Why finding your authentic self can bring more happiness and greater purpose

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Deborah Jordan, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ~Aristotle.

Finding your authentic self is a continued journey of discovery and awareness. Every person has their own greatness that is already present, finding and re-discovering your own genius and tapping into it, leads to both happiness and purpose in life.
My greatest learnings in the last few years is that awareness is critical for growth and performance and discovering and re-affirming your authentic self is key to finding out where you want to go and to achieve happiness.

Connection and realizing how we are wired gives us purpose and meaning in our lives.
We form connections to both ourselves and others as result of authenticity, being who you are is vital to grow and develop relationships.

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” Brené Brown. Author and Researcher.
So how do you find your authentic self?

Strengths represents your natural, ingrained way of knowing the world.

Tapping into your strengths can be a powerful method to uncover your true self and give you a new sense of purpose in both your personal and business lives. Energy and strengths are closely bonded.
A strength can be defined as ‘What makes you feel strong and energized and want to do it again and again?’.

Here are three simple steps to assist you to tap into your strengths and your authentic self:

1. Look back on your childhood as it can reveal a great deal. What did you love to do as a child? Write these down, they may surprise you.
2. Identify what energizes you the most today and what makes you feel like you are in your element or wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.
3. What do you really look forward to doing in the future and have no regrets having not done this?

Take the time to learn about yourself and discover what you love.

Research has suggested that using your strengths is linked to higher levels of well-being.
Increasing your awareness of strengths and creating your own pathway for developing and optimizing strengths, is practicing being true to yourself and living an authentic life.

Take some quiet time to go through these steps and it will help you learn more about yourself and discover what you are meant to be doing with your life.

Reflect upon this every morning and write down what activities really excited you or energized you the day before. This will give you insight into discovering what you love to do.

Once you discover this, you may need some time to set down your goals and make them happen. Set your goals and stick to it, self-actualization and getting to your strengths and discovering what you love to do will lead to greater happiness.