Intimacy, into-me-see

An individual’s personality creates his or her personal reality.

The #1 element to excellence is self-awareness.

How an individual recharges, views the world, makes decisions, and organizes his or her life depends on temperament. Knowledge of mathematics, history, science, reading comprehension, and language ought to be secondary to understanding one’s own preferences, inclinations, and tendencies. As the adage goes: if knowledge is power, then knowledge of oneself is self-empowerment.

There are four main personality assessments an individual could take to gather information about himself or herself. They range from broad and vague to specific and detailed. The DISC assessment is simplistic; it provides a general framework for how an individual may approach one’s day-to-day activities compared to another person. The Enneagram and Myers Briggs Type Indicator provide precision on sub-personalities, as well as insight on where those proclivities derive from and who an individual might value becoming in the future. Finally, the Big 5 Model, found at understandmyself.com, lays out targeted summaries of strengths, areas of improvement, and natural characteristics. Assessment, similar to appropriate diagnosis by a medical professional prior to an assigned treatment, is a fundamental step toward personal development.

An individual’s natural predisposition is only a part of the castle. Understanding one’s personality gives a blueprint of value structure, priorities, and susceptibilities. Taking personal inventory on one’s own habits, processes, and routines is the next worthwhile endeavor to fully grasping one’s own unique psychological architecture. Where is most of one’s time invested or spent? Who makes up one’s inner circle and support system? What activities are providing energy, health, and joy versus drag, friction, and depletion? Clarity on how an individual acts most of the time throughout a given day, week, or month provides greater awareness. Only once an individual becomes consciously aware, he or she may adapt and progress intentionally.

Change is inevitable; enhancement is not. Education precedes evolution. Self-evaluation catalyzes self-improvement.

One caveat: why do most individuals know what to do yet do not do what they know?

Answer: the nicety of necessity.

Hunger bullies inconvenience.

“There’s always tomorrow…” an individual may think, say, or justify.

K - A = 0

Knowledge minus action equals nothing.

That’s where intention comes in…

Based on who an individual tends to be and who an individual wants to become, what could happen right now? What could be done today, however small? What action might be the snowball that generates an avalanche of holistic performance enhancement?

Here is a list of actions to consider:

• connect with a mentor who believes in you
• write down your dreams + a MAP (Massive Action Plan), and then sign your name at the bottom of the page
• go for a walk, hike, or workout (measure it and do incrementally more tomorrow, i.e. “progressive overload”)
• call someone you love [because shame only grows in the soil of secrecy]
• purchase a life-giving poster or supplement
• say and repeat an incantation, such as: “Every day and in every way I’m becoming healthier because I am a courageous risk-taker. Every day and in every way I’m becoming healthier because I am a courageous risk-taker. Every day and in every way I’m becoming healthier because I am a courageous risk-taker.”

Personal Anecdote — Within the last five years, I learned I’m above the 90th percentile in a sub-personality called Agreeableness. This means I have a deep tendency and a strong propensity to show compassion and to display politeness. At a restaurant, I will likely say, “Thank you” and “Sorry” more frequently than most people. Certainly more than necessary. That sounds just respectful, right? Wrong. It also means I could have a tendency to sugarcoat a statement, to be too nice to someone who is not being reciprocally kind, and to be taken advantage of if I set no boundaries. Therefore, I have been working on assertiveness, direct truth-telling, as well as boundaries regardless of whether it’s sometimes abrasive, considered too blunt, or even harsh. Why? I must evolve towards my true self. We all must do this, in our own particular ways, to experience the most amount of meaning, purpose, and love. It all begins with self-examination.

The greatest work we will ever do is on ourselves, for ourselves.

The greatest discovery we will ever make is our own self.

As the trite yet powerful Mark Twain trope goes, “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you discover why.”