Hey everyone!!! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

Hard to believe, but January is in the rear-view mirror already. Hope that you’re making progress on your goals and dreams! Don’t let another month slip by without making progress.

Part of making progress is ensuring you make time for play. Doing interesting and fun things will provide you with the energy you need to push forward. It’s a huge mistake to just keep your head down, continually grinding away.

Last weekend, my wife and I got out for a little adventure. We spent the weekend at the lovely Moulin Wakefield Mill, enjoying the incredible food and gorgeous views. We ventured out from there to experience something completely new to me; horse-back riding along trails in the Gatineau Park.

To be honest, it was initially a bit terrifying to get on such a massive animal. My horse’s name was ‘Moose’, so I think that says all you need to know about his size. But after 15 minutes, I went from being scared to feeling exhilarated. Such fun!!

Anyway, over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring what I view as the biggest mistake people make when changing something significant about their career; not having a solid foundation in place first.

A quick recap of where we’re at:

This was my explanation of WHY it’s so important to build a foundation first, and what the key elements include.
Then we explored the first foundational element: health.
Next, we dove into the element of mindset.
Last week we spoke about the important role that finance plays in having a solid foundation.

Now this week, we’ll get to my favourite foundational element: self-knowledge and awareness.

Let’s jump in!!

Tim

🤔 Self-knowledge: an Essential Ingredient to Unlock Career Transformation

If you’re following me, chances are that you’re seeking to make some change in your career. You’re probably not thrilled with some aspects of your work and are looking for solutions.

You might even have stepped into the dangerous trap of wishful thinking, thinking that sounds something like “I’ll be happy when I leave this job…”.

But you need to realize that when you arrive at the new job, you’ll still be there. The job might be new, but you won’t be. The thing is, it’s probably not just the job; it’s you. Even though you may not want to hear it, you are complicit in creating the conditions you say you don’t want.

That may be hard to hear, but it’s true–and it’s empowering, as it means that changing it is within your control.

If you’re looking to make changes too quickly, before establishing a solid understanding of what you truly want, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. Without having a deep understanding of who you are, what you want, and what you value, any change you embark upon is akin to navigating a ship in a storm without a compass. You’re moving along, but who the hell knows where you’re going to end up.

The Illusion of Change Without Self-Knowledge

Change, for many, is a shiny allure–a promise of better things to come. It’s tempting to get lost in the fantasy, imagining how great it will be when you finally arrive.

However, this allure is nothing more than a mirage when you don’t truly know what you’re chasing. Are you seeking a promotion because you want to do the work at the next level? Or is it something that you’re chasing because that’s just what people do, forever seeking to climb the corporate ladder? Maybe what you want is to stroke your ego, to show to your colleagues that you’re superior, and to gain some fancy (but meaningless) title.

It may sound silly, but I’ve seen more people chasing something they don’t want. In fact, I’ve done that myself, so know full well how easy it is to get caught up in that.

The thing is – you may achieve your goal. If you do, you’ll be proud of yourself for a few weeks, but then feel awful – because you didn’t want it after all. The extra responsibilities, the workload, the endless meetings, having to deal with all the stuff that goes with the new job. Ugh.

The good news is that there’s a solution. Before you commit to meaningful career change, invest time in getting to know yourself and what you want. You may think you know already, but my experience has shown me that few people do. Statistically speaking, you’re likely in the same boat as everyone else.

How to get to know yourself.

For starters, you need to be in the right mental state. You won’t be able to do this effectively if you’re stressed out, tired, or in a grumpy mood. I recommend taking an entire day for this activity, a day where you have no other commitments during the day. I do this twice per year, calling it a ‘mini sabbatical’, where I take a full day off to do nothing but reflect on the direction of my life and whether it aligns with what I want. During this day, I take the time to re-evaluate what I want, as it changes over time. You might think that what you want won’t change, but the thing is, over time:

You change.
The world changes.

So, it would be strange if what you wanted for yourself was static. It is bound to change, to morph into something different as you and the world change. As you move closer to the ideal life you had, you get more and more clarity about what it looks like, so tweaks (or even radical re-imaginations!) are to be expected.

To help get yourself in the right mental state, consider taking time to relax with some deep breathing, a light stretch, or some meditation. Sit yourself down somewhere no one will interrupt or distract you and put your phone away. It’s time to go inward, not time to absorb more input from the exterior world.

Ideal Day

Once you’ve settled your mind and you’re feeling relaxed, it’s time for the fun stuff! It’s time to engage your imagination and let yourself run free. Pretend there were no barriers, no limitations to what you could do; how would you spend your days? Write it out in as much detail as possible.

What would you spend your time doing? Where would you live? Who would the people around you be? Consider all aspects of your life, not just your work.

A common trap here is to not think deeply enough, to imagine that what you want is to sit on a beach and sip on margaritas. Don’t get me wrong; that can be an enjoyable experience. For a short time. But it is certainly not a sustainable way to live your life. You might enjoy it for a short stint, but you’d likely get miserable if that was your life day in and day out.

The goal here is to think beyond your current limitations, to imagine nothing but possibilities. Write it all down, from what time you’d wake up to what you’d eat, to what your day looks like. What you’re doing here is crafting your ‘ideal day’. Don’t worry about how you’ll get there. That isn’t the point, and by thinking about the how, you’ll constrain yourself.

Also, don’t worry about what others will think of your vision of your ideal day. It is yours alone to craft and doesn’t need to align with anyone’s expectations other than to be what you want it to be. Be honest with yourself, as this ideal will be something you strive for over the long-haul.

It doesn’t need to be perfect, so don’t over-think it too much. Your vision of your ideal day will be something you revisit and revise regularly. You’ll change as a person while moving towards your vision, so will need to update it as you get more and more clarity.

This is an opportunity to play and dream, and you’ll find it so inspirational to consider the possibilities. At least I do.

Once you’ve done this exercise, you’ll have something to strive towards. You won’t know how to get there, but at least you’ve chosen a destination to head towards.

Next, it is time to understand where you’re starting from and what you’ve got to work with.

Understand Your Personality

Jot down some notes about your personality, about who you think you are. What traits would you say you have? How do you imagine others perceive you? Understanding what ‘makes you tick’ is such helpful information to have as you imagine what you might want; it’s great to know the raw material you’re working with.

It’s not that you can’t change your personality; it is much more malleable than we believe. For a great read on that topic, I highly recommend Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s book Personality Isn’t Permanent: Break Free from Self-Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story.

If you really want to dive in and explore your personality in more detail, I recommend taking the ‘Big Five’ personality test at truity.com. It measures you across the 5 key personality traits, which are;

Openness (how open someone is to new experiences and ideas)
Conscientiousness (how persistent, organized, and methodical someone is)
Extraversion (how much someone is energized by the external world)
Agreeableness (how much someone put’s other’s interests ahead of their own)
Neuroticism (how sensitive someone is to stress and emotional triggers)

The testing process is simple, with you just responding to multiple-choice questions. I found it to be very helpful in helping me understand myself better, which lead me to be strategic about the type of work that I aim to do, but also with the approach I take to the work. For example, in my case, I am very high (off the charts high!) in openness, which explains my creative nature. But when coupling this high degree of openness with slightly lower than average conscientiousness, it explains why I am full of ideas that I struggle to finish executing. While I sort of had this intuition that I was naturally inclined that way, seeing the data and explanation in black-and-white helped me understand what types of habits and systems I needed to put in place to be more successful.

Understanding your personality traits can give you an incredible advantage in helping you craft a work life that you’ll love.

Uncover your strengths.

Strengths are your most potent weapon in helping you build an amazing career, so understanding what they are is incredibly important. Developing an understanding of your strengths is not a mere exercise in self-congratulation; it’s an essential strategy for carving out a successful, satisfying life path. When you operate from a place of strength, you’re not just efficient–you’re invigorated, confident, and profoundly impactful. You produce better work with greater ease.

But how do you identify these strengths, especially those that might be as natural to you as breathing?

Reflect on past successes. Think back to moments when you were exceptionally productive or fulfilled. What were you doing? When we’re at our best, it’s often because we’re using our natural strengths.
Consider what others always ask you to do. People are trying to get things done as effectively as possible. Sometimes that means that they’ll ask people for help when they know that the other person is better at a particular task. If people are always asking you to do something, it’s likely because you’re good at it.
What comes easy to you? This one can be tough, because when you’re great at doing something, you don’t see it as special at all. People are often blind to their talents, mistakenly believing that it comes that easy for everyone. Reflect on the things that you find easy and fun, and odds are, you’ll find some strengths.
Seek Feedback. Ask people you trust what they see as your strengths. Others can often spot talents that we take for granted or don’t recognize in ourselves.
Consider Your Learning Curve. Look for skills or activities you picked up quickly. Our natural strengths usually manifest in areas where we learn and adapt rapidly.
Use Strengths Assessment Tools. Tools like CliftonStrengths can provide structured insights into your unique strengths profile. I’ve used this and found it to provide a lot of insight. It costs a bit ($60 USD) but is well worth the investment from my perspective.

By understanding your strengths and then using them to your advantage, you’re not just playing to win; you’re defining the game, making it uniquely suited to your abilities.

Useful questions.

One of the best strategies for figuring out what you want is to ask yourself amazing questions. Engage yourself in an internal dialogue. It may seem weird, but treat yourself as someone you’re genuinely interested in learning about and follow your curiosity. Get to know yourself. What you learn will help you understand where you might make changes in your life or work that can make an enormous difference in how you feel.

The best way to upgrade your quality of life is to upgrade the quality of the questions you ask yourself.

Here are a few useful questions to ask yourself in this context:

What skills and natural abilities do I have?
What comes easily to me that others struggle with?
What type of relationship do I want to have with work?
How much of my identity is currently bound up in my work? Am I happy with that? How much of my identity do I want to have tied to my work?
What type of tasks do I enjoy doing?
When do I seem to slip into flow, where my work just comes out of me with little effort? When am I at my best?
What time of the day am I at my most effective? When I am least effective?
What tasks do I hate doing?
What are my core values, the things that are most important to me?
What are non-starters for me, things that I cannot tolerate, no matter what?

By reflecting on answers to these questions, you’ll be able to hone in on what you’re expecting to get out of your work. You’ll have clarity about the type of career and way of working that is most aligned with you. This is so important, as there are so many options available to us now.

Concluding Thoughts

Let’s be honest; the pursuit of change in our career is often a blind sprint away from dissatisfaction rather than a calculated move towards fulfillment. The hard truth, the one that many shy away from, is that meaningful transformation begins with a deep, unvarnished look inward. It’s about confronting not just the surface-level desires like job titles or salaries, but the underlying currents of what make you, you. Your skills, passions, values, and the intricate relationship between your work and life–which are actually one and the same.

This journey isn’t for the faint-hearted. It demands honesty, introspection, and the willingness to question everything you’ve assumed about your desires and motivations. But here’s the silver lining; while it may seem daunting, this process is incredibly empowering. It places the compass of change firmly in your hands, guided by the true north of your innermost self.

Both you and the world will continue to change, meaning this won’t be a one-and-done deal. Instead, it’s an ongoing dialogue with yourself, a perpetual refinement of your path as you and your circumstances change.

So, as you stand at the crossroads of change, resist the urge to race blindly down the path of least resistance. Instead, take a breath, set aside a day, and dive deep into the essence of who you are and what you truly want. Your future self will thank you for the clarity and purpose with which you navigate the journey ahead.

Remember, change is inevitable, but transformation is a choice—a choice made with eyes wide open and a heart fully aware of its own depths.

Quotation that I have been pondering

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates has a quote that aligns perfectly with the notion that it is so critical to improve your self-knowledge:

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”

This quote underscores the foundational belief that self-knowledge is not just an end goal but is rather a starting point for wisdom, growth, and personal transformation.

You’ll never get what you want if you aren’t clear about what you actually want.

Journal Prompt

Reflect on a moment in your career or life where you felt like you were navigating through a metaphorical “dark basement”—a time filled with confusion, uncertainty, or a sense of being overwhelmed by choices without clear direction. Write about this experience, focusing on the feelings and challenges you encountered.

Describe the “basement”:What were the specific aspects of your work or life that contributed to this sense of confusion or lack of direction? Think about the factors that made you feel stuck or unsure about your next steps.
Identify the Clutter: In this basement, what were the “boxes” or “scattered papers” that added to the chaos? These could be external pressures, internal doubts, misconceptions about success, or unclear goals.
The Staircase Out: Can you recall a moment, decision, or realization that acted as a staircase leading you out of this basement? It might be a small step or a significant change in perspective. If you haven’t found your staircase yet, speculate on what it could be based on your current understanding of yourself.
Emerging into the Light: Imagine your ideal landscape of career success and personal fulfillment. What does it look like? Who are you in this landscape? Describe the paths, the environment, and the feelings associated with being in this place of clarity and purpose.
Drawing the Map: Based on your reflections, start sketching a map that represents your journey from the basement to the light. This doesn’t have to be a literal map, but a representation of your path to self-discovery and transformation. Include markers for your current location, obstacles you’ve encountered, resources or allies you’ve found along the way, and the direction you want to head towards.

Finish this exercise with a commitment to yourself. Write one small step you can take this week to move from the basement towards the light. It could be as simple as reading a book on a topic you’re passionate about, reaching out to someone whose career you admire for advice, or setting aside time for deeper self-reflection.

Your Call To Adventure

Feeling stuck in your current role and ready to transform the role work plays in your life?

This is the adventure of a lifetime, and you are the hero of your own epic career tale. On every great journey, the hero has a trusted sidekick to keep them on track.

Think of me as your sherpa, experienced in navigating the daunting path of career transformation. I’ve guided many others, helping them attain heights they hadn’t imagined possible for them.

Are you ready for your heroic journey? I’m here, ready to help you ascend to new peaks. Let’s start this adventure together.

Book now!

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