To know what you should do, know who you are.
“Knowing yourself” does not need to be some existential metaphysical spiritual search
A fairly simple and pragmatic look at your personality and proclivities will be more than sufficient
You CANNOT change the core of who you are
Blank slate theory is false, you are not born a blank canvas.
You can get all that you want in life if you’re in the top 20%
To know who you are and pursue what is aligned to you gives you the highest probability of reaching the top 20%
You don’t want to be pursuing basketball with a soccer players build
The core of who you are can’t be changed
What can be changed is the expression of your core
Expressing the best version of yourself is the aim
Not attempting to express someone else’s core
You can’t change your blood type
But you can change your blood flow
Your blood pressure
Your blood sugar
Your resting heart rate
Similarly, you can’t change the core of who you are – but you can change the expression of it
The aspects surrounding the circumference as shown the in the diagram above
One of, if not the most beneficial exercises I have done was going through a few personality tests
These are not set in stone facts, they’re more so insights into yourself – valuable data which tremendously aids in knowing oneself
These are the one’s i’ve taken and have found to be very helpful
Principles You – By Ray Dalio and his team
https://principlesyou.com/
Truity – Holland Codes Career Test
https://www.truity.com/test/holland-code-career-test
Truity – Big Five Personality Test
https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test
16 Personalities – MBTI
https://www.16personalities.com/
Individualogist Archetypes
https://individualogist.com/
Truity – Enneagram
https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test
The reason for multiple tests is multiple data points.
Recurring themes and patterns you see across tests can help give a more solid understanding.
The biggest thing when taking these is not to fool yourself. Be as honest as possible
Not trying to give the right answer, or the answer of how you’d like to be perceived
But giving truthful answers of how you actually behave
You get what you give
Give honest answers, get honest results
Take notes based on your results, identify patterns, do some writing on memories and experiences that remind you of certain strengths/weaknesses the tests point out to you.
I’ve often tweeted “Don’t design yourself for a career, design a career for yourself”
Sometimes poor results and struggling are an indicator of doing the wrong thing for who you are
I recently heard a story of a guy who went through an incredible sales development group. His father was a beast at sales.
But this guy, the son, just couldn’t make it work. He was smart, he knew what to do. But something was missing.
He switched to a career in recruiting and immediately became a top performer there.
He performed so well he was promoted to the director of recruitment for all of Europe in his company.
He did not change, he changed what he was doing.
Like someone with a soccer players build switching from basketball to soccer.
You are born with certain strengths, weaknesses, ways of processing information, proclivities, and tendencies.
This topic, particularity the alignment of careers is one I will go into further depth in future articles.
For now I wanted to keep this short and give you the links to the tests which I’ve found insightful.
“Know thyself”
“The truth will set you free”
