How well do you know yourself? Almost certainly less well than you think!

Most of us think we know ourselves pretty well.  We know what we like to do, what we're good at and how we prefer to do things.

But do you know how strong your interest in music is compared to your love of the outdoors?  Or are you aware that the way you tend to relate to other people is different from the way you would prefer them to relate to you?  Or that you often feel stressed because your underlying need for structure is invisible to other people?

And if you don't know yourself that well, then how can you even begin to understand other people?  How can you deduce what motivates them, why they behave as they do or what they need from their environment if they don't know it themselves?

These are the kind of answers that you can get from the Birkman Method behavioural assessment. Since becoming Birkman-certified 3 years ago I've never ceased to be amazed by the power of the insights into behaviour, motivation and stress that it provides. 

Every week I see clients who have made bad career decisions because they didn't know themselves as well as they thought. They generally arrive feeling unhappy and tense, but the moment I explain a key part of their Birkman profile they light up and relax as they realise for the first time why they've been struggling.  It wasn't because they weren't trying hard enough or weren't good enough.  It was because they were unsuited in fundamental ways to what they were doing.

Birkman consultants refer to this as the 'ah-ha' moment.  It's the moment when the client realises the source of their difficulty and stops blaming themself for their unhappiness or lack of career success.  And it's the turning point in the coaching process.  Once you've understood and accepted why things didn't work out, you can start feeling positive and focussing on what will work.

Whatever your reason for seeking coaching, Birkman will provide you with the self-knowledge and self-belief that you need to find a solution to your problem. 

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author. All articles published on Life Coach Directory are reviewed by our editorial team.

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