No Limit Success: More on Knowing Yourself

Sunday, May 28, 2006

More on Knowing Yourself

Almost everything we know about business, life and success comes from people that have not achieved significant results in their own lives. Think about it. We devote hours every week to reading or listening to the opinion of newspaper or magazine writers, television personalities or pundits and radio talk show hosts. If we really want to change we need to find someone who has what we want, then listen to them and learn what they did.

Next time you are looking for some recreational reading or listening, visit the Leaders Are Readers section of my Financial Intelligence page and buy one of the recommended books. If you would rather not read, buy the audio version and listen to it in your car or backyard.

The "media" exists to sell us toothpaste (or whatever). It is in their best interests for you to believe that whichever product is advertised with their content is the one product you need to be truly happy. And many times that product is available "right now, for a limited time, as part of this special promotion, at 10% off". Scarcity.

Over and over we hear there are limited quantities of "clean air", "fresh water", "this recommended stock", "good places to live", "perfect places to vacation", "jobs to hold", "the best education". Our fears of not having are exploited. Our brains are washed until we can't do anything with them. "It isn't safe to go outside" says the news report, so stay in and watch our latest movie of the week.

In fact, there is no limit to the wealth available in the world. We live in an abundant world with a scarcity mentality. Harvey S. Dent Jr., in his book The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History, 2005-2009, writes that there will be more millionaires created during this period then ever before. The biggest opportunity in the history of the world is right now.

One of the keys to success is recognizing there is abundance, and knowing yourself. You know that your inside world affects the outside world, you get what you expect. There is no limit to the success you can expect.

Knowing your purpose will attract success. No money flows to no purpose. Money flows to purpose. Know yourself to know your purpose.

Now, here is what I wanted to share in this posting...

You have a gift it is known as your Unique Ability (UA). This is a talent you have serves you best in life. Everyone else knows it about you, but you don't recognize it as something unique. Your UA is valuable because people will pay you for that gift that makes you special.

Not knowing what your unique ability is means you are unconsciously competent (UC) with that gift. You use it without conscious thought or effort. Uncovering your self knowledge of that gift will let you pursue paths in your life where you can leverage your UA to benefit your life.

There are also things you do now know. Facts, skills and knowledge that you could leverage if you only knew about it. These things form the areas in which you are Unconsciously Incompetent (UI). Not only don't you know how to apply the thing, you aren't even aware it exists.

This is where you need to be (or become) open to change. Your friends, mentor or coach can help you fix yourself and become conscious about things you don't know about. You will move to being Consciously Incompetent (CI). That is when you have a choice to make, either quit or change. Fish or cut bait. You are aware of what you don't know.

I think you know what the next stage is. Mastering the new thing (fact, skill or knowledge) makes you Consciously Competent (CC). Finding your unique ability makes you consciously competent about it. This is the goal you are aiming for.

There are three facets in applying your self knowledge to your actions. Your IQ, your EQ and your CQ.

Your IQ is well known to most people. Even if you do not know the exact measurement of your intelligence, you have heard the term used many times. Your lifetime IQ is usually fixed by the age of 14. It is vital for you to recognize that your IQ score does not control your destiny. There are many examples of people with average or below average IQ scores experiencing a life that is successful by whatever measurements you care to employ. By the same token, people with a high IQ score do not automatically succeed.

You EQ is your emotional intelligence. In times of high emotion you actually "lose" your intelligence!

Think of a time when you were in a heated discussion or argument with someone. Once the period of peak emotion passed, and your heart returned to a normal pace, your mind starts bombarding you with positions you should have taken, examples you should have used and ideas that would have crushed your opposition. If only those thoughts had been generated during the "fight". Unfortunately, as our emotions rose, our ability to access intelligent thoughts decreased.

The good news is that you can learn to control how your peak emotional states affect you.

How we deal with our strengths and weaknesses has a major impact on our success. We are often told "work on your weaknesses". We see far better results when we build stronger strengths. Identify your unique ability, and then work on improvements! Why depend on a strong weakness? Concentrate on your best ability, and find others that can provide strength in your weak areas.

Your CG, cognitive intelligence is how you think about things, how you approach a project.

Let's say you are starting out on a project to build your dream home. What do you do first? Where do you focus? This is defined by your cognitive intelligence.

Some would do research on other homes. Some would just purchase a house and plan to renovate. Others would prepare detailed designs. Some would concentrate on the decor inside the house. No approach is right or wrong, but each person decides on their own path.

All of the aspects of thought discussed above are at a level beneath the subconscious mind. We are not aware of the processes taking place. Our subconscious only lets through the thoughts that we are focused on. "The inner world (of thoughts and reactions) and the outer world (of circumstances and situations) are connected to each other."