Y<\/b>ou\u2019ve heard it. You\u2019ve probably even said it: \u201cI so resonate with that.”<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never really, well, resonated with that expression.\u00a0 The phrase that pops into my head when I want to express extreme approval or affection for something is more likely to be, \u201cI identify with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not that it really matters, but I\u2019ve been thinking a great deal lately about the role that identifying plays in our life choices.<\/p>\n
For instance, I\u2019ve been pondering why it took me so long to realize that the self-employed life was for me. As I\u2019ve mentioned before, I grew up surrounded by self-employed people and I\u2019ve been thinking about some of them for the first time in years.<\/p>\n
One of the folks that came to mind was Ed Tetzloff, the proprietor of a musty and dimly lit dry goods store in my hometown. It was the place where we\u2019d go with our nickels and dimes to purchase penny candy.\u00a0Transactions with the portly Mr. Tetzloff were often conducted in silence as we handed over our weekly allowance for a few root beer barrels.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t recall anything much ever changing in the store\u2014or in most of the other stores that lined our Main Street. Throughout my growing years, the same people stood in the same places selling the same merchandise\u00a0 year in and year out.<\/p>\n
I did not identify with that lifestyle and assumed my adult life would be different.<\/p>\n
My career advisors paid no attention to it, either, as I was groomed to take my place in the job market.<\/p>\n
Any of this sound familiar?<\/p>\n
Fortunately, I continued to believe that this was a world filled with possibilities. Adventures.\u00a0New experiences.<\/p>\n
This was blind faith in action and it took me a long time to move into that richly rewarding world.<\/p>\n
The window on that world was opened for me when I read Supergirls: The Autobiography of an Outrageous Business.<\/em>\u00a0I realize now that this book was so powerful because from my first encounter with it, I identified with the notion of creating a business that was an extension of who I was and what I cared about.<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t Tetzloff\u2019s Variety Store; it was business as a passport to adventure and creativity.<\/p>\n Nobody had ever mentioned that to me before, but once I had that vision on my horizon, I made a conscious and continuous effort to hear what the successfully self-employed had to say. Those folks that I identified with (and it was more about character than acquisition), became my trusted advisors.<\/p>\n Whether resonating or identifying is your style, the important thing to remember is that when you find yourself making a mental connection, it\u2019s an invitation to go deeper, to explore, to see what\u2019s waiting to be invited into your life. Pay attention.<\/p>\n Or you might spend your life being a victim of mistaken identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ve heard it. You\u2019ve probably even said it: \u201cI so resonate with that.” I\u2019ve never really, well, resonated with that expression.\u00a0 The phrase that pops into my head when I want to express extreme approval or affection for something is more likely to be, \u201cI identify with that.\u201d Not that it really matters, but I\u2019ve…<\/p>\n