Found this excellent resource on the I/R Theory. Something I deeply believe in. In fact, I just spoke about this in a mastermind session I concluded like 15 minutes back!
The concept has been instrumental in shaping my beliefs about who I am and what my roles are. One of the biggest learning was to not confuse my own self-image with the roles that I play. Something that almost everyone does when you ask them how would they rate themselves (on a scale of 1-10).
The I/R Theory (Identity/Role) represents the dual nature of our lives. Each of us has an “I” and an “R.” Our “I” represents our values, beliefs, principles, desires and emotions–our inner selves. Our “R” is made up of the many roles we play in our lives, or our outer selves. These roles include son, daughter, friend, student, salesperson, etc.
The I/R model was developed to define the relationship between those two parts of our whole and to help distinguish between them. Although they are separate, they affect each other.
If we confuse our role performances with our values as a human being, our self-image will go up and down with each performance. Regardless of the level of our self-image, we constantly work to bring our performance into line with that self-image. Therefore, if we translate our “I” perception as a rating between 1 and 10, without a 10 rating for our self-image our role performance will be limited.
If you’re into sales, business development, contact marketing or anything that relates to and deals with people, you have to understand and apply this concept. You’ll be blown away with the results.