Achieving Goals by Improving Your Character (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Achieving Goals by Improving Your Character

[Dan.Linehan]

It's creepy how many of my answers are "quit my job."

[TheColonel]

Brilliant article. Very timely for me. I especially needed to look at things from a standpoint of 'resourcefulness.'

I'll bookmark that one.

[ÜberDan]

One part of my character I think is holding me back is privacy. I like having a certain degree of anonymity and feel uneasy with having a public profile. Maybe this is an insecurity, if everything I am and have is up for public scrutiny well erm.. there is no security?

To move forward and offer public services and business to the public this is something I'll need to work on and let go of.

[Jonathan]

Everything said in the article is very true, but sometimes I find it hard to judge my own personality. I've gone through Steve's "list of values" (linked in the above article), and sometimes I don't *know* whether I, for example, lack confidence or not. Obviously, I know whether I feel confident or not, but I don't know how this appears to other people - assertiveness is a particular one this relates to.

Can anyone suggest a way to find and define my own personality traits - I can't improve my characteristics unless I know what they are?

[alexb5784]

That article is perfect for where I am in life right now. I'm splitting my life between two very different countries, created my dream career and have improved my finances. However, when everything started changing, I began to experience some emotional problems. But that was just because I was still identifying myself with my old life and habits. But once I started making that shift, things became easier. The result? I'm enjoying my new life a whole lot more

[takkaria]

Interesting synchronicity for me, here -- I'd discovered this technique myself a couple of weeks ago and have already seen changes in myself because of it.

The article focuses more on what attributes you need to gain than perhaps those that you want to lose, but they're important too. Sometimes you might want to ask "What do I do in this situation that someone else wouldn't?" and that can provide a different kind of insight.

What I've been working on using this: I've been getting to grips with my sleeping patterns. I've never slept particularly well or had any motivation to go to bed at decent times, because I can function (just about) with not very much sleep. Every now and again, I'd decide to try and sort it out, but always I'd go to bed waay too late on one day and despair at myself and give up. Then I realised that people who have a natural thing of going to bed earlier wouldn't do that, so I have no need to. Days later, Steve posts this article...

[Greg Butler]

It takes a lot of integrity and self-honesty for someone face the fact that he/she is deficient in an aspect of character that is preventing success. For most people it is just too easy to blame the world, or karma, or bad luck.

This takes excuses out of the equation when not reaching a goal and forces the goal seeker into commitment and responsibility and a lot of soul searching and hard inner work.

Good post, Steve.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Greg Butler

It takes a lot of integrity and self-honesty for someone face the fact that he/she is deficient in an aspect of character that is preventing success. For most people it is just too easy to blame the world, or karma, or bad luck.

In some ways it's easier if you experience a character crash, since it forces you to take a hard look at yourself. At age 18 I was shoplifting almost daily without giving it any more thought than watching TV. It was just an activity. After being arrested for grand theft, I finally woke up and realized I needed to make some massive character changes. If I didn't make those changes, there's a good chance I'd be some kind of full-time criminal today... or in jail. When I look back on those dark times, I can see that it had to play out the way it did. I'd never have cared so much about traits like self-discipline or integrity if I hadn't experienced the lack of them to such a degree.