Episode 108: Who Are You Without What You Do? Identity, Love & Conscious Living with Dion Jensen

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself: Who am I without what I do?

Without the job title. The achievements. The roles you play. The expectations you’ve spent years trying to meet.

It’s one of life’s most important questions, in my opinion: Who are you, really?

And it’s exactly the question at the heart of my conversation with author, speaker and coach Dion Elliott Jensen, whose new book Conscious Footsteps explores what can happen when we begin looking beyond what we do and reconnecting with who we are underneath it all.

For much of Dion’s life, his identity and sense of worth were intertwined with achievement, career, status and the roles he played. But when life began dismantling so much of what he believed defined him, he was faced with a confronting question:

Who am I when everything I thought defined me is gone?

What followed wasn’t, as Dion describes it, a process of reinventing himself. It was one of remembering who he already was.

I believe so much of our lives can be spent attaching our identity to external markers — what we achieve, how successful we are, the work we do and what other people think of us. So when I discovered Dion’s philosophy of “I am who I am, not what I do,” how could I not take the opportunity to interview him?

And there is so much more to his story than this alone.

In this episode of It’s a Mindset, Dion and I explore identity, authenticity and what it means to live more consciously. We talk about the masks and roles we can accumulate throughout our lives, and what may be waiting underneath them when we become curious enough to look.

We explore the power of journaling and why putting our thoughts onto paper can be incredibly cathartic, as well as the importance of curiosity — not only about ourselves, but about the people around us.

And we delve into Dion’s fascinating perspective on love: why he believes love is the one true emotion and why it can be okay for love to be a one-way street.

At its heart, this is a conversation about looking beyond what we’ve achieved and asking ourselves some bigger questions about who we are, how we want to live and what really matters.

Key Episode Takeaways:

• I am who I am, not what I do. Our careers, achievements and roles may be important parts of our lives, but Dion challenges us to consider what happens when we stop allowing them to define our identity and worth.
• Transformation may be less about reinventing ourselves and more about remembering ourselves. Sometimes becoming more authentically ourselves requires letting go of the identities, expectations and masks we’ve accumulated along the way.
• Journaling can be a powerful tool for self-discovery. Dion shares the role writing has played in his own journey and how putting our thoughts and experiences onto paper can be cathartic and help us understand ourselves more deeply.
• Curiosity can change the way we relate to ourselves and others. Rather than rushing to judgement or assuming we already know, becoming genuinely curious can open the door to greater understanding, compassion and connection.
• Love doesn’t always need to be reciprocated. Dion shares his perspective on why it can be okay for love to be a one-way street and what changes when we view love as something we choose to embody rather than something we give only in exchange for receiving it.
• Conscious living asks us to look beneath the roles we play. When we separate who we are from what we do, we create space to consider what feels authentic, purposeful and meaningful to us.

About the Guest:

Dion Elliott Jensen is an author, speaker and coach whose work explores identity, leadership, authenticity, purpose and love.

For much of his life, Dion believed his worth was measured by what he achieved, building his identity around career, success, status and the roles he played. When life began dismantling many of those external markers, he found himself confronting the question: Who am I when everything I thought defined me is gone?

That question became the beginning of a profound personal journey — one Dion describes not as reinvention, but as remembering.

Today, Dion helps individuals and organisations redefine identity, lead more authentically and live with greater purpose, challenging people to look beyond titles, expectations and the masks they have learned to wear.

He is the author of Conscious Footsteps and is guided by a simple but powerful philosophy:

“I am who I am, not what I do.”

Through his writing, speaking and coaching, Dion encourages us to consider whether our greatest transformation comes not from becoming someone new, but from letting go of who we thought we had to be.

Show Resources:

Follow Dion on Instagram: @dionelliottjensen

Check Out Dion's Website: https://dionelliottjensen.com/

Learn More About Dion's Book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Conscious-Footsteps-Dion-Elliott-Jensen/dp/1764311922

Follow Emma, the Podcast Host on Instagram: @emmalagerlow

Learn More About 1:1 Coaching with Emma: https://www.emmalagerlow.com/become-the-butterfly-coaching-program

Book a FREE Call with Emma: https://calendly.com/hello-emmalagerlow/30mincall

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share it on your Instagram Stories and tag us @emmalagerlow and @dionelliottjensen.

Yours in Being Conscious, Emma. X.