Who I am at work
Five cards about the professional part of you: how they see you, how you see yourself, what is strong, what is exposed, and where you are growing.
The technique below lives inside Self-Work Navigator on our platform – open it and the steps walk you through automatically.
Open Self-Work NavigatorAbout this technique
Who I am at work is a 25-minute self-reflection technique with metaphorical associative cards (MAC). Five cards about the professional part of you: how they see you, how you see yourself, what is strong, what is exposed, and where you are growing. The session is designed to be run on your own, in your browser, without a therapist or a registration step.
It fits when a new job, a promotion, a move into another role: the old description of yourself stopped fitting. On the platform the steps walk you through automatically inside Self-Work Navigator, so you don't have to remember anything beyond the question you brought. We recommend starting with Reflection – it lands well for this kind of work.
When this technique fits
- A new job, a promotion, a move into another role: the old description of yourself stopped fitting.
- The feeling that at work you are not who you are, and you want to see where it diverges.
- Before a conversation about growth, pay or a new position: it helps to see your own picture first.
When it doesn't fit
- If you do not have much work experience yet, the technique has nothing to work with: it compares how you are seen with how you see yourself, and that needs a history.
- If you are burnt out right now, a layout about strengths and weaknesses turns into self-criticism easily. Take Resource state or Six channels first.
- If the question is a choice between two jobs, take the Decision fork: that one compares options.
What you need
- 25 minutes alone.
- A portrait or general-purpose deck.
- Paper: one sentence about what you do, without the job title.
The layout
5 positions. Each one has its own question, and the card in it answers that question rather than the whole request.
- 1How they seeHow am I seen at work?
- 2How I seeHow do I see myself?
- 3StrongWhere is my strength?
- 4ExposedWhat sags under load?
- 5Where I growWho do I want to be in a year?
How the session goes
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1
Describe yourself without the job title
In one sentence: what you do and for whom. Not "head of department" but "I help a team carry hard things to the end". The title gets in the way: it describes a position, not a person.
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2
Card 1 face down: how they see me
Draw face down. This is the image of how colleagues and your manager see you, not how you would like to appear.
- What do I see on the card?
- How is this like the feedback I have heard?
- What in this image do I dislike?
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3
Card 2 face up: how I see myself
Now pick with your eyes a card closer to your own sense of yourself at work. Put it next to the first.
- What do I see?
- Where do the two cards diverge the most?
- Which of the two is closer to who I want to be?
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4
Cards 3 and 4 face down: strong and exposed
Two cards: one for a strength, one for an exposed place. Exposed is not a flaw: it is what sags under load.
- What is on each card?
- Where does my strength fail me when there is too much of it?
- What do I usually hide from colleagues?
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5
Card 5 face up: where I grow
Pick a growth card with your eyes. Not an ideal but the next step: something that is not here yet but already in view.
- What do I see?
- What do I want to be able to do in a year?
- What is the first thing I can do in that direction?
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6
Look at all five together
Five cards give a portrait that rarely matches a CV. The gap between the first and the second card is often exactly what tires you most at work.
- How wide is the gap between how they see me and how I see myself?
- What of this is worth saying out loud to my manager?
Closing the session
Gather the cards. If the fifth gave you a step, set a date. The professional part of you changes through decisions, not through observations.
If a lot came up
Sometimes the layout shows that the job has not been about you for a long time, and that conclusion should not turn into a decision in one evening. Let it sit for a week and discuss it with someone who knows your situation. If what stands behind it is a heavy state rather than a career question, start with that.
Recommended decks
About metaphorical associative cards (MAC)
Metaphorical associative cards (MAC) are a projective tool used in self-reflection, coaching and therapy. Unlike tarot or oracle cards, they don't predict anything – the image becomes a mirror for what is already happening inside you, helping you put words on something that was unclear or hard to say directly.
You can work with MAC cards alone, with a therapist, or in a group. The card itself is not the answer; it is a frame for asking yourself a more honest question. The same image can mean very different things to two different people on the same day, and that is exactly what makes the tool work.