You think you know yourself, right?

Probably one of the most difficult tasks for a human being is to know himself.

First, many of us are not even aware of its importance. We spend our lives reacting to the events that are taking place, without making conscious choices based on who we are and what we want.

Second, it is not easy even for those who think that doing a good inventory of ourselves will help us become better in any area and seek this knowledge proactively. According to neuroscience, it turns out that our conscious mind prefers to give us explanations somewhat misleading in order to keep our vision of the world intact. Add to this that most of our behavior is programmed into the unconscious, and therefore beyond the reach of our conscious mind, so we are probably quite wrong in the perception of the kind of person we are and why actually do the things we do.

Given that we have these blind spots in our mind and that truth is less obvious than it seems, we must learn to question everything if we want to know ourselves better. As a researcher with tests in a lab, we need to analyze our actions in isolation, without any kind of bias. This is downright difficult. The people that know us reasonably well can help us know how we are, whenever they have the confidence to tell the truth and not what they think we want to hear. In some cases, professional help can be invaluable. I have a friend who started going to a psychologist because she was a little lost, and ended up discovering things about herself she had no idea. She has changed dramatically—for the better—, and whenever we talk about the subject, she always repeats: “Everyone should go to a psychologist.”

There is no magic formula that works for everyone. Knowing yourself is a tough, slow and hard process, that depends on each person and probably never end.

Of course, I believe that doing some personal introspection from time to time is a good base from which to work. Knowing how to identify your emotions and feelings, knowing your strengths and flaws, examining your relationships with others, understanding how everything affects you… all these things are fundamental to your personal development, not only to succeed in your career, but to be better in your personal and social facets.

If you know yourself well, you can work on those aspects that will help you develop all your potential. And if, through that, you get that what you do for a living is related to what gives meaning to your life, bingo! Your motivation, performance and productivity will be much higher.

If you do not know who you are, you will not be able to set your goals, it will be very hard to stay motivated, you will not be able to make good decisions, you will not accept or reject your commitments properly… It will be difficult to have a productive life and, even worse, to have a happy life.

You can start with these simple questions: What are you passionate about? How should your life be?