Daring To Be Invisible

Imagine turning the opacity slider on your work life all the way to zero!

Recently, I read a blog post by my favourite blogger, Julien Smith that asked “What if you were invisible?” He asked to imagine what it would be like if you knew in advance that you would never be recognized for anything you did and how that would affect what you would choose to do.

I think we try very hard “not” to be invisible because we are afraid of being unseen and we use being seen as a way of finding self-value and, quite frankly, the world seems to reward us with fame and fortune (or even just a known circle at work and a regular job). Take away visibility and we may feel like we don’t exist.

The only people I can think of that can live truly invisibly are some artists who do not require any validation for what they do. They do their art regardless of what anyone thinks or whether their work is ever seen. Most artists are not that brave.

Unless we are willing to pay the price for total abandonment of visibility we are left with at least trying to turn the slider down on the opacity scale a little sometimes. It’s a challenge.

For me, this is achieved when I cease to care whether someone likes what I do. It’s being willing to get fired from a project because what I do doesn’t fit. It’s being willing to do whatever the hell I want and not care if anyone notices, like writing on this obscure blog topic. It’s learning something for learning’s sake. It’s saying things good about other people, clients or friends where they never know you said anything.

Here’s to turning the opacity slider down occasionally.