Self-Discovery is Vital

My mission as a coach, speaker and trainer is to provide skilled coaching for personal and professional growth and assist my clients in achieving their personal and professional objectives.

In my last blog I mentioned Jim Rohn’s quote, “understanding self-worth is the beginning of progress.” When we begin to recognize our true self-worth and appreciate who we are, self-examination to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses becomes easier and paves the way for us to grow.

Many in the business world are familiar with personality and behavior assessments. Companies ask job candidates to take these tests to identify their areas of strength and to predict their behavior so the company can identify the right people for the job. As Jim Collins said in his book “From Good to Great,” to “put the right people in the right seats on the bus.”

Putting people in the wrong seat or position is costly and slows progress. That is true whether you are an employer, or personally if you find yourself in the wrong seat in your workplace.

These assessments are helpful because many people don’t have a good grasp of their strengths and end up in careers and jobs where their strengths are not fully utilized. Frustration, frequent job changes, even job losses can follow.

A good assessment can help unlock your potential to achieve better results in your work and develop better relationships with your employees and colleagues. This is why I chose to be certified as a Maxwell Method of DISC Consultant.

Years ago I took several different assessments while interviewing for new positions. My experience with these early tests was that they mainly focused on my basic personality and strengths without pointing out how my weaknesses could be holding me back.

For example, I learned that my natural personality is what some people call a type A, or D in DISC, a confident, decisive person. But there is a potential problem with only learning our strengths. Every strength has a potential downside, or blind spot that can limit our effectiveness and get in the way of building good relationships.

My confidence and decisiveness led to poor listening skills, leading me to undervalue people and become impatient with them. I had difficulty building good, lasting relationships, which hindered my performance and advancement.

Rather than adopt an attitude that this is the way I am, and I can’t change, I learned that I could manage my weaknesses while at the same time building on my strengths. My relationships and results at work began to improve significantly.

A critical part of personal growth and fulfilling our potential is understanding how we are perceived by others, the impact it has on those relationships and our ability to connect with them. Part of that process is getting feedback from friends and associates for their perspective.

We may want to avoid that because it can be painful, but that pain often opens the door to the self-awareness that powers growth and change. Self-discovery is a vital part of becoming the best version of ourselves.

Understanding gained from learning about ourselves also brings peace because we can remove the masks we are prone to wear to hide our weaknesses. We can lead with our authentic self, building on our strengths with a better awareness of our flaws.

What has helped you on your path to self-discovery and has brought about a better life for you?

Tad Douglas Coaching

502-265-5036

www.taddouglas.com

tad@taddouglas.com

For more information on how the Maxwell Method of DISC can help you to develop

a personal growth plan, please contact me at the above email address.