TSAS #46: Do you want to be known or remembered for?

Known VS Rememberance

Hello SAS Community,

Question of the week: What do you want to be known remembered for?

  • Which one would you rather be?

  • Reading time: 4 mins

Today's newsletter is short and sweet.

We are getting ready for our travel, Costco, and holiday party.

INSERT in here.

A common question asked these days when you are on social media is "what do you want to be known for?"

If you asked me this question when I was starting out as a business owner, this would have been my response.

Although some people transition right into the same role they did at their corporate jobs. Others, I have seen literally copy and paste other individuals, companies, or showcase identities that are confusing.

But what if there were a lot of unknowns?

When it comes to self-awareness, the "unknowns" and "unknown unknowns" are what hurt us the most. It's uncomfortable to consider the possibility that we don't know ourselves as well as we think, but it is absolutely essential.

Tasha Eurich - Organizational Psychologist

The problem with "positioning" yourself as an expert or known for something may not be relevant 5 or 10 years from now.

This would be entirely different if all you wanted to do is become a cookie artist, mural painter, or tree hugger.

Unless you have absolute certainty, most people struggle to put the pieces of the puzzle together when they have multi-disciplinary of skills and interests.

How do you narrow them down to ONE thing?

So, a better question would be to ask, "What do you want to be remembered for?

This elevates the pressure of pigeonholing yourself or rather feeling the pressure of declaring your ONE thing. Unless you know for a certain what is that ONE thing you could be doing for years to come.

The KNOWN VS REMEMBERANCE

Becoming known makes you limited in your potential. Remembrance expands your potential to endless possibilities.

Let's break it down for a min.

Let's say you wanted to be known for a topic you are passionate about. I will pick Ashley in this case, who loves everything about Non-profits. (Ashley, if you reading this, Thank you, my dear friend!

KNOWN = Subject Matter Expert

Everything you do and talk about is how to make Non-profits better whether it's donations, resources, technology, etc. Your audience loves it and they start to build this trust and feel that you know what you are talking about.

You have endless tips, strategies, and ways to improve Non-profits.

At some point, your idea of "becoming known" is all connected to the level of expertise you bring to the table.

5 or 10 years from now you visit a country or a place where you discovered something totally new. This new experience that you have never felt before has nothing to do with building Non-profits. You find yourself immersed in this newly found venture that brings a twist to your story. Or, you go through the biggest life-changing experience where it turns your world completely upside down.

A series of life-changing events can happen to anyone at any point in their lives.

There is no deadline or timeline specific to those events.

All of a sudden, you want to talk about this life-changing moment and experience that has triggered your current state of being.

It impacts who you are at your CORE.

With all the pressure you see on social media to "be known for something" is to provide enormous value so they can count on you when they need their problems to be solved.

If you have a broken bone, do you have a go-to orthopedist in mind perhaps? But, you wouldn't necessarily send or exchange a holiday card. The depth of the relationship for a "known expert" is often questionable in my humble opinion.

However, the thought of "BEING KNOWN REMEMBERED" is something that could be explored to dig deeper.

Because if I turn to you and ask the question "What do you want to be remembered for?"

It will make you ponder and think of the IMPACT.

How do you want to spread and touch others in a way you want to build that identity?

That is a better question in my opinion.

The 4 Questions you can ask to put yourself on a "thinking cap"

How do I want to be remembered?What do I stand for?Who I'm becoming?How must I act to contribute to the world?

These are tough questions and I find that you often need a mirror to hold you accountable.

They make you dig deeper into your consciousness than throwing expertise like this. Ok, it's kind of funny.

I am way past my Monday deadline today but I wanted to make sure you still got a letter from me. But regardless, I am curious to know your answer or your thoughts maybe.

I hope you have a great rest of the week.

Stay Humble, my friend.Yours Truly, Humaira"Create a collection of memories. Not distraction"