Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
~~ Bruce Lee
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Don’t go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself. . . .
Who Do You Think You Are? Who are you? What is it to be yourself?
About three years ago, I started wondering who I was, or more specifically I was looking for what my calling was. I wasn’t happy with my current career choice. I had worked in the field for many years but wasn’t feeling it any more. I had actually changed careers from that career about 5 years earlier, but went back into it after the mortgage crash.
I had left IT and Enterprise Content Management and went into a sales role as a Loan Officer. I loved it, but the mortgage crash dashed that career.
At the end of that run, I also purchased a Coffee News franchise. I became a publisher of “Good News” and sold advertising to local businesses. I loved it, too.
While doin
g these two careers I started attending Business Networking International (BNI) and learned how to network.
I joined and worked in the local Chambers of Commerce. I loved it. I loved to network with the local business and community leaders. I loved helping businesses grow and build their business and networks.
Unfortunately, the economy that was driven by the real estate and building market in the local areas I worked went down considerably and that business failed as well.
I was unable to pay the bills, unable to afford insurance, etc. I found a part-time job working at a local grocery store bakery for a couple years and work my way to a Bakery Manager position. I always strive to be my best and excel. I couldn’t just be a bakery clerk. But, this wasn’t what I wanted to do forever.
I started looking for something with my prior experience and skills that could bring in a good salary. I was offered a position in the field I had left before in Enterprise Content Management in Lending and moved to California.
After a couple years I realized I wasn’t happy doing this. It paid well. I was well respected among my peers, but I just didn’t enjoy it anymore. I wasn’t feeling like I was making an impact. I wasn’t feeling satisfied or significant.
I heard about and then read Jeff Goins‘ book, The Art Of Work. Jeff said to think about what you were doing when you were the happiest in your life. What were you doing when you loved going to work or what did you do when you weren’t at work that made you the happiest?
Pick up Jeff’s book here:
or
I sat down one day when I went for an early morning walk in the East Bay hills near my house, which I loved to do. I started thinking about when i was happiest. I realized it was when i was when I was doing these things:
- meeting new people
- marketing
- business networking
- working with and building communities online and offline
- speaking at events
- training people
- motivating others to reach and achieve their goals
- social media
- writing
I joined a new Toastmasters club our company started so I could improve my public speaking and start meeting new people in the company.
I started taking marketing and social media classes at UC Berkeley Extension. I decided I wanted to start working towards a career in marketing, social media, public speaking.
I realized that the type of career that would work well for what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be, what would make me happy and satisfied was something in the line of Community Management. I started researching and learning.
This was who I was. This is what would make me happy.
Really? How did I know?
This has been a long discourse to get to the point of this podcast episode, which is to talk about “Who Do You Think You Are?” If, as Bruce Lee says, you should “be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself” then shouldn’t you know who you really are?
How the heck do you do that?
I started by doing what Jeff Goins suggested.
I did find my dream job as a Community Manager. One of the great benefits of our company is that they value their employees. One of the benefits is they often allow us to take personality tests. Yes, there are personality tests. I’ve taken a few over the years, but I never really took the results and looked at what they meant. They are developed to give you an idea of the strengths and weaknesses you have based on your personality. YOUR PERSONALITY, not someone else’s. As Bruce said, “don’t look for a successful personality and duplicate……”
There are several of these types of tests:
- Gallup StrengthsFinder
- Myers-Briggs
- DISC
- 16 Personalities
- and more. . . .
We have been given the opportunity to take a couple of these this year and I have been amazingly surprised how accurate they are. I took the Gallup StrengthsFinder and the 16 Personalities tests.
Gallup StrengthsFinder
The StrengthsFinder Test cost a few dollars to take, but it is well worth it. There are 34 Themes in this test. We signed up for the Top 5 Themes test that shows your 5 themes that define the majority of your personality.
My top 5 are:
- Strategic
- Activator
- Self-Assurance
- Significance
- Futuristic
These are my most dominant themes of the 34 the test shows. These are very important. The program also puts together an Action Plan for you to maximize these strengths.
To help show what this means, here are the top 2 of 5:
Strategic
The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allows you to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, you play out alternative scenarios, always asking, “What if this happened? Okay, well what if this happened?” This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles.
Guided by where you see each path leading, you start to make selections. You discard the paths that lead nowhere. You discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. You discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path—your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your Strategic theme at work: “What if?” Select. Strike.
Activator
“When can we start?” This is a recurring question in your life. You are impatient for action. You may concede that analysis has its uses or that debate and discussion can occasionally yield some valuable insights, but deep down you know that only action is real. Only action can make things happen. Only action leads to performance.
Once a decision is made, you cannot not act. Others may worry that “there are still some things we don’t know,” but this doesn’t seem to slow you. If the decision has been made to go across town, you know that the fastest way to get there is to go . .
16 Personalities
When I took the 16 Personalities test, which is FREE, I find I am an ENFJ – The Protagonist. You can learn what each personality is and the characteristics of each. Like the StrengthsFinders test, I found the 16 Personalities test to be pretty accurate.
Here are a couple of points from this test that I feel describe me:
ENFJs are genuine, caring people who talk the talk and walk the walk, and nothing makes them happier than leading the charge, uniting and motivating their team with infectious enthusiasm.
- Charismatic – Charm and popularity are qualities ENFJs have in spades. They instinctively know how to capture an audience, and pick up on mood and motivation in ways that allow them to communicate with reason, emotion, passion, restraint – whatever the situation calls for. Talented imitators, ENFJs are able to shift their tone and manner to reflect the needs of the audience, while still maintaining their own voice.
- Altruistic – Uniting these qualities is ENFJs’ unyielding desire to do good in and for their communities, be it in their own home or the global stage. Warm and selfless, ENFJs genuinely believe that if they can just bring people together, they can do a world of good.
- Natural Leaders – More than seeking authority themselves, ENFJs often end up in leadership roles at the request of others, cheered on by the many admirers of their strong personality and positive vision.
Very interesting, and I have to agree they are fairly accurate as well. Essentially both tests say the same things about my personality. If you look at these traits and characteristics of my personality and the things that made me the happiest when I was doing them, you can see why.
It is me. It is who I am.
What’s the point of all of this? It’s to understand what Bruce Lee is said, AND it is to understand YOU.
If you want to be successful at your career, if you want to live a happy, satisfied, fulfilling life, then you need to be you. You need to be yourself, express yourself and have faith in yourself.
Find your calling. If you are in your calling, live it with passion. Find these personality strengths and take the action needed to use them for your life.
I have a career now doing what I am. I am a Community Manager for the company I work for. I am a Podcaster, helping people set and achieve their goals. I help people take action and Get The Goals They Set.
I am the happiest I’ve been in a long time doing what I love and what I am.
Are You? Take one or many of these tests if you haven’t. Be honest when taking them. Find out who you really are and then set your goals to be what you are. If your goals are not in alignment with who you are, then you will have the hardest time achieving them. Your subconscious mind will work to sabotage you. Don’t let your mind play goalie for the other team!
Go Out Today – Be Yourself, Express Yourself, Have Faith in Yourself.
Be You and Be Successful
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