In ‘Decide Your Own Destiny’ I define success as having the following three elements:

1. Know who you are.
2. Work everyday to be the BEST YOU that you can be.
3. Live your life to make the world a better place.

When we know who we are and we’re confident in that, the labels that other people try to put on us just wont stick.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be writing a series of articles which will address a number of key strategies to unlocking the greatness inside you and living a ‘successful’ life.

Remember that ‘true success’ isn’t about fame and fortune, or how many facebook friends you have, how popular you are etc.

Let’s start with the first part of our Success Definition – ‘Know who you are’

How To Know Yourself

Shakespeare said “To thine own self be true” or in other words, be true to yourself.
Lao-Tzu said “He who knows others is learned; He who knows himself is wise.”

The problem I see in a lot of young people today is that they don’t know themselves, to be true to themselves.

There are a number of ways you can better know yourself, here are just a few

Know Your Personality Type

Your personality type is a way of explaining  the different bits and pieces that make up your personality.  You can discover your personality type by taking specifically designed quizes like the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), or the SII (Strong Interest Indicator).

The MBTI looks how the following four elements:

1. Energizing – How a person is energized
2. Attending – What a person pays attention to
3. Deciding – How a person makes decisions
4. Living – Lifestyle a person prefers

Understanding your personality type can help you to better understand why you do what you do, how you make decisions, what captures your attention, and what career pathways could be best suited to you.

Write Down What You Know About Yourself

Set yourself down, take a blank sheet of paper, event a big sheet of butchers paper and some textas and write down everything you know about yourself:

• Likes
• Dislikes
• Hobbies
• What makes you happy
• What makes you angry
• Things you’re good at
• Things which you find challenging
• Dreams / Goals / Ambitions
• What you love about the world
• What you dont like about the world

By doing this you will not create a picture of yourself (in words) but you will also subconsciously unlock some things that you may have forgotten about as well as some things which have been hidden within you.

Ask People Who Know You (And People You Trust) To Give You Feedback About Yourself

Its interesting to hear other peoples perceptions of us. Family, friends, teachers, mentors get to know us and see us through a different lense.  We are our own worst critic and it often takes an outside view, or fresh eyes for us to discover a talent, or skill, or attribute that we didn’t realise that we had.

Ask them questions like:

• What am I good at?
• What can I improve on?
• What type of career could you see me in?
• What was your first impression of me? (when you first met)

Remain Teachable

Knowing yourself is a lifelong process, so understand that you will always be changing and developing, and hopefully continuously improving.  As you get to know yourself more and more, you will become more self aware of how you act in certain situations, which environments you are most comfortable in, how you interact and communicate with people around you.

The more you know about yourself the easier it will be for you to positively contribute to the world and the people around you – which leads to a greater sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Remember, you were created to be you, no one else!  You’re unique, you’re talented, you have greatness inside of you!

Dont try to be someone else, because a copy or a counterfeit is never as valuable as the original.

Be you, because everybody else is taken!

Until next time – Decide Your Own Destiny!

Nathan Hulls – Teen Behavior Expert | Youth Speaker, Trainer and Coach
bookings@nathanhulls.com