Know Thyself

There is a theory in Marketing that you have to know yourself, to better help you be successful.  There are tests you can take to determine if you’re a lion or a bear.  I often teach the 4 selves in my seminars.  They are useful and helpful ways to learn about yourself.

I have 6 questions that I ask people when I’m training one-on-one, or even in small groups.  Let me share these, in the hopes that they help you, or help with working with your clients.

• What time of day works best for you?  If you’re a morning person, then schedule your hardest, least liked projects in the morning, and get them out of the way.  That way you have the rest of the day to work on projects you enjoy.  Even if you’re tired, you’ll do the work well because it’s the work you enjoy.  If you don’t come awake until the street lights come on, then save that tedious work for the evening.  I have a client who saves all his paperwork for midnight, which he does in his home office after his family is in bed.  It works for him, and allows him to sleep late, which also works for him.

• Are you a procrastinator?  While nobody likes to admit it, it’s good to know if this word describes you.  If you are, then use it.  If you’re a procrastinator, you’re probably good under deadlines.  Use your down time to enjoy yourself, knowing that you’ll pull it together at the last minute.  Too often people pretend to work, really not accomplishing much, until crunch time.  Admit you’re a procrastinator and use your time for other things until the deadline looms.

• Are you a good writer?  Let’s face it, even in today’s world, you need to know how to write coherently.  If you can’t spell, don’t understand grammar, and can’t write a decent paragraph, then hire an English major.  Spellcheck and grammarcheck or not sufficient.  For instance, in running the ABC check on this article, it was suggested that I change your to you’re, when I was correct in the first place—you can’t trust the computer with spellcheck and grammarcheck.  Written communication is important enough to invest time and money in either learning how to write well, or hiring someone who writes well.

• Are you self-motivated?  If not, then a job that requires autonomy is probably not for you.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  While some people hate micro-managers, and everybody claims to hate them, the truth is some people need them.  They want to be assured that they’re doing the right thing, and they need somebody to give them their to-do list and make sure it’s done.  If you are self-motivated, then stay away from micro-managers, because they’ll drive you crazy.  There’s nothing wrong with either, it’s just important to know what works for you.

• Are you ethical?  Ah, we’re getting ugly now.  You need to decide whether or not you’ll play by the rules before the situation arises.  If you know where you stand, and I’m not judging on which side of the line you belong, then you’ll know how to negotiate and save yourself time and energy.

• And finally, how do you come across to others?  Perception can be reality.  For instance, if you think you’re confident, but others find you arrogant, then you need to change your communication techniques.  Confidence is a good thing, but if it’s coming across wrong, and costing you clients or jobs, then a change is in order.

The point is, the better you know yourself, the more successful you can be by playing into your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses.