Know Yourself

I find it fascinating that none of us came out of the box with an operating manual. Everything in our world comes with an operations guide-a detail set of instructions for optimal care and performance. How interesting that the only way to develop an operations guide is to become a student of ourselves.

Learning how I operate best has provided me some incredibly helpful insights. I’ve learned that most days from 2 pm to 4 pm my physical energy is low. Knowing this helps me live more strategically. As a result, I don’t schedule creative work in the afternoons. Comparatively at 7 am, I feel like I can take on the world with gusto.

My software has a few bugs

Early in my career, my boss told me, “Aaron you have great hardware, but your software needs some work.” He was so right. Knowing yourself, becoming a student and investigating how your software works will reveal a lot of helpful insights.

I don’t like loud beeping noises like alarm clocks or trucks driving in reverse. When our special needs daughter was alive, she was hooked up to a lot of machines, each with its own beeping decibel and pulsing frequency. I used to freak out when the microwave timer would go off for three minutes unanswered.

I learned that my software has a bug. In my operating manual, it reads, “Aaron is prone to quick irritation due to a decade of beeping noises requiring immediate response”. Ahhhh…well, that makes sense. I now understand why my auto response of quick irritation is activated. I’m working on installing a few helpful software patches to change my auto response default program.

People like us want to experience more joy, connection, and intimacy. So we accept that our software may have a few bugs that can be improved or fixed. Our goal isn’t too over analyze things or stare at our navels all day. We simply believe that life gets better when we are deliberate about knowing and improving ourselves.

How well do you know yourself?
Take the time to study your operations guide.

Keep going-

Aaron