One of my favorite activities is sharing good content. I saw a post earlier today from the John Maxwell Company that I just knew I had to share! The post focuses on the fact that you have to ‘know yourself to grow yourself’. Pithy, easy to remember and unbelievably true! I will never forget a moment when I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror wearing an outfit that I thought was ‘killer’ only to discover it really didn’t fit the way I had imagined. Gulp. I am completely capable of making changes so that the mirror matches my imagination, but I will never take those steps if I don’t get the truth. The same is true about attempting growth and change.

You can find the entire glorious post here at The Law of Awareness: 4 questions to Help You Know Yourself but my two favorite excerpts are:

Working on what you’re passionate about gives you an advantage over others who are doing work they despise.

Mercy! I don’t know how many women would admit that they despise their jobs but I bet the number would frighten many employers. It makes all the sense in the world that doing work you are passionate about and enjoy would make you way more productive than someone who is going through the motions. Productivity, opportunities, satisfaction go through the roof when you align your passions with your paycheck.

Satisfaction and success come from doing things you are meant to do and doing them for the right reasons.

That sentence really grabbed me because it’s often easy to do what is expected. But powerful women go the extra step and make sure they examine WHY they are doing something. If I’m doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, I am not truly leading and nobody is likely to follow me. Or if they follow me for a while, they won’t follow me for long. If I am creating a charity because I want to get my name in the papers and I want people to admire me, my charity is in trouble. BUT if I am creating a charity because I see a need that is not being met and I am passionate about meeting that need whether anybody ever identifies me with the solution or not, I am headed in the right direction.

What do you think? Do you see how really getting to know yourself can lead to more career and personal satisfaction more quickly? Check out the Leadership Wired post and let me know if lit a fire in you as it did me.