Central to the wisdom of the great sages is this principle -- "Know Thyself." This simply stated, yet difficult thing to achieve is the primary challenge faced by negotiators -- because the hardest person you negotiate against is always yourself.
If you Know Thyself, you will separate yourself from your ego (a horrible negotiator) and from the emotion of the situation. You will create natural flow, which yields clarity of purpose and the strength to confront any fear. There are many paths to self-awareness:
Desire it - This will cause you to see and tune into opportunities of selfawareness.
Seek it - Create a simple journal (handwritten preferred), and take a few
minutes each day to reflect upon the following questions:
- What is your passion? Passion points to purpose.
- What do you value? This is the filter of all major decisions.
- Who do you admire and why? What are their values?
- What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Leaning into your fear is the most powerful exercise for personal growth.
- How would your eulogy sound? You are going to die, embrace that thought so you get off your butt and step into your greatness – NOW!
Self-Analyze - As you become more aware of the questions to ask, you can start to really focus on how you behave in certain situations and what truly provides happiness. You can usewww.strengthsfinder.com, www.marcusbuckingham.com or Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory as aids.
Feedback - Ask your trusted friends for feedback about your areas of brilliance, strengths and weakness.
Coaching - Get a coach to help you establish a structured approach to tackle all of these questions with effective feedback and continuous self-assessment.
As you grow, learn, and evolve, remember the most important attribute of great negotiators (and happy people) is that they know themselves. Do you know yourself?
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