Self-assessment and Positivity

Full confession, I'm the person who suggested this topic because I recently did a talk for the, it was a showcase for the National Speakers Association Arizona branch, and the title of my talk was What's Right With You? And when I think about self-assessment, the first thing that people typically go to is they want to fix what's wrong with them.

And If there is a hole in your boat, like it was very helpful for me to find out that I had ADHD.

However, ADHD, like getting that treated, definitely kept bad things from happening to me.

And it helped me to a certain degree.

But if you really want to change your life when you're doing that assessment, spend as much time as you do fixing what's wrong with you and look at what is right with you.

Find the stuff that you're really good at because people are so quick to discount what what comes naturally to them that they don't even value their natural talents.

They don't even see them as a value at all.

Like, you know, fish don't realize they're great swimmers, but they are.

So, uh, so when I, the first thing that comes to my mind these days, when we talk about self-assessment, self-assessment and positivity is figure out what really works for you and what you're really good at.

I'm, I'm excited.

You know, when you first, um, pitched this topic idea right away I was excited because one uh I love a self-assessment like give me some kind of test or not a test but some sort of assessment or evaluation that I can do to like figure myself out even more I'm I am all there for it so talking about this I was pretty excited about it and I feel like similar to you and having the um the recent talk with the Speakers Association, I've been doing these presentations on emotional intelligence.

And there's a section where we talk so much about that self awareness being really important and offer, you know, suggestions for self assessment, objective self assessment.

And I just feel like right now that this is a really, I think it can be a really helpful topic.

For me, I'm going into my birthday year, my birthday is coming up.

And that's usually kind of like what I consider the start of a new year.

It's when I kind of, I do some reflection, which is different than self-assessment, and kind of think about, okay, where do I want to go next? And I feel like this year, one of the things I think I need to sit down and really look at is, just as you said, do that assessment and really look at, okay, what are my strengths? Where are my weaknesses? And this going into this next year, what is it that I really feel like, not just that I want to work on, because that also has a connotation as in there's something wrong with me, right? But it is that feeling of, okay, so I do kind of the self-assessment and evaluation of myself.

And what is it that I want to lean into, like, which strengths do I really want to, what do I want to work on? Or, oh, I see, I said it again.

What strengths am I hoping to really allow myself to bring forward? Because I think that as I get older, and certainly over these last couple of years, as we talk more about leaning into your strengths and really putting a lot of focus and energy there and what you can get out of that, I think one of the first things I have to do is admit that I have strengths and get really comfortable with just saying like, Oh no, I, I enjoy, you know, I really enjoy bringing people together, whether it's working on projects in gatherings, whatever I like, really just really enjoy bringing people together.

And that's because, you know, that sense of connection and collaboration is just one of the, strengths that I have.

And so being able to honestly tie it to that and not just be like, no, I just like this and like, whatever, that sort of self-deprecating piece, I feel like I'm looking forward to in this new year coming up, seeing how I can lean even more into, yeah, what I do well and my gifts.

Absolutely.

I always remember it's not a powerful movie by any means, but I guess it's an older movie to some people, but Pretty Woman.

Julia Roberts' character is laying next to Richard Gere's character, and there's a line where she says, the hard stuff is easier to believe.

The bad stuff is easier to believe.

And I've always said that compliments can feel very vague, but people's insults can be amazingly and just... gut-wrenchingly specific, you know? And so, And there's a vested interest that we have in a lot of times, like by all means, if you have some sort of substance abuse problem or a disability that you need to unlock, if there's some health issues that are absolutely, you know, assess those things, get your blood work done, go into the doctor.