Do You Know You?
I spent last January and February backpacking across Europe… For five of the eight weeks I was alone. And as you can guess… I had a lot of time to get to know me.
Ironically, I’ve never really had that chance made time for that… And it sounds weird, but I didn’t really know myself before that. I mean, I knew me… but I didn’t really KNOW me. Know what I mean? Well… those 15 hour train rides leave a lot of time for thinking…
It was the first time I’ve ever sat down and wrote out my values. And the first time I sat down and reflected on where I was at in life. Strengths…Weaknesses…Accomplishments… Failures… Dreams… If you’ve never written these down, I highly suggest taking a day and going somewhere with no music, no people, and no distractions. And you have to write it… Thinking just doesn’t cut it. When you write stuff down, it forces you to think your thoughts completely through and it’s way more powerful.
Okay… I’m getting off topic… But point being: if you don’t know yourself, who does?
So here are a few quirky things I’ve found out about myself:
- I can’t sit still for too long without doing something
- I do my best thinking when I’m pacing back and forth
- I’m flighty… If I don’t write down my thoughts, they’ll be gone
- If I’m not passionate about my work, it sucks
- I’m horrible at procrastinating… I absolutely HAVE to work on deadlines
- If you ask me a question while I’m deep in thought, I’ll probably (unintentionally) ignore you. My girlfriend hates this.
So what’s the benefit in knowing these things?
When you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can find ways to use them both to your advantage. And the more you know about yourself, the easier it is to change. Whether you want to break bad habits or create good ones, it’ll be much easier to do if you know your natural tendencies.
So before you decide to become an expert on some sort of topic… Consider becoming an expert on yourself.
(My girlfriend Brooke in Cinque Terre, Italy)
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Hi Andy… I saw your mug on the Juice website awhile back and have been following your blog since then. You’ve grown up to be quite a thoughtful young man, I must say, I’m impressed. I’m in the marketing field as well and living in Ankeny. We’ll have to do coffee sometime. I’m curious to hear what it’s like to work in marketing at a huge company- so far, my marketing career has had me at 15 million and below a year companies… Shoot me an email if you’re interested in a cup of Joe, it’s on me.
Oh yeah, and if you haven’t been using the site http://www.marketingprofs.com you HAVE to. It’s the best overall marketing site I’ve come across so far. Lots of great content. You’ll have to check it out.
Thanks Erin! I’m looking forward to coffee and catching up. It’s been a long time.
Great post Andy! It’s very important to really get to know one’s self. It’s something I’ve been trying to do. It’s funny….Your list is identical to mine (except I’m great at procrastinating). My wife gets annoyed when I pace back and forth at home
Again, thanks for a great post and some great insight.