WHO ARE YOU EXACTLY?
Most people are lost.
They are lost because they don't know who they are.
Self-knowledge is at the core of well-being, personal fulfilment and high performance.
When you can clearly and succinctly articulate who you are and where you want to go you can use mental skills such as confidence and focus to realise both your best self and your destination.
When you lack clarity on who you are, one or more of the following is often true:
- you fundamentally underestimate your own value, your ability to live your best life and your ability to make a positive difference in the world
- you squander time because you don't know what you should be doing with it
- you are insecure and prone to an unnecessary level of negative stress and anxiety
- you are prepared to spend your life working in a job or being in a relationship that you don't enjoy and which lacks meaning to you
- you over-estimate the importance of money and possessions - they become a salve to the emptiness inside
Identifying who you truly are is not easy or straightforward. It takes commitment.
The following are key components.
Mindfulness
A daily mindfulness practice can give you self-awareness and insight. Please see the site page on mindfulness for more information.
Your personal philosophy
If you don't have a clear grasp of what you believe and what is motivating the thousands of choices and decisions you make each day, then you could simply be living the life that the world has defined for you.
A personal philosophy is a statement of 25 words or less that clarifies your guiding principles in life. Writing it down drives clarity, provides a compass that allows you to be your true self and gives you a reference point when you are challenged.
Your vision
There are two parts to your vision:
- what your life will look like when you have achieved your ultimate goal
- who you will be and how you will be feeling and behaving as the best self who is able to realise your ultimate goal
Your vision is about what is possible not about what is probable. Once you have a clear vision you need to stay connected to it in order to realise it.
If it works for you you can create separate visions for your personal and professional life.
Your character
We find the most fulfilment when we are in line with our positive character traits. Using our character traits enhances authenticity, joy and high performance. Spending time developing our character traits has been found to increase happiness.
When you wake up on any given day you can decide to deliberately use one of your top traits to feel closer to your best self and enhance the lives of other people.
You can identify your top character traits for free at www.viacharacter.org
Identifying your personal philosophy and vision takes time and focus. Techniques exist that can be used to help establish what they are.