This series is based on the form belief that you can only become a leader after developing your character – that is after building integrity, honesty and commitment. The way to develop these attributes is through self-knowledge. You cannot improve what you do not understand.
The first steps on the road to self-knowledge involve asking yourself some tough questions. For example, ‘what is the over riding purpose of my life?’ ‘Do I have one?’ Is the purpose vivid and concise – a purpose that you as an individual are committed to – a purpose that makes sense of everything you do?
Recall the words of the great Ralph Waldo Emerson – ‘’What is my job on this planet? What is it that needs doing that I know something about, that probably will not happen unless I do something about it?’’
You can only identify this purpose by taking a long, hard look at yourself and by giving yourself the quiet time necessary to find the answers. But in answering the question of purpose we uncover other important questions too. For example – are you going to allow your life to be controlled by the crush of daily tasks and activities? Or will you live your life in accordance with your purpose?
Be honest – do day to day urgencies always have to push other higher-level concerns to the side? Always? It is true that sometimes a purpose and a career are incompatible – for example if your purpose is to rob banks you are not fit to be a police officer – not for long anyway! But sometimes a particular purpose can be allied to a career. It may take nothing more than you re-examining your career, asking some more questions and discovering a purpose that you have overlooked in the past.
Here are three steps you could take on the road to gaining self-knowledge:
Get to know yourself: You cannot improve on something you do not understand. The more questions you ask yourself, the better you will know yourself.
Learn from failure: Failure can bring you some of the toughest questions of all. If you answer them fully and honestly, you may learn a lot more from failure than you will from success.
Don’t run for the sake of running: Make sure you are headed somewhere. If you are going all out without a clear destination in mind, slow down and ask yourself some more questions.
