Steer clear of Nemesis by knowing more about yourself

Self-knowledge has been at the centre of human pursuit for millennia. Socrates is famed for saying: “know thyself.” In Socrates’ ancient Greece, self-discovery and self-knowledge were the cornerstones for pursuing any type of knowledge. Knowing oneself was also a way to steer clear of becoming overconfident, arrogant, and overstepping boundaries. These acts, known as hubris, would inevitably lead to punishment by the goddess Nemesis.?

Today’s reality is less harsh. When we make mistakes, when don't have to fear the wrath of the gods. Rather, it is a sign of high self-knowledge that you know when you make a mistake and own up to the fact. Other signs of high self-knowledge are that you have a good understanding of your personal performance and potential, including your strengths and weaknesses.?

At work, high self-knowledge matters very much. You can think of it as a map of how you are currently performing at work, what your full potential is, your areas of strengths, and areas of improvement. Without this map, it becomes next to impossible to make meaningful personal and professional improvements. Think of a sprinter who wants to beat the 400 m world record. Without a stopwatch to measure each 100-meter split during practice, they have no way of knowing their pace, which increment is the fastest and which one is the slowest. You can say that their self-knowledge is very low, and their chances of making targeted improvements toward breaking the record are low as well.??

Similarly, without an accurate map of yourself, you have no way of knowing if you are improving in the areas you want to get better at.?

My preferred way of developing more self-knowledge is purposeful journaling. Here are some useful prompts for your journal: write about your day using the third person perspective, as if you had asked someone else to observe and describe you. Examine more closely: what did you like and dislike throughout the day? What made you happy and unhappy? What pulled you in and what pushed you away? If you are not writing a journal today, then committing to writing a daily entry can be a big task. Instead, block off 15 minutes in your calendar every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday when you normally have some free time.?

Reach out to me at [email protected] if you could use a reference sheet with prompts to jumpstart your journaling. I am always happy to help.?

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Klaus Boedker is a certified agile coach with over 12 years of experience delivering agile coaching and training at diverse organizations covering for-profit, not-for-profit, and the public sector. His background includes co-developing agile training classes and certifications recognized worldwide, and leading teams of scrum masters, software developers, and project managers helping them grow their careers. Reach out to connect at [email protected].?