How well do you know yourself, and I mean really know yourself?
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When you are facing an important deadline at work that is due in 3 hours from now how do you tend to react, are there certain patterns you fall into Or you are racing home to go out with family and friends for a relaxing dinner or barely making it to the most important job interview of your life due to some external obstacles, how do you feel once you get to your destination? Are you still feeling frustrated, feel like your fuse is short and can go off at the slightest spark, or are you able to switch this off and be at your best for when it counts?
I have spoken to many people about this and we all have blind spots, and yet very few people have that true awareness of who they are and lose sight of the importance of a given situation.
This is why we see the people on Australia's got talent getting devastated when they are told they can’t sing, as their family has been telling them they are amazing singers and performers for years. The opposite is also true when a timid person opens their
mouth and the first line of lyrics blows the audience away. They may not feel confident because they’ve never been on such a big stage with big stakes but they know that their ability to deliver at such a kairos outweighs their urge to run away. That’s why they forge ahead and once they get in their element, the rest is history.
Being present and aware of your strengths and weaknesses makes the world of difference when you are looking at becoming a better you. How do you expect to reach your goal if you don’t know where you are starting from? This isn’t about running from your weaknesses, but using them to your advantage.
Scenario 1:
Think if you are at work and wish to become a manager, or even own your own business. You may have all the technical knowledge, but don’t have the soft skills to move forward. Use this awareness to help you improve on your current weaknesses instead of running from them.
Scenario 2:
Think about going on holidays and you have a specific need and location in mind, how do you get there. If you need that holiday to be in the warmth of the tropics why would you head south if you are in Tasmania? Determining where you are, physically, mentally, emotionally and your needs gives you the ability to make more informed and better decisions for your life.
Knowing your starting point may stop you from starting towards goals you may now see as unattainable if you aren’t in the right place to reach the goals. Even as a youngster I wouldn’t have tried to make basketball my career, as I was always a little guy, who couldn’t shoot and besides Michael Jordan I had no interest in the sport, so it would have been a waste of time me thinking about this as a career.
Yet I have found out that I really enjoy seeing people light that spark for personal growth and love being in front of an audience, so that has helped me put together tools and activities to help me reach the wider audience, and become a speaker and trainer. I needed to have discovered who I am in order to understand and figure out where I want to be.
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