The Roles We Play In Life

As adults, we play multiple roles in our life with different responsibilities.

I am a parent, a husband, a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend, a business leader, a coach, a blogger, a colleague-, I can describe a few more!! This will be similar to many.

I am the same person, but I am donning different avatars depending upon the context and situation I am in. I am playing all of these roles, and every one of the roles requires specific attention.

When I am with my parents, I am their son, and I will operate and behave in a particular manner, and that may need be different from when I am with my children as their parent or when I am at work as a colleague or leader. With my parents, I may require to operate with a listening mode more while my kids may want me to act in a banter mode.

At the workplace, things are made simple for us. For every role, there is a formal Job Description, Job Objective, Key Result Areas, etc. Unfortunately for all the other life roles, there is no published job description and objective defined. It is for us individually to understand what is expected of us in every situation.

• As a parent, I have a specific primary responsibility- that of helping my kids evolve into good human beings instilling in them the right ethics, morals, attitude, and also shaping them to become confident and independent. 

• As a husband, my responsibility is to have a loving relationship with my wife and also help her in managing the household.

• As a business leader, my responsibility would be to define vision, strategy, and direction for the business as well as putting together a strong team.

• As a son, my responsibility would be to spend quality time with my parents, be there with them irrespective of whether they require me around or not.

• As a coach, my responsibility would be to completely in the moment to help those in need to explore their full potential by opening their minds.

• As a Blogger, my focus is to share the knowledge and wisdom I have gained through the years with my readers.

• As a student pursuing spiritual growth, my responsibility is to commit time and effort in a disciplined manner towards my practice.

For any role at the workplace, I have accountability to deliver on the objectives defined for the position.

Similarly, when I take on different roles beyond my workplace, I have accountability to understand the specific responsibilities the roles demand and do what is required.

If I have kids, whether I like it or not, I have taken on the role of a father. I cannot be spending all my time pursuing my career, saying I am doing it for the family. I might be doing an excellent job in fulfilling my work role, but I am failing in my role as a parent.

My life will have congruence when I balance all my life roles effectively and avoid any specific role from taking control of my life over all others. Each part that I play is not necessarily( or practically) equal to the others in terms of time and focus, but just like a proper diet, there has to be a balance for me to be happy and fulfilled.