Leadership Blog 2

            Thomas Merton writes, “There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him.” This quote is profound and deep when time is spent analyzing and considering its message. The more I think about this quote, the more I tend to agree with the message. As human beings, we have a deep desire to know our purpose and our reason for being. We have been created with this feeling that there is something far greater than we can comprehend; however we continue to search for it, many times subconsciously. God created us with the desire for a connection with Him, we were made in His image and we are His. This understanding validates Merton’s quote because as we learn more things about God and His mystery and wonder, we learn more about our purpose and ourselves. The same can be true when reversed. By learning more about myself on a deeper level, I learn more about my creator and His plan for my life.

            I feel that I do a pretty decent job being self-aware. There are several blind spots that I suspect are there, most likely as a result of my tendency to over analyze and complicate something that does not make a lot of difference in the grand scheme of things. I try to keep a great group of friends around that help serve as an accountability system for me. They are honest with me and know that I expect to be called out on things that need to be addressed. Many times I need people to tell me to chill-out and relax because I can over think things. A leader who does not have a high level of self-awareness can be hazardous to the entire team. Leaders are the people who are looked to when decisions need to be made. If a leader has a low level of self-awareness, they will not understand their natural tendencies and their bias can lead to bad decision-making.

             According to the free MBTI online assessment, I am an INFJ. I have previously taken a similar quiz with similar results; therefore this information does not come as a surprise to me because of its consistency.