Les exercices d'introspection de Brian Tracy

The secret to coming to possess a personality of the most functional and fully integrated, that is to say the fundamental factors underlining self-confidence, is for you to better know who you really are and what you really want to get out of life. It will sometimes happen that after learning to know you better, you will discover great possibilities in life that you may never have noticed before. Start with the self-revelation process. Determining which forces will be most useful to you in the future, you will begin a research process aimed at exploring all the different areas in which it may be that you have hidden talents. A certain form of self-revelation consists of filling out a series of questionnaires and submitting to a battery of tests, in order to examine the dimensions of your personality and skills that you may be unaware of. Invest in yourself. For many years, I myself consulted an industrial psychologist who gave me a battery of tests intended to make me discover my strengths and weaknesses. The results of these tests influenced a large part of my adult life by revealing to me the areas in which I naturally had talent and skills. They also confirmed the weaknesses of my personality and the areas in which I did not succeed very well and for which I had little interest. These tests, like the disk method, can do just as much for you. They can reveal a lot about you. They will tell you what you like, what you like to do, and what kind of work will satisfy you the most. They will reveal your true values and your main motivators, as well as the sectors of activity in which you will thrive the best. Their results can save you years of hard work to occupy the wrong position. If you have the time and the money you need, you should commit yourself to an excellent exercise likely to influence considerably the rest of your career, a detailed process of counseling in personality and professional orientation. If you are short on time or money, know that there are many books in the library filled with personal evaluation tests. You can take these tests yourself and they will give you a very accurate feedback. There are also many companies that have created entire batteries of personal evaluation tools that each of which can help you discover your strengths and weaknesses in particular areas. Self-analysis and self-revelation There is also a series of self-analysis and self-revelation exercises that you can do by yourself using a simple pen and sheet of paper. In many cases, these exercises can open your eyes and help you see possibilities that may surprise you. The first of these exercises is to become aware that you have already accomplished a lot of things and assumed many roles in life. From childhood, you have learned to do a remarkable variety of tasks. You have thus acquired an extraordinary number of skills and talents over time, of which you hold a large number simply for acquisition. One day, several years ago, I applied for a role as an actor in a film. On the job application form, the following question appeared. What skills do you have that would be likely to make you particularly useful as an actor in various scenes of the film? I was given a list of about 200 different things that a person could be called on to do in a film. My task was to check all the activities I had experienced in the past. By taking note of the list, I still remember being amazed at the impressive number of things I had learned to do without even having to think about it. They ranged from a variety of sports, to the driving of a large number of vehicles, to horseback riding, to holding a baby in my arms, to washing the dishes, to climbing a ladder, to rope jumping, to swimming, to diving, to jumping, to rolling on the ground, and so on. It is possible that, if so many people have so little confidence in themselves, it is because they have never taken the time to make a list of all the talents and all the abilities they actually have. Make a list of all your skills and all your current abilities. The first exercise to do is to put in writing everything you do frequently. Mention all the roles you assume, from getting out of bed to going to bed. If you practice sports, or you exercise with various equipment, specify them. If you are a parent, a cook, a diver, a driver, a person who does shopping, a reader, an author, a worker who accumulates functions, a buyer, a seller, a negotiator, a teacher, a manager, a dactylographer, a standardist, or anything else that comes to mind, write it down. Make your list as exhaustive as possible. Remember your day, minute by minute, and hour by hour, but note everything you do in a day, month, and year. Once you have finished this list, you will be surprised to see how many skills you have acquired and use frequently. List your roles and activities. The second part of this self-analysis and self-revelation exercise is to create a new list on which you will start to list the various things you do according to the category to which each belongs. You could give one of these categories the title of parental role. Under this heading, mention all the things you do as a parent that are part of your parental role. As a wife or husband, write down everything you do as a wife or husband and that you might not do if you were not married. If you are a manager or a sales professional or if you occupy any other position, write down everything you do in the exercise of your functions throughout the day. You could give the title of friend to one of your categories and write down under this heading all the things you do as a friend. Call people, visit people, write letters, hang out with people, go out to eat at a restaurant, meet people after work, and so on. If you practice sports, give this title to another of your categories and mention under this heading all the physical activities you are dedicated to. If you are interested in reading, write down all the topics you read frequently about. Set priorities for your roles. Once you have finished listing all your roles and all your activities, the last step of this exercise will be to set priorities in each category. Which activity category counts the most for you? Which activity category comes second in your priorities? If you are sent to live on a deserted island for an indefinite period and you could only give yourself to two or three of these activities, which would you choose? Once you have set a priority order for your categories, you will be able to create a very clear picture of who you are and what you value most in life. You could then ask yourself the following questions. 1. What should I do in each of these areas to get the most satisfaction and pleasure possible? 2. What should I do more frequently or less often? 3. What should I start with or what should I withdraw from? 4. What matters most and what matters least in each category? 5. If I had to choose between the various things I do, what would I base my choice on? You will be surprised to see the kind of answer that will begin to come to mind. In my experience, you will be surprised first of all by the categories that will appear at the top of your list, as well as those that will be revealed without much interest to you and some of which will still be of great interest to you. To really get to know yourself, you have to take the time to analyze yourself on paper. Ask to get feedback. A second exercise that is very useful to learn more about yourself and that has marked a turning point in the lives of many people is to ask someone you are close to what they think you should do with your life. Ask someone you trust what they think are your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your vulnerabilities. What advice would you give to someone who cares about you about the kind of work you should do and the talents you should cultivate? Even people who don't know you very well will often be able to reveal things about themselves and your possibilities, being extremely reliable and even likely to concern areas that you would never have thought of. One day, I was driving my car to a meeting some distance from the city. On the way, I had the opportunity to discuss with the associate who was accompanying me what I had to do at the next stage of my career. I was seriously considering becoming a lecturer and eventually creating audio recordings. Suddenly, I turned to him and asked him the most sincerely in the world, if I had to change careers, in your opinion, what would work for me? An important remark. My associate stayed there to think for a moment then turned to me and said, Brian, I think you would be a very good lecturer, trainer and seminar presenter. You do a lot of reading and research and you seem to like sharing your ideas with others. The best use of your time would therefore consist of communicating your ideas to listeners. Until then, I had rarely spoken in public and I had never given seminars before. I will not say that this incident marked a turning point in my life, but it gave me what I lacked in insurance to make the decision to become a lecturer and professional trainer. This associate, a simple knowledge, could see it clearly in me. Today, I address more than 250,000 people a year, everywhere in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. I gave lectures on all the Caribbean islands and Mexico. So I had to make the right decision. Determine what motivates you. A third self-analysis exercise involves putting the work of Mr. David McLelland of Harvard to practice to assess the areas in which you have the most potential. McLelland developed a method aimed at interviewing people in order to discover what type of job they would excel in. He came to the conclusion that people belong to one of three major categories. One can generally say whether a person will suit a particular job or not by discovering in which of these three categories it belongs. This interview method, which you can apply, consists of asking the candidate detailed questions about the remarkable experiences or moments of his past that he is particularly proud of. Categories have been established according to the analysis of what motivates a person the most. What kind of activity pleases a person the most and what has succeeded him the most in his private or professional life? There are basically three motivational profiles and each person corresponds to one of them, as is also your case. The Productive Profile The first type of motivation corresponds to performance. The Productive takes the most satisfaction from accomplishing something that is almost exclusively an individual activity. The person who likes to climb a mountain, attend classes, participate in a race or overcome any obstacle in order to achieve victory by himself would be classified among the Productive. There are specific strengths that the Productive possess and specific jobs in which they excel in principle. One of these would be in the field of sales. Since sales are an individual activity, the people who succeed the most are those to whom individual activities and achievements please the most. The Leader Profile The second type of motivation corresponds to power. The person very focused on power is the one who likes to make others do things. In this context, power means being able to influence and coordinate people's activities in the time necessary to accomplish a complex task. The coach of a sports team or the manager who really likes what he does at work is the one who motivates this kind of power or influence the most. The Affiliation Profile The third type of motivation is called affiliation. The person motivated by affiliation likes to work in harmony with others within a team. She likes to provide support to others as much as to obtain support from others. She likes to collaborate with other people to pursue a common goal and to see this goal come true. Questions to ask When you submit yourself to this test, ask yourself 1. What do I like to do above all? 2. What have I done in the past that has given me the most self-esteem and personal pride? 3. What have been the most exciting experiences of my life? No matter what seems to have satisfied you the most, it is a good indication of what your strengths are. It is possible that your strengths are entirely hidden, but by asking yourself these questions and by looking at reality in front of you, you will begin to discover them. However, when you notice a potential strength in yourself and you begin to affirm it in order to use it, it is then that you really begin to flourish. Dear listeners, we hope you enjoyed this book. 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