The secret second job
There's an idea that everyone has two jobs: 1) the job they’re hired to do and 2) managing everyone else’s perception of them.
Like every other industry, we are prone to this phenomenon.
This second job can look like curating how we dress, speak, sit, stand, or move. It can be setting goals that make us look good to others or fit in. It can also look like pressuring ourselves to self-promote, hiding parts of ourselves, or people-pleasing. We anxiously overthink and censor every move. In some cases, we could be leading double lives - one at work and one away from work.
This secret second job takes up so much of our mental energy without us realizing it. And our performance suffers. Our creative capacity is reduced, our focus on performance gets redirected, and our relationships can suffer from lack of authenticity.
I believe we can start building a culture where we eliminate this second job - one piece of awareness at a time, one new thought at a time, one different choice at a time.
The most important step is to become aware that this is happening. We have to notice when we are managing other’s perceptions of us. We have to know what that looks like and catch ourselves doing it.
We have to acknowledge it and identify it as a problem we decide to solve. This is the biggest hurdle for us. We can’t solve or improve something that we are not aware exists.
My questions for all musicians:
Do you have this secret second job? What does it look like for you? How could you catch yourself in the act? How could you eliminate it? What would you need from your employer and colleagues in order to eliminate it?
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