Titles

 When we think of titles, we might think of something that we grow into. Although I agree with this point, I also think that having a title can be a bit of an impediment to growth. Firstly, titles can provide people with an illusory feeling that the role they are given is somehow linear. In fact, most learning is hardly linear, and learning that I have experienced in life has often consisted of literal spurts (and stops or pauses). The idea of gracefully "landing" a position, like landing a plane, is based on the illusion of a smooth transition from one way of being to another. Secondly, having a title can sometimes make us afraid of failure or not "looking or acting the part". This self-consciousness that we feel around having a title or responsibility becomes detrimental to learning because it suggests that we have to know our roles perfectly well in order to fulfill them. Again, this creates an illusion of boundedness and fixed knowledge that doesn't often happen in daily life.

   I prefer to think of a title as a guideline and nothing more. It tells us where we should be focusing our energies, but we shouldn't limit ourselves only to that for which we are nominally responsible. Instead, titles should allow us to branch out into other areas, and give a person the chance to learn new things. That is why I try to avoid as much as possible getting mixed up with titles.