"Know Thyself"

You are in control of your life. Don't ever forget that. You are what you are because of
the conscious and subconscious choices you have made. -- Barbara Hall

Probably one of the hardest things we will ever do in our lives is to know ourselves.  Sometimes, even after 40 or 50 years of living with ourselves, we still won't know exactly who we are.  That doesn't mean we can't keep striving to learn as much about ourselves as we possibly can, because, if we let others define us, we let them control us.

Knowing ourselves completely is nearly impossible; if we think we know who we are and refuse to deviate from that picture, we risk stagnating.  We can't evaluate ourselves once and come up with "This is who I am for all time."  In order to know ourselves, we need to continually evaluate our beliefs and behavior, decide if these still work for us, and change accordingly.  That takes honesty and determination.  And it's hard work.

We need to know, also, those areas where we could use more work.  If my interpersonal skills aren't strong, how can I improve those?  I might just need to observe people more closely, or I might need to evaluate my ability to empathize or sympathize with others.  I can learn to relate better to other people, but I have to first recognize this as an area that needs strengthening; then, I have to consciously work to strengthen that aspect of myself.

How can knowing ourselves help us in college, or the workplace?  If I know my learning style, I can be aware of how an instructor's teaching style might impact my study habits.  If I'm a visual learner, and my professor lectures, how can I compensate for this?  How can I apply my learning style to succeed in that professor's course? 

I can turn my lecture notes into flash cards.  In a history class, for example, I can write dates, terms, places, and people's names on one side of an index card; on the other side, I can write definitions/explanations.  Flipping the cards can provide me with a visual clue that can help me remember the information.

In the workplace, I can turn conversations into decision trees or flowcharts.  I can also use mind mapping or brainstorming to create a visual that shows possibilities and relationships between ideas.

When we face situations that challenge our abilities, we can choose to give up ("I'll never get it"), or we can find ways to overcome those challenges.  What am I capable of?  How can I expand my abilities?  We need to know where we are, but we should not stay there.  We should strive to improve, to move forward, to grow into the persons we wish to become.