Come on tell me who are you?
~ The Who
In the last blog post, I wrote about the power of discovering your WHY Operating System (your WHY-How-What, or “WHY.os”). Understanding what drives you and where you feel most successful is extremely important, whether you are certain of where you’re heading or if you are considering a significant change.
But as significant as understanding your WHY.os is, it’s only a pointer. Your WHY.os doesn’t define you. And in reality, no discovery tool, no assessment, and no series of evaluations can ever really define you. Those resources might tell you and others very important things about you, but there is nothing that can ever define you.
So, who are you? Have you spent time with that question?
Here’s an exercise: think of a label you might use to describe yourself. Examples include: husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, practitioner of a particular religion, agnostic, atheist, White, Black, Brown, cisgender, transgender, bi, straight, gay, Republican, Democrat, Independent, wealthy, loving, curmudgeonly – you name it.
Got your list?
OK. Now, do any of these (or even all of them together) define You – meaning, the essence of Who You Are?
I hope your answer is “No!”
Each of these labels is a concept. And concepts, however powerful they may be for enabling communication, can never capture the essence of a thing (much less a human being).
The reality is that you are simply too big, too powerful, too infinite to be put into any conceptual box.
Here’s another question: who are you when you are at your absolute best? What virtues do you embody? What actions do you take (or avoid taking)?
If you feel that you’ve never been at your best – or even if you have – what is your vision of your best self? Are you there?
What is the ONE THING you can do today to incrementally move in that direction?
I’ll tell you one thing, it’s really, really hard to get in touch with that part of you when you’re filling your entire day with busy-ness or distractions (To Do’s, cell phones, Netflix, etc., etc.). I’m not suggesting that you completely give up any of those things, and there’s certainly nothing inherently wrong with cell phones, Netflix or seeking to get a lot of things done. It’s just that when your consciousness is continuously preoccupied with those things, your best self can easily get buried, lost, or forgotten.
Please don’t let that happen. The world needs you – the best possible you – today.
Chris Kenny, The 3 Life Questions™
