“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so welll that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

So long as we enjoy what we do, and do it with care and passion, then I think that we are on the right track.

I don’t disagree with your reasoning for that. I too feel in many ways lucky to be doing what I am doing and defined by it. I think my question comes more out of a personal stance to avoid being defined by what I “do”. Of course we’re both happy with what we’re doing and so it’s fine. But what about the innumerable masses who are just doing what they have to do and don’t really enjoy it. Case in point, the guy I saw cleaning the floors in Staples last night probably doesn’t really identify with his work. But that’s not to say that those of us who enjoy and identify with our work can’t be defined by it in some way.

That all comes out of the narrow definition of our jobs being what we “do”. Realistically, I think we are what we do. Everything in our lives makes up what we do, and therefore, are.

I am reminded of a quote from Batman Begins, which reminds me of another quote from a far more reputable source that I can’t seem to recall, and the quote is “It√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s what you do that defines you”. Do you think that we are defined by what we do? Is there more to it than just what we do? What exactly does doing entail?

This all leads me to wonder though, are you Amy Allcock or are you a web developer? While I hear what you’re saying that it is hard to separate the two, I have bristled at framing myself (or others) by what we “do”. Hmmm.