Self-Awareness

I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.
Billie Jean King

It is very easy in our society, being constantly bombarded with millions of marketing messages, and comments from others, to lose sight of who we are. We are constantly being told who to be by the media; and who we are by all the people around us, who really don't know but often think they do. And all these messages are very convincing, especially when they come from our family who we think ought to know us because they've been living with us for so long.

We get so busy in our daily lives that we simply don't get around to sitting quietly and asking ourselves "Who am I? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What do I really love and value (and not because someone told me I should)? What do I really want to accomplish in my life? What do I want to be remembered for when I am gone? We never learn to choose our battles, to say no to what is not important to who we are as a person. Because we don't know who we are as a person so we can't know what is important in supporting that.

If you are going to be a champion at anything, you need to be aware of yourself. You need to know your strengths so you can improve them, and your weaknesses so you can fix them or at least find a way to cover for them. You need to know what you value and what you want to accomplish so that you know what field of endeavor to strive towards being a champion in. You need to know what is possible for you and what is not so that you remain focused and choose your battles wisely. Set aside some time today to become aware of yourself, of who you really are.