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Know Yourself

An image of a road to the horizon with text career

Introduction:

“Who Am I?” may be one of the most commonly asked questions. A deeper understanding of your answer is critical to life success and happiness – and critical to a successful job search and career satisfaction. Just as it is difficult to market and sell a product or service without knowing what it is and the value it offers, so it is the same for each if us. Knowing yourself brings about calm, a definition, an expression of value and self-worth.

Skill Definition:

  • I can state with self-assurance who I am; my talents, work values, purpose, and can cite examples of how I demonstrated those in past experiences.
  • I can mentally link skill requirements with different jobs and can identify energizing attributes of jobs. I use this to identify and pursue a lifetime, income-producing skill.

Key Learning Points:

  • I know my natural talents – talents that when exercised become my strengths.
  • I know my core values – values that guide my choices (in life and in job selection).
  • I know my purpose – the reason that justifies my existence and I seek to align this with my career.
  • I have 3-5 stories of times I have demonstrated my talents, values and purpose.

Faith Worldview:

On the day of our birth we were created with unique gifts: talents (intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical) pre-wired with values to guide decision making, and power of choice (the ultimate human freedom) with the challenge to choose to develop our talents, follow our values, and to do good in the world (to fulfill our purpose).

Learning Path:

Deeper Topics:

  • STAR Stories. A Star story should be about 2 minutes long, and delivered with energy and enthusiasm about a real experience you have had (it does not have to be a work experience, as long as it describes a relevant skill or behavior). Source: What is the STAR Method for answering tough interview Questions? on Sentient-Recruitment.com.
  • Work Values. They are the beliefs and ideas that are important to you and guide your actions. For example you may believe that you should always be honest, go out of your way to help others and be independent. Your work values are simply those principles that have to do with your occupation or job. Source: Identifying Your Work Values on About.com by Dawn Rosenberg McKay.

Exercises for Older Teens and Adults:

Questions to Encourage Critical Thinking:

  • What are my greatest attributes?
  • What positive statements have people said about me?
  • How did I decide to do something important? What values were underlying my decision?
  • What is the most important priority for me intellectually, spiritually, social-emotionally, and physically?
  • What is that special skill you have or want to acquire that leads to an income-producing career?

Tools and Templates:

Word Definition:

  • None at this time.

 Web Sites/Short Stories/Essays:

Books:

Videos:

 Quotes:

Faith-Based Quotes:

  • “Know Yourself That You May Know God” – many
  • “Every person is born for a purpose. Everyone has a potential, in essence, built into them. And if we are to live life to its fullest, we must realize that potential.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Other Quotes:

  • “Know yourself to improve yourself” – Auguste Comte
  • “The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world” – Toni Collette
  • “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be” – Abraham Maslow
  • “The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is to give your gift away” – Bob Pautke

One-Point Lesson:

  • None at this time.

 Related Skills:

 Summary 2-page Lesson Examples, coming soon:

  • Job Interests (handouts, in Document Library for Members only).
  • Job Interests (with instructor notes, in Document Library for Members only).