Why Know Self 2 Grow Self?

I don’t know why, but I have always been introspective.

I ask myself questions like:

“Why did I react that way when they said that?”

“Why does that person get under my skin?”

“Why do I find it easier to work with that person, but not that one?”

At some point, I realized it wasn’t really about them or the circumstances. It was about how I was interpreting them. It was the lens I was looking at life through.

I had a perspective on life and relationships, and I just assumed everyone else had the same perspective.

Surprise! They don’t.

That may sound obvious, but it wasn’t obvious to me.

I spent a lot of time trying to improve my circumstances—or the people around me—instead of trying to understand myself.

Eventually, it dawned on me: I needed to look under the hood. I needed to understand how I worked and what my wiring looked like.

Once I began to understand my own wiring—and the fact that other people are wired differently—I could begin to grow.

And by “grow,” I mean developing the maturity to be at peace with who I am and with who the people around me are.

Let me give you an example.

On the PeopleMap, I am a People Type. I tend to see life through questions like:

“How does what I do affect that person?”

“How can we improve our relationship?”

“How can I connect with them?”

My wife, Sheila, is a Task Type. She does not see life through that same lens. She is more likely to ask:

“How can I get my to-do list done?”

“How can I make order out of chaos?”

“How could this be improved if we just did this?”

Now, we both like GSD—getting stuff done. We both like people. But we fundamentally look at the same situations through different lenses.

Knowing that I see the world through a People lens, and that Sheila sees the world through a Task lens, was a game changer.

It transformed our marriage.

Really.

I became a better friend to my wife, a better dad to my kids, and a better co-worker at my job.

I knew myself a little better, and I grew.

That is the idea behind Know Self 2 Grow Self.

So hop on board.

Let’s know ourselves so we can grow ourselves.