Over the past several months …
I asked a billionaire why he became so successful. He replied, “I’m the best at what I do.”
I asked another billionaire what the most important attribute she looks for in the people she hires. She replied, “Self-awareness.”
I asked a centi-millionaire how he became so wealthy. He replied, “For decades, I worked harder on myself than my job.”
The path from where we are to who we wish to become is paved with personal assessment, belief, and development.
Quiet reflection, either through journaling or talking with a trusted advisor, remains an underestimated activity in a world that's becoming more and more saturated with captivating technology and dopamine-driven devices, programmed to keep us hedonically distracted. What separates us as human beings from other animals, after all, is our capacities to think through, to review, to simulate, and to consider our future selves. If our tomorrows were better and brighter, what would they look like?
Brendon Burchard, founder of Growth Day and author of both High Performance Habits and The Motivation Manifesto, works with many affluent businessmen and women. He concluded, “No matter how wealthy someone becomes, they will always desire three things:
(1) To feel the day more rather than be pulled from one activity to the next,
(2) to experience greater depth [especially in their relationships], and
(3) to engage in more fulfilling pursuits.”
True wealth is what's left when monetary possessions are stripped away.
What we have is not only a byproduct of determining who we are, it’s secondary and fleeting. Our identity holds the values that dictate our choices.
Traction, one of the best entrepreneurial books written in the 21st century, emphasizes the importance of self-awareness. Within it, Gino Wickman points to eight questions that make up what he calls the Entrepreneurial Operating System:
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What are your Core Values?
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What is your Core Focus?
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What is your 10-year target?
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What is your marketing strategy?
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What is your 3-year picture?
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What is your 1-year plan?
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What are your Rocks (quarterly priorities)?
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What are the issues getting in the way of achieving all of this?
Answering these inquiries infuses us with confidence through understanding and direction.
When working with an individual or team, we start with this #1 element of excellence: self-awareness. Why? In order to properly select what we want in the future, we must first realize who we are and how we arrived here today.
We must not go another day without realizing our innate preferences and tendencies. Identifying our personality style helps us better navigate everyday life.
TRUITY and
UNDERSTAND MYSELF are invaluable resources to enhance self-awareness through quick assessment. DISC, Enneagram, MBTI, and The Big 5 Model paint compelling pictures of our strengths, weaknesses, qualities, and potential blindspots.
Information about who we are allows us to put our dreams, desires, and decisions in formation.
The world will ask you who you are, and if you do not know, the world will tell you.
– Carl Jung
Our personality shows us what we value. For example: an extroverted person values social engagements and an orderly individual prefers structure. Someone with high openness to experience favors creativity and an agreeable person chooses compromise over confrontation. The list goes on... Self-awareness is a tree that bears fruit of all the interests, occupations, and passions we are meant to pursue, develop, and inspire.
Know [yourself] before you go.
Explore [who you are] to grow more.
Self-awareness is the first step to greatness.