It Can Take Time
It can take time.
When I was 25 I was standing on the stage in the auditorium of the company I worked for, talking about Content Management Systems.
In my late 20's I was writing contracts where the scope of work included things around IT Service Management.
In my 30's I was doing the work to figure out who I was beyond an employee in the corporate world and redefining myself as a business owner and coach.
No matter how badly I wanted to put down the traditional definition of professional, it continued to be a noise in my head.
Show up this way.
Don't wear that.
Talk this way.
You won't be taken seriously if you use that.
And so on.
I would start down my path of disrupting that noise but it would always get loud again.
For several years I coached, had a networking group, and a podcast named The Badassery Project.
I had so much fun with it. The people that it resonated with, also loved it.
But the noise about being "professional" got too loud again and I moved on from that name. (for a few reasons)
When I write, what starts in my brain and makes it to the page changes. I have to actively work to keep my personality in my writing.
Because the part of me that is conditioned to see professional as one way, filters.
For me, quieting the world's bs and conditioning is a process. It is a practice.
For most of the people I work with, it is also a journey.
It is an examination of our internal beliefs and stories and conditioning.
It is an active choice to disrupt the conditioning that feeds our patterns and an intentional choice to practice something else.
There is a ton of opportunity in the choice of self-reflection and practice.
Now, instead of having contracts about ITSM, I am emailing with legal and finance departments about a Big-Ass Daring Decisions™ workshop.
The scope of work now includes Big-Ass bullet points.
This is part of what humanizing leadership is, being great at something AND also getting to bring our full personality to it.
If it's taking you time to be consistent in that, you're in good company.
Sometimes, the best things, take time.
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