Today we’re going to talk about the things that make YOU awesome!

Aww, yeah!!

So, in my other life I’m also a private equity accountant and one of the things we studied in business school was the Johari window. Basically, there are AWESOME qualities about you that are both known/unknown to yourself, and also known/unknown to others:

We’re mostly interested in Quadrant 2 – your strengths that are known to others but not known by you (yet!) There’s an easy way to find out what they are but it IS going to push you out of your comfort zone. You’ve been warned!

Today’s challenge is to go out and ask 3 people what your strengths are.

They can be friends, coworkers, family members, etc. Just 3 people who know you.

…

So, how are you feeling? I told you it was a daring exercise.

When our professor gave us this assignment in business school, the whole class started freaking out. You want me to go up to people I know and ask them to tell me my strengths? Isn’t that…weird??

Maybe. But most people aren’t ambitious like you and I.

You might hear some qualities about yourself from Quadrant 1 (i.e. the things you already knew about yourself). You’ll also learn some things you DIDN’T know about yourself! Here were my results after I asked around about my strengths:

• Disciplined, patient, able to explain things clearly (these I already knew)
• I also take a lot of initiative (I didn’t know this before!!)

Honestly it boosted my confidence A LOT to hear people tell me things I both knew and didn’t know about myself.

I already knew that I was a calm and patient person who could explain things clearly, but my friends surprised me by telling me stories of how I changed their lives by being that sort of person for them! That felt really good to hear.

What surprised me the most was having my coworkers tell me that I take a lot of initiative at work. This caught me off guard! I always thought I was average in that area, so hearing that changed the entire way I thought about myself!!

Give this exercise a try! Seriously, what better way to feel more confident than to have other people tell you how AWESOME you are??