In today’s personal development article, we are talking about your personality….
Where does “personality” come from and how can you get to know it better? Answering these questions is important because understanding why you do what you do will give you more control. Once you have control, you are free to choose to replace any destructive behaviours and bad habits with constructive behaviours and good habits. In time, this will lead to a happier and healthier existence.
One fascinating method for understanding personality development was presented by Dilts and Epstein and requires examining a person via six “logical levels”. The six levels are:
- Mission and Purpose: What’s your mission and purpose in life? What are you on this planet for? What is your contribution to the world going to be? Where are you going in your life and who are you effecting?
- Identity: This is the self-esteem level and your own sense of self…. How you interpret events is also included in identity.
- Beliefs and Values: What do you believe is possible or impossible? What is necessary in your life or unnecessary? For example do you believe in God? Do your values help you or hinder you?
- Capabilities and Skills: These are your internal behaviours and life skills for dealing with what life throws at you and how you deal with these.
- Behaviours: Your daily actions around everything – people, food, alcohol and what people see, when you engaged in daily activities of life.
- Environment: This is your surroundings, the way you interact with it and respond to this on a daily basis.
As a fun exercise, why not explore each level to get to know more about yourself? As ever, we urge you not to just read the words… Instead, really take your time and think about the levels and how they relate to you.
Remember, if this is your first time with this type of self-examination, be honest and reward that honesty without passing self-judgment. It is meant to be a fun exercise, by which the levels will offer a structure to an otherwise pretty daunting task. After all, you are a complicated being!
Take a look at each one and discover which ones affect your life… Simply ask, answer and observe.
Rick Parcell
Strategic Intervention Coach