Man know thyself! By Sanni Inuwa Baba

It was Socrates of Athens that once said “unexamined life is not worth living”. To believe in yourself, consistency of self-assertion is a recipe as well as courage and self-discipline. The recipes contain crucial ingredients that propel self-fulfillment, actualization and great happiness.

Firstly, an individual must be able to clearly define what constitute his/her personal values, set out his boundaries and ensure the sustainability of such standards. Our minds play critical roles in the definition and retention of our personal values. Like someone said “what the mind of man can believe and conceive, it can achieve” . To believe in yourself, you must literally be able to separate what you can do from what you can not do. Your values and beliefs must align with the reality.

Having defined values, their retention requires a determination and persistent adherence to moral principles that compliment the values. Prominent among them is integrity. This is having beliefs based on perfection, undivided and without fault. This guarantees all other characteristics one needs to develop. It takes integrity and sincerity of heart for a person to gradually identify his faults and capabilities, hence, actions become more of a norm to him and how to achieve a specific goal becomes clearer and easier.

However, in as much as a character would make it possible to achieve an aim, it’s not necessary that it may come easy and fast. What is important is that it must be consistent. By practice, it will in no time be effortless when it becomes part of your normal routine.

Another crucial thing to note about self-assessment and value definition for goal attainment, is to be conscious of discouragement. Most times, even after you define what you can do, there’s usually someone who might be very close to you that might give you a word or two of discouragement. They may remind you of someone who had failed in similar action. It might be genuinely out of love, a perceived protection or sometimes, out of mere envy or the fear that you would achieve something that they couldn’t. It is an important moment which you must have it at the back of your head that you are a person who is different from anyone, hence, you require no one’s approval but yourself. As the captain of your destiny.

A person who knows himself is most conscious and corrosive to believe absolutely in his ability while relying only on the help from God to strive in his pursuit. When you begin to believe in yourself, everything about you unconsciously changes, you will dress to feel good, you will surround yourself with those that inspire you, you will be more adventurous, less envy knowing that everyone has his different mission. Similarly, when one understands that not everything that is a competition makes it easier to connect and communicate with those around you.

In conclusion, the fear of failure should be totally eliminated having known yourself. Remember that no matter what happens after your action, you’ll either succeed or learn from experience.
Oh man, know thyself!