Self-Awareness --> Self-Improvement

Twenty-five years ago, I remember taking the Myers-Briggs Personality test. I vaguely remember that I was an INFJ at that time. I went through all the processing that goes with it, remember listening to the person who was trying to unpack it for me, understanding myself and some of the things that stood for being an INTJ, and all of that. Over the years, it has helped me understand myself. It has brought a sense of self-awareness to me. Then in 2003 I did another personality test called the DISC and that again helped me understand myself even more.

As I looked back on it, I realized that, while I was able to understand myself and what it meant, at that time I didn't do anything about some of the things I found out about myself in terms of strengths, weaknesses, understanding how I would be as a parent, or as a spouse. It was just self-awareness rather than any attempt at self-improvement.

Data Analytics is a buzzword these days. What you do with data is beginning to be important. Companies, especially, are realizing that you can mine for data, but unless you are able to take that data and start translating it into effective processes that will bring change and enhance the process or product, it's of no use. So they're doing that and more with huge budgets.  As Louis Columbus says in Forbes Tech, "Data analytics continues to accelerate as the most preferred solutions for gaining greater business insight and value from data, with this category increasing in importance 55% from a 2014 survey results." That's how important data analytics continues to be to companies.

 

But, the truth that companies are beginning to be aware of, is that analytics is not the end goal. It's merely an aid to the journey.  Information that comes in must be used to help them do what they are doing better. This brought home a great truth for me. It is so important for us, even when looking at our own lives, to say, "With the kind of data that I have about myself, am I using it to better myself? Or has it always been just a tool to bring about self-awareness?"  The two are completely different. Self-awareness must not just be a stand-alone. Being aware of self must lead to something that is active and dynamic. We cannot become aware of the things that happen in our lives—who we are or what makes us tick—if it somehow doesn't translate into actionable items that can help us improve ourselves. That is an area that we don't pay too much attention. While we are surrounded by it in our areas of work, we don't use data on ourselves to bring about self-improvement.

I love this book written by Tom Paterson, titled 'Living The Life You Were Meant To Live.' He says, "Look at the life domains that you and I have. There are 5 of them:

·       Personal

·       Work

·       Community

·       Family

·       Faith

These are 5 domains that must be in some kind of equilibrium and harmony for us to be able to go through life with a certain amount of well-being."

He says that in each of these domains, you've got to ask questions.

·       What is right?

·       What is wrong?

·       What is confused?

·       What is missing?

All of these questions bring about self-awareness. What is right in my life? What is wrong in my life? What is confusing in my life? What is missing in my life? That is self-awareness.

Then he goes on to take it from self-awareness to self-improvement. He says,

What is right? Optimize it.

What is wrong? Change it.

What is confused? Clarify it.

What is missing? Add it.

Self-awareness itself is not the end. It leads to self-improvement.

Why is this so important? More and more employers are beginning to look for people who take care of their personal lives. I was reading somewhere that employers like to look at the smart phones of their employees just to find out what apps they have – whether there are apps that have to do with to-do lists that have been marked off, health care apps – stuff like that to know whether there is a self-improvement program in place with each person.  As Michael Schrage, research fellow at MIT Sloan School Center for Digital Business, said, "Employers monitoring people's performance is yesterday's managerial cliché; today's organizations want to see how talent holds itself accountable." That's the key.

You may have heard the name LeBron James, an NBA player who plays for Cleveland Cavaliers. Until  2011/2012, he was known as a "phenomenally gifted loser."  He then decided to do something about it.  He looked at all the analytics, all the data that they had on him, and he made a call.  He called up Hakim Olajuwon, who was a retired legend NBA player – the only player who won the MVP, Finals MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the same season. He spent four and a half days with Hakim, allowing this legend to teach him things he needed to know. And so when the question was posed to him: "What do you plan to do with all this analytics?" His answer was: "Hire Hakim Olajuwon," because that's exactly what he did, and that decision changed his life. 

Today's question for each one of us about ourselves is: Do you self-quantify? Do you use the technology that is available, to improve yourself.    Gary Wolf, a journalist and author introduced this idea of "marrying technology with self improvement" way back in 2007.  And I think that that's the question that we need to be able to answer. Do we self-quantify and self-improve? Are we taking the time to utilize data that is so readily available through myriad apps to improve, enhance and enrich our lives?  That is the question that we must answer for ourselves. My hope is that we would.

May I offer this prayer on our behalf?

Almighty God. You are the one who has a scanner on our lives. Show us what we need to see, and beyond that, when we see it, show us what we need to do, that we may be ones who don't stop with self-awareness but move on to self-improvement, with Your wisdom and under Your guidance. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.

•       Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

•       Louis Columbus, "Data Analytics Dominates Enterprises' Spending Plan for 2015," http://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2015/10/12/surface-book-what-microsoft-got-wrong-and-one-thing-it-got-very-right/

•       Tom Patterson, "Living the Life You were Meant to Live," http://www.amazon.com/Living-Life-Were-Meant-Live/dp/0785271953

•       Michael Schrage, "Whether You're Qualified Depends On How You're Quantified," https://hbr.org/2015/10/whether-youre-qualified-depends-on-how-youre-quantified

•       Michael Schrage, "What LeBron James Knows About Analytics That You Should Too," https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-lebron-james-knows-about.html

•       "Counting every moment," http://www.economist.com/node/21548493