You are the chef of your own cuisine.

“The more you know, the more you can create. There’s no end to imagination in the kitchen.” – Julia Child

Myself and Ndiafhi, my inspiring colleague, just finished a conversation around the topic of “Which utensil are you?”. What Cias? A utensil? I know this sounds crazy, but please don’t stop reading now. You might think, “How does this connect to personal mastery?” Let us continue thinking together on this topic.

There are many utensils in a kitchen. If you are a chef, or you love cooking, then you know there are specific attributes and strengths for each utensil. You can try to use a butter knife to cut a medium grilled steak, but it will probably not be efficient for the one doing the cutting.  And it will definitely not be sustainable for the knife. If you use a steak knife instead, it will be effortless and produce the needed results. You can use a sauce spoon for pouring the delicious sauce unto your steak. But try and use a fork to pour the sauce, it will not work, even worse will be a Pizza cutter.

The reality is, that each utensil is made for a specific purpose. Only when the utensil and the chef understand the intrinsic dynamics, does creativity start to flourish. Imagine a well-crafted fish knife lying in the cupboard. If that knife is never used, then it will start to deteriorate. Both the knife and the person loving fish, will have frustrating experiences of eating fish.

Both the kitchen and utensils can be a metaphor for our lives. The kitchen being our lives. The utensils, our strengths. The more we understand our unique attributes, the more we can create and imagine. Each one of us are made with specific strengths. Each one of us have specific personality traits. There are things that come effortlessly and other things that we know, are just not what we are made for. Personal Mastery needs constant self-awareness. The more we know of ourselves the more we can create the cuisine that fits for us. We learn about ourselves through introspection, exploration and feedback from others.

I love the “Johari Window” explanation. There are 4 blocks in this window, see diagram below. The first block is the “Public” block. This is what you and others know of yourself. This is common knowledge. The second block is the “Private” block. This is what you know of yourselves that others do not know. The third block is the “Blindspots” block. This is what others know of you that you do not know of yourself. Blindspots does not only mean negative weaknesses, as society would like us to believe. It also refers to the good things that others see in you that you do not know or acknowledge as strengths. The fourth block is the “Unknown – Hidden Potential” block. This is an explorative space because you and others do not know what can happen. It is a creative space.

Growing in self-awareness means bringing the Private, Blindspots and Hidden Potential blocks into the Public block. Here are specific aspects that can help you to grow in self-awareness:

1. Personality Traits. Understanding your personality strengths and possible irritations will help you to build the bridge between yourself and others. Here we use the Persolog Personality Profile. You can contact our office for more information.
2. Intrinsic Skills. Research by Arthur Miller shows that each person has between 7 and 10 Motivating Abilities. These are abilities that involve fun, an inner drive to go and do it. No one has to force you, you gladly choose to do it. Using Motivating Abilities fills you with motivation which is needed to also tackle the not-so-fun aspects of life and work. You can order the skills assessment from our office to learn more about your skills.
3. Behaviors and Habits. Our actions have an effect on us and others. When we understand the consequences, both positive and negative, the better we can learn to adjust our habits to be healthier and more effective.
4. Words and Communication. Our words are the same as our actions. We need to know how others understand our communication rather than us just communicating. As George Bernard Shaw says: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”. Communication is 93% non-verbal and only 7% verbal. It is therefore good to know how others perceive your body language, facial expressions, etc.

The incredible result of growing in self-awareness and personal mastery is growth in Personal Resilience.  As the quote of Julia Child encourages us, the more you know, the more you can create. We wish you all the best as you take courage to know yourself better, in order for you to create more.

This blog was written by Cias Ferreira.

Here are other assessments that can help you as you grow in self-awareness. You can contact our office for more information if you would like to complete a specific assessment or grow in your self-awareness.

1. Leadership Assessment.
2. Resilience Assessment.
3. Power Assessment.
4. Mastery Assessment.