Your uniqueness: Your ID

By Dr Tareq Rasheed,

International Consultant and Trainer

Self-awareness and discovery

We are born twice; at birth we are born with an identity (ID) issued to every new born baby, showing the name, date and place of birth, nationality and mother’s name.

In such an ID, we do not have any choice in any of its entries; this is a body ID.

But, the authentic birth ID starts with self-discovery and awareness, when you start to know your mind, heart and soul. Some may live without knowing about this second ID. They will live with a lack of awareness reflected as routine, no appreciation of self and, in some cases, depression and burn out.

Defining your uniqueness

To create your own unique ID, the following seven questions should be answered, if you wish to succeed in life. Once you can answer the seven questions about self-awareness, you will start your journey in life with trust, confidence and the ability to achieve and proceed — your ID is thus created.

1. What are the major skills that you master?

2. What is the talent that you were born with which represents your passion in life?

3. What are the major values that you believe in and are reflected in your decisions and attitude?

4. What are your major points of strength?

5. What are your major weaknesses that you should bridge in order to proceed in life?

6. What are the inner motivators and desires that energise you from within?

7. What are the true fears that may be an obstacle towards your progress in life?

To be able to answer these questions, think of the following pillars:

Skills are based on four building blocks: knowledge, practice, gaining and developing and professionalism.

You master the skill once you are professional in using this skill. For professionalism, make sure to get the professional certificates related to the field of industry you are working in.

There are four types of skills: technical, interpersonal or soft skills, languages and technology-related skills.

Talents represent competencies we are born with; analytical and mathematical, social, environmental, physical, geographical, emotional, linguistic and vocal or musical.

You can identify your talents by reviewing your competencies when you were a child. People who invest in their talents effectively, achieve a high level of performance. These persons are passionate and energetic — this is uniqueness.

Values represent principles you believe in, are reflected in your decisions and appear in your attitudes and behaviours. Decide on the most important values to you, like honesty, credibility, creativity, development, commitment, etc…

Strengths define the major strengths of your personality that will help you proceed in life in all your relations.

Weaknesses: Perfection is attributed only to God.

Define the major weaknesses that may be obstacles towards achieving your goals in life, and try harder to bridge them.

Desires and Motivators: Define all issues and things that make you highly motivated - are they money, achievements, or what?

Fears: Define things you fear that may threaten your success. Be reasonable in defining them, and set an action plan to face them.

Once you define all these terms, you can create your ID.

Define your goals and set an action plan that fulfils your dreams in life and use your ID as a passport to success.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine