First Impressions Matter. Meeting a person for the first time - or even the first look - gives you an idea of their personality.I don't know why - but the first time I meet someone I refrain from asking them what is their profession. It might be because I feel asking is intrusive. But many will ask "what do you do?" or "what are you?" Each will reply differently - I am a Physician. I am a Lawyer. I am a Businessman. I am a Real Estate agent.
But to tell you the truth - apparently they all answer inaccurately because You are not a "Doctor" even though you do help heal patients. You are not a lawyer - even if you deal with Law.
Reframing Who You Are - Seeing the Good in You
You are a person - with feeling, ideas, ambitions, opinions and good points and bad. A person is not his profession. He or She is a unique someone that happens to do a particular thing for a living.
Meaning, the question that we should ask ourselves is - what is my essence that makes me special? What are my strengths that make me great? What are my weaknesses that make me fail, fall or that I need to improve? And use these strengths to help the world.
Breaking Out of the Box of People's Definitions
Others May define You as a Doctor - Making 7 Digits. But You are not locked in to how others define you. You can have two Doctors that make 7 digits - one who does great kindness. Who treats the poor for free. Who Volunteers his services to help others. And another Doctor, who is in it just for the money.
You are unique. Your ability to give to others depends upon your view of yourself and your talents and your unique qualities.
So putting yourself into a category that others put you into isn't doing justice to yourself. Usually others define you in a way that will not sufficiently bring out your good points. Your Job is to find your good points and to use them in the best manner to help the world the way that G-d wants you to help, ie, in the context of what is good according to Torah.
Know What is Truly Good
An essential step to maximize one's goodness is to determine what is truly good before doing it. Feelings that an action is good is not a valid measure of what is truly good. Some think they do good, but really do the opposite. Someone might feel that giving away cigarettes to the poor is kind. Others might feel giving weapons or money away to tyrants is also kind. It is not. To determine what is truly good, one should consult the Torah's position on the matter - Da'at Torah. One can ask an Orthodox Rabbi for their opinion - if what they intend to do is good in the eyes of the Torah before doing it. For G-d's goodness is true goodness.
Using Career for Kindness & Building the World
In the end, G-d will not ask a person if he was a Doctor or Lawyer. He will ask what good you did using the talents you were granted.
One who is intelligent uses their work in the context to not only make money, but to help others. Once a woman told me she was a recreational director in a mental hospital. I told her - "That is great! You get to do kindness all day." I asked her why do you do it? I think she replied - she likes the job. I told her - if you do it for the purpose of helping others then you get a greater Mitzvah (Commandment) than if you do it only for the money. If your intention is that You do it to be able to do kindness - and as a "perk" you also get paid for it - you will get a greater reward in Heaven.
Your career is a means to help make money for your family - that is a Mitzvah. Doing Your Job is also a great Mitzvah for Jews and Gentiles - for by being a contributor to the building of society one fulfills the Mitzvah of the settlement of the world (Leyishuv Shel Olam). Office Buildings may have some holiness because of all the people who work and help to build the world. Knowing just this fact - that one who does an honest day's work - is doing a great Mitzvah (commandment of G-d) can also help one to raise their morale & feel good about themselves the entire day - for they are helping in the building of the world.
Do Good & Feel Good
But your career can also be a means to do good & kindness for others. It depends upon what you focus on. A used car salesman can have the intention to help a buyer find a good, safe car for his family or to just make a quick sale. He decides. I believe people who care about the other person more than the sale are usually more successful salesmen. A Doctor can have the intention to do kindness - or to inflate his ego. He decides.
A person who does good and knows they are doing the will of G-d feels good about themselves. For the Essence of a person is their soul. And the soul feels good when it does good.
Money Comes from G-d - Your Kindness comes from You
The idea of seeing one's own goodness outside the context of their work is illustrated by a story. Once a rabbi asked a successful businessman - what do you do? The man replied I sell real estate and do business deals. The Rabbi repeated - what do you do? The Business man repeated himself. The Rabbi responded "The business that you generate is what G-d does - to give you money - what do you do?" He was asking him - if he dedicated time to Torah learning and doing Mitzvot. But on a deeper level - he was telling Him that to define yourself as your profession - you are cheating yourself to really exercising properly your potential in life.
Seeing yourself as the Good you do will get you farther than seeing yourself as the job you do. Ultimately, knowing your good points will help you reach closer to achieving your potential & purpose in life.
