Responses (12)

Your life is a reflection of your views, habits, attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, fears, worries and perceptions.

And whether or not you’re aware of it, all these things come together to shape your mindset, who you are and the trajectory of your life.

Aristotle once said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Lao Tzu agrees. He also said, “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

The relationship with yourself is one of the most important relationships in your life. The big idea here is to change your life for good and live life on your own terms, you first need to know who you really are.

A happy and better life starts with you. But if you don’t know to look at yourself in the mirror — or refuse to — then you haven’t done the foundational work necessary to even start designing the life you want.

Self-knowledge is the first and main ingredient in leading the life you want.

In her book, Insight: Why We’re Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life, Tasha Eurich argues that do better in life:

There is strong scientific evidence that people who know themselves and how others see them are happier. They make smarter decisions. They have better personal and professional relationships. They raise more mature children. They’re smarter, superior students who choose better careers. They’re more creative, more confident, and better communicators. They’re less aggressive and less likely to lie, cheat, and steal. They’re better performers at work who get more promotions. They’re more effective leaders with more enthusiastic employees. They even lead more profitable companies… some research has even shown that self-awareness is the single greatest predictor of leadership success.

Knowing yourself lets you live the life you truly want — you know who you are, what you want, and what brings out the best in you.

If you don’t have a full understanding of who you are, you will continue to make decisions against your true self.

Growth in life and career starts with self-knowledge

Many people are busy understanding everyone else to achieve wisdom but nobody bothers to understand their own mind.

Socrates was once asked to sum up what all philosophical commandments could be reduced to, he replied: ‘Know yourself.’

The phrase, “Know thyself,” is centuries old, but it’s still relevant today. Research from psychologist Daniel Goleman shows that self-awareness is crucial for all levels of success.

Self-knowledge is about understanding your real (and true) needs, desires, goals, weaknesses, and everything else that makes you tick. It requires a deep understanding of your past and current self.

Your personal theories (self-narratives) about who you are, influence how you behave. An accurate sense of who you are makes self-improvement possible. Lao Tzu once said, “He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

“Think of it this way: you can’t truly take care of yourself if you don’t know what your needs are, and you can’t improve yourself if you don’t know your best qualities and the ones that are, uh, more challenging,” says Terri Pous.

Instead of forcing things to happen for you, find yourself first. Follow your own true north and let your life flow. While you live, while it’s in your power, seize the opportunity right now and build a better relationship with yourself.

Take a comprehensive personal inventory and/or commits to viewing oneself from the perspective of a third party, and write down what you know about yourself.

The basic idea of self-logging (if you collect enough data about yourself) is to make improvements or change the trajectory of your life based on that information. Knowing yourself will give you a sense of power over yourself.

You owe it to yourself to find the real you. The path to your success starts with a critical look in the mirror. Self-awareness opens the door to wisdom.

The sooner you consciously examine and acknowledge your strengths, weaknesses, personal truth and most importantly what makes you come alive, the sooner you can stop hindering your personal growth.