How well do you know yourself?
You’ve probably heard some of the rapid fire personal questions that get asked after certain podcast interviews. I like to play along to hear my own answers to questions like these:
- What movie could you watch over and over again and never get tired of?
- What book has made the most impact on your life?
- Favorite ordinary moment that brings you joy?
- Five songs you can’t live without?
It’s a great exercise and test. The fact that I am really the ONLY one who can answer these questions makes me curious, especially when I don’t know the answer, which honestly happens a lot. Maybe the questions aren’t life shattering, but they’re designed to help us tell a story about the way we like to show up in the world and what matters to us, right down to the ordinary moments.
These moments of curiosity have a direct connection to building self awareness, which helps us have a greater clue about our values. More of these = fulfillment and clarity, which I’m guessing you wouldn’t mind having more of.
Here’s why it matters: the more we know about our own answers to the big AND small questions, the more we’ll seek what we love. The more we seek what we love, the more we’ll love our work and life. The more we love our work and life, the more successful and fulfilled we’ll be. This is the thematic goal of almost every coaching conversation in our business.
So why don’t we know?
Statistically speaking, high achievers struggle with introspection. There’s a resistance to slowing down and stopping for questions and answers that don’t have an immediate payoff. Slowing down feels too expensive to achieve full productivity, which keeps a lot of leaders from realizing the bigger cost of NOT knowing important things that inform the way they show up and do things that matter to them.
What are you losing because you don’t know?
In our workplaces, the costs are translating into lack of engagement. And according to Gallup, workers are experiencing staggering rates of disengagement and unhappiness. And stress is at a new, all-time high.
Only 33% reported feeling engaged — and that is even lower than 2020.
I’m sure this isn’t surprising news, but talk about a hit to your productivity.
So what’s the answer?
All roads lead to values.
We throw this word around so much that we’ve forgotten what it means, but don’t miss its significance. This one concept is responsible for driving your level of satisfaction in every area of your life right now.
There’s a reason why one of the very first things I do with clients is to explore their values – it’s the most important filter we have for making our truest choices and decisions. If we aren’t aligned with what we care about, eventually the wheels come off, we’ve lost, and have gained regret.
According to groundbreaking research by organizational psychologist, Tasha Eurich, self awareness is the “meta-skill of the 21st century” – and 95% of people think they have it. By nature of what I do and what I’ve studied most of my life, I would have said I have a lot of this. Do I? Do you?
It’s a question worth asking, since Eurich’s study found that only 10% to 15% of people are actually self-aware. My question is, what’s that costing us? And if it matters so much, do we want to know?
Do you want to know?
As a part of our community here, 1-1 or in groups, you’ve heard us talk a lot about finding and doing what matters. This is a key component of internal self awareness. This topic matters so much that we’ve built a company around it; what matters most to us is helping leaders figure out what matters to THEM. Then building their strengths around that so that they can WIN for themselves and their organizations.
What would change for you and your team and company if you were in your sweet spot?
This all begins with desire and time and commitment to finding some answers. And this year we’re doubling down on our commitment to helping you find them. It’s the first key to loving your work and life again and we’re here to help you get there.
We want this so much we’re giving you a fun, warm-up act to help work this muscle – download a tool we created called “Get to know YOU” to find out how well you know yourself.
Email us with what you find.