{"id":20463,"date":"2023-09-25T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diariodiunconsulente.it\/?p=20463"},"modified":"2023-09-25T12:50:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T10:50:09","slug":"working-on-yourself-as-a-means-to-professional-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diariodiunconsulente.it\/en\/2023\/09\/25\/working-on-yourself-as-a-means-to-professional-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Working on yourself as a means to professional success"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Luca Giorgetti<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Personal growth, self-help, and working on yourself<\/b> are terms that we are now used to hearing almost everywhere. However, considering how varied the offer can be, it\u2019s easy to end up with vague and imprecise definitions, which don\u2019t help us understand what it is actually all about and how they can be tangibly useful to us in our personal <\/b>and professional life<\/b>. In this article, we will try to better \u201cunderstand\u201d what working on yourself<\/b> means and how it is linked to what happens externally<\/span><\/span>, i.e., to the \u201csuccess\u201d <\/b>that we achieve in our profession<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, before setting out on this short journey, we should make a premise on what \u201cunderstanding\u201d <\/b>means. \u201cCapire\u201d <\/b>(to understand, in Italian) comes from the Latin verb \u201ccapere\u201d, which means \u201cto grasp\u201d. This also sounds like another Latin word, \u201ccaput\u201d, that means \u201chead\u201d. So, when we say, \u201cI understand\u201d, this might be true for only a third of our body.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo by\u00a0Toa Heftiba<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

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What is clear to the <\/i>mind <\/i><\/b>might not have reached our emotional side (the <\/i>heart<\/i><\/b>) and the <\/i>body<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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In short, when we are faced with new information and we say, \u201cI understand\u201d, we should ask ourselves whether we have really understood or whether we have simply grasped the concept rationally.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, deep understanding is much broader and involves all three cores of a human being: mind, heart<\/strong><\/a>, and body<\/span>. This is an important premise that anyone who starts a journey of personal growth <\/b>should bear in mind and that we will take for granted when exploring the multi-faceted world of working on yourself<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Before you work on yourself, you need to know yourself<\/span><\/h2>\n

To start having a more precise idea of what working on yourself <\/b>really means, let\u2019s borrow a physics formula<\/b> that defines work:<\/span><\/p>\n

W = F x s<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

where:<\/span><\/p>\n

(W) Work = (F) Force x (s) Displacement<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, work is the result of applying a force and of the displacement caused by that force.<\/span><\/p>\n

In layman\u2019s terms, if I apply a force with my hand to lift a bottle, and I succeed in lifting it, I am carrying out work. This is because not only have I applied a force, but there has also been a displacement (the bottle was lifted). In this case, \u201cW\u201d has a positive value.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, if I apply a force and I can\u2019t lift the bottle, I\u2019m not carrying out any work because the exerted force doesn\u2019t result in a displacement (the bottle is still there). In this case, \u201cW\u201d has a value of zero.<\/span><\/p>\n

When this concerns the physical world, it\u2019s relatively simple to acknowledge whether there has or has not been a displacement: either the bottle was lifted, or it wasn\u2019t. However, when we try to adopt this analogy to describe ourselves, things change.
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There are those who describe their life as an endless series of efforts <\/b>without reaching the satisfaction <\/b>of achieving change<\/b>. By applying the formula, we acknowledge that only efforts that result in displacement are truly meaningful<\/b><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Making an effort without gaining any result can become a form of torture that might persuade us to give up on our resolutions.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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<\/svg><\/span> EXERCISE 1
\n<\/b><\/span>Reflect on this question: \u201cWhat internal change or deep displacements have characterised my life lately?\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n

Channelling your strengths<\/span><\/h2>\n

Something that we have overlooked until now is the useful question: Where should I direct <\/b>the force I want to apply?<\/span> Going back to the example of the bottle, if we apply our force upwards, we will have the chance to generate work by displacing it, but if we applied the force towards the table, the bottle wouldn\u2019t move at all, with the inevitable result of not generating any work.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Therefore, we need to know how to channel our efforts to achieve results.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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So, how can I know what direction to take? We have reached a core issue: before you work on yourself<\/b>, you need to know yourself<\/span><\/span>. Without knowing yourself and your goals<\/a>,<\/strong> both achievements <\/b>and failures will be purely accidental.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span> EXERCISE 2
\n<\/b><\/span>Spend 5 minutes writing down the answers that come to your mind when you ask yourself these questions: \u201cWhat new personal aspects have I discovered over the last year?\u201d and \u201cWhich purposes and goals am I setting for myself in this period of my life?\u201d. Only by knowing yourself, you will manage to channel your efforts consistently.<\/i><\/p>\n

Working on yourself and professionality<\/span><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s look at how working on ourselves can be relevant in our profession. We can generally say that any profession requires you to make ordinary efforts<\/b>, the ones we need in order to carry out our daily tasks. If we look closely, most professional activities that we carry out are reactions to external stimuli, so we can say that we are being subjected to work rather than doing work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If we change this perspective, we can instead find outlets to determine which fields we can focus our efforts on and work on ourselves<\/b>. This way, we can recognise whether our efforts have helped us achieve results.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"prospettiva\"<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span> EXERCISE 3
\n<\/b><\/span>Here are some questions, divided by topic, that will help you <\/i>work on yourself <\/i><\/b>in the world of business, allowing you to accurately assess your progress.<\/i><\/p>\n