it's March!

[marcicat]

It has come to my attention (aka I spent some time thinking about it) that while I have tried to avoid making my job a huge part of my sense of self, I haven't really managed it. And also that 'being good at my job' and 'doing a good job at my job' are, uh, actually pretty big parts of what's been getting me through.

And now I've been given this different work, which I am not good at (because it's new, I do get that I'll get better at it eventually) and I'm not doing a good job at (because it's all on top of the previous work I was already doing).

It's been... not great.

Throwing myself at the work in an attempt to get good at it and meet the wildly unrealistic expectations isn't working, and -- let's be real, it's a corporate workplace -- would only lead to worse things even if I could do it in the short term.

So this morning I thought to myself, 'okay, so what can I do today (not work-related) that I can be good at?' Still working on an answer, but it seems like the right question for the moment.

Comments

[starandrea]

Identity diversification! {{{♥}}} (And also, "the reward for work done well is more work," or why being "useful" can destroy your life) I admire this (and you, all the time!) and have been putting a lot of energy into it myself.

A Chinese vlogger I follow gave what I thought was a really clear explanation of "identity diversification" and its benefits and practical applications a couple months ago. I'll copy part of the English transcript in a comment below in case you're interested :)

I am cheering you on in all the things you are good at and not good at. Thanks for being you ♥

[starandrea]

Partial machine translation of 秋月's "Real Chinese Talk" podcast ep 49: "how to find happiness in mundane life"~

The topic of this episode is actually something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time, and that is identity diversification.
0:54
Although this topic is about identity diversification, the content is actually more about diversifying how we allocate our time, and using that to enhance our sense of happiness in life.
1:15
In the previous episode, where I reflected on 2025, I mentioned that I was very satisfied with my achievements in 2025 and gave myself an 8 out of 10.
1:32
One of the reasons I felt such a strong sense of happiness was the identity diversification I just mentioned, because outside of work, I spent a lot of time on other things, such as making this podcast,
1:51
learning different languages, learning music, as well as sports and other artistic activities and hobbies, which helped me diversify my focus.
2:06
This diversification in how my time is distributed helped me spread my attention across different things. When one thing didn’t go very smoothly, I still had other things to support my confidence in life and give me a sense of achievement in other areas.
2:30
So I can say that one of the reasons—or even the main reason—I was relatively happy in 2025 was that my time distribution was very diversified.
2:47
So what exactly is identity diversification? My understanding is that your identity is not a single, one-dimensional existence, but rather something very diverse.
3:05
For example, you might spend a large portion of your day working, but outside of work, you also spend a lot of time on other things, such as working out, playing the piano, playing chess, and so on.
3:26
In short, by distributing your time across different activities, your identity and your role in society also become more diversified.
3:39
You can imagine this: suppose you are standing on a table. If the table has only one leg, it’s actually very unstable.
3:52
But if the table has many legs—four, five, or even ten—then even if one leg becomes shorter or disappears, the other legs can still support you.
4:09
This is what I mean by identity diversification, or diversification in time allocation.
4:18
This idea is actually very similar to a theory in financial investment. In investment theory, there is a basic principle: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
4:36
That is, when you buy stocks or funds, you shouldn’t put all your money into a single stock.
4:47
If something unpredictable happens and the price of that stock drops significantly, your capital will suffer heavy losses.
5:03
But if your investments are more diversified, then even if one stock runs into trouble, the others can help offset the risk.
5:18
This is also related to a very popular global trend right now—that people hope to have side businesses or side projects in addition to their main, full-time jobs.
5:38
This way, your sense of value and even your sources of income won’t depend solely on your job, especially when the global job market is quite unstable. It’s important to have financial or emotional support outside of your main work.
6:06
There are several benefits to diversifying how you allocate your time and having different identities.
6:14
The first is that our sense of value doesn’t depend on just one thing. You don’t define yourself or find your self-worth through only one activity.
6:29
If your life consists of only work, and you get laid off by your company, then your entire sense of value can disappear. In that situation, it’s very easy to develop depressive emotions.
6:52
But if you have other achievements outside of work—such as being good at painting or cooking delicious food—then even if you’re laid off, there are still other things in your life that give you a sense of value.
7:14
The second benefit is that by diversifying our identities and time, our confidence becomes stronger, because honestly, everyone has things they are good at and things they are not good at.
7:32
If you find that you’re not very good at something but still have to do it, you can strengthen your confidence by doing things you are good at.
7:47
The final and very important benefit is that we become more resilient in what we do and better able to persevere, because often when we care less about the outcome, the results actually turn out better.
8:09
In Chinese, we often say “using too much force,” meaning that when you try too hard, you may fail to achieve better results, or the outcome may even be worse than when you are relaxed.
8:31
By spreading your attention across different things, you know that even if you’re not very successful in one area, it’s okay, because you have other things that help you find your sense of value.
8:50
So when you do that thing, you can be more relaxed, enjoy the process more, and precisely because you enjoy the process, the results may be better.