote followed by a few hypotheticals. “What if you spend all your time sportsing and then you get hurt?” Really a minimal treatment of the idea unfortunately.

[andygcook]

As a founder, I’m working on diversifying my identity by learning mandolin, reading more fiction, and running again. The funny thing is I’m actually more effective at work when I take time for myself outside of the company. In the moment it’s hard to give myself the permission, but I almost never regret it now.

[codethief]

This resonates a lot with me. I recently ran into a somewhat similar situation and I was grateful that I had read Mark Manson's article about the same topic[1] a while back. It allowed me to recognize and address the underlying issue fairly quickly.

[1] https://markmanson.net/diversify-your-identity

[atomical]

If one has a cognitive distortion it's better to talk back to that distortion. Why should these aspects of so called identity be important to how I feel anyway?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling_Good:_The_New_Mood_The...

[Isamu]

Your interests need maintenance and care, you cultivate them like a garden. You can definitely find yourself uninterested in everything if you think interests should find you and not the other way around.

[Flenser]

Keep Your Identity Small — http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

[davidgerard]

or: "Keep your identity large."

[lihaciudaniel]

Isn't this common Buddhist teaching. My body doesn't define me , my mind who tells me suicidal thoughts does not define me. What do you guys think ?

[DenisM]

The article is less ambitious - find a couple more identities so you can get by when one crumbles. Buddhist thing is more radical - stop relying on identities and stop having them.