Know Yourself

You should always challenge yourself to be the best you can be. An even bigger strength is knowing yourself and your own limitations. If you don’t know yourself you may kid yourself into believing you are capable of doing something, that you are not. If you do know yourself and your limitations, you can work within those limitations, and if possible outsource your shortcomings to allow for success in overcoming those weaknesses.

I have a buddy who I have the utmost respect for as a business person and human being. He has a policy to not drink alcohol on Mondays and Tuesdays. Because of this policy he doesn’t drink for 104 days a year. I know that I am a creature of habit and I don’t have the discipline to not drink specifically on Mondays and Tuesdays. I have a goal to lose weight, so I have to be honest with myself and not drink at all. Several years ago I didn’t drink for 103 days and I lost 30 pounds. For me, this is the best strategy to accomplish my goal knowing that I will not be able to achieve my buddies strategy consistently over time.

Even though both strategies will result in the same amount of days of not drinking, I know I can’t mirror my buddies strategy. In this area I know what needs to occur to get the results I want to achieve, even if this method is less fun during social events or on the weekend. Being weak isn’t weakness, not knowing your weaknesses is a weakness because it will hold you back whether you want it to or not. The more that you know yourself the more wins in life you will achieve.