Today I was thinking about my plans for 2016. I wrote a few weeks ago about setting goals based on becoming a better person. I wanted to shift my focus beyond just objectives. As a coach, I work with people to help them close the gap between what they know and what they do. But when we look to build character, we can think about three stages.
1. What you know. To grow yourself, you have to invest in yourself. Knowledge can come from many different perspectives. It is not just books and classes, knowledge also comes from experiences and the people with whom we spend time.
2. What you do. This is where we put into action what we have learned. Everyone can use help with this stage. We grow ourselves through doing, failing, learning, and finally success. Growth is facilitated by stepping out of your comfort zone, and then overcoming the failures you encounter.
3. Who you are. Our knowledge, experiences, and actions are the basis for how we develop our values in life. It is self awareness that allows us to grow in our values and know how they fit in the world.
These three stages are important to think, especially as we encounter failure. Failing due to a lack of knowledge should not be a huge concern. We can never know everything, so these types of failures will happen. A lack of knowledge can also be easily corrected.
Failing by not doing what we know we should do is also typical. I think it is a human condition to always intend to do more than we can really do. This gap is what drives our performance. But again failing here will happen.
Failing the third stage should be our major concern. When we are unable to live our values, or lack the awareness to recognize how values should define us, we have truly failed. If we really want to grow our character and become a better person, then we need to know and stay true to our values.
With this perspective, I am still working my plan for 2016. The question that is at the top of my mind is, “How can I better understand, and function based on my values?”
How are you doing with developing your 2016 plan?