What Kind of Person Are You?
Time and time again, I find examples that reiterate the importance of personal understanding.
It is an asset without comparison.
You may have heard public figures like Gary Vee preach self-awareness.
I jump directly onto that same band wagon.
Where he refers to it as self-awareness, another interpretation of the same concept is self-honesty or self-acceptance.
Knowing yourself, how you tick, what sets you off, what motivates you, what doesn’t motivate you.
These nuggets of truth are critical in planning, designing and manifesting the life you want because only by knowing what motivates and doesn’t motivate you are you able to leverage yourself for yourself.
You are absolutely your biggest critic and biggest believer.
If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything. Look at all the greatest athletes, entrepreneurs, surgeons, CEOs, philanthropists. There’s a sense of self-belief.
If you don’t believe in yourself, you cannot accomplish anything. You won’t take the leap of faith necessary, you won’t commit to your goals and deadlines.
Your opinion matters the most in pushing you forward but also matters the most in holding you back.
So design your life around your understanding of yourself.
Design Your Life.
This extends to all facets of your life, all decisions you make, all mistakes you make, all regrets you may have and all accomplishments you achieve.
Now obviously designing your desired life is a huge working project. Pick a few things. Don’t try to do it all at once. Pick 2-3 things and focus your time and effort into optimizing them. Once you’ve got them covered or planned, then move onto 2-3 more things. Then by the end of a year, you’ll have optimized your life in 5-10 things!
Compare Lives.
Ever wonder why some people are go-getters?
Why some people somehow hold themselves accountable, make arbitrary rules they can’t break or make life-altering decisions so easily?
Many athletes decide on rules that fuel their passion and hone their skill.
My opinion is that they’ve come to some sort of understanding and acceptance of how they think and act.
They are unapologetically embracing their own ticks and utilize those to leverage the best outcome.
On the one hand, many people have an idea how they WANT to act and think.
I can WANT to be a great basketball player or make lots of money in the NBA.
But I KNOW deep down that my physical attributes make that an impossibility.
I also KNOW I wouldn’t have the interest or dedication to make 2,000 shots a day - even if it’s fun, even if I like basketball, I wouldn’t have that level of dedication for basketball. If it’s hot and humid or pouring rain in Vancouver, I’m hiding out indoors.
Know Yourself. And The Results Follow.
Now for me, I know I am motivated by punishments, deadlines, and stress. I personally like feeling my back against the wall and persevering, so I design a lot of my deadlines to induce that level of stress. Sunday blog posts? I write the majority of my posts on a Saturday night.
Some people respond well to financial commitment.
There are literal apps and websites where you stake your goal with a monetary commitment so if you don’t achieve your goal, you say goodbye to your money like https://www.stickk.com/.
You might even ask, why Kris do you know this?
Again, know yourself.
I’ve looked these apps myself to design an accountability system that resonates with me.
That’s also the reason I don’t look for good rewards, rest and relaxation awards and similar things - because I know that I am not motivated by those things.
Sometimes that honesty about recognizing what truly works for you versus what you want to work for you is a challenge, especially in the short-run, but I think in the long-run, it can be a true asset.
You develop a confidence and clarity in knowing how you think, act, and respond.
You know how best to meet deadlines and represent responsibilities clearly for yourself and ensure you excel to your capabilities.
Sure, it may not be the vision that you might have started out with, but I think there’s authenticity and self-acceptance in that, that may create a new vision.
So sure, you may find that you respond better to punishments and self-imposed deadlines with a monetary loss if you don’t achieve the goal. And you respond better to that then positive reinforcement.
So what?
In my mind, you get the goal achieved nevertheless and you get to keep pushing forward with your growth and skill development.