A label is just someone guessing about you out loud. You don’t have to confirm it.

Labels get handed out quickly because they save people the work of looking properly. Whatever you were called, the funny one, the clever one, the difficult one, somebody took a small sample and announced a conclusion. The strange part is how often the person being labelled starts producing the behaviour, because the role comes with a script and the script is easier than improvising.

Notice when you are performing a label that was assigned to you. Do one thing this week that contradicts it, in front of the people who use it. You do not owe anybody consistency with a guess they made.