Clarity comes from Engagement

We all have something special to offer the world. The beauty of our life is that we all have a gift within us that is uniquely ours. It would be a shame for us to never share that gift.

Recently I was asked a question that required some introspection on my part. The question was, “If you could have one super power, what would it be?” If I could have one superpower it would be to provide people with the ability to know who they are when they are being their most authentic self.

This is something that eludes many of us. We tend to go through life just drifting from one stage to the next.

It’s really easy to take life as it comes. To stay in your lane and never really go after anything that seems out of your league or beyond your perceived level of competency. For me it was about doing what was comfortable and only putting my effort in activities where I knew I could excel. The problem with this mindset is that it gave me little room for growth. There is nothing wrong with focusing on your strengths but not doing something because it’s difficult or because of fear of failure doesn’t allow any room for growth. For all of us, growth begins at the end of our comfort zone.

Time and time again I’ve heard people say that everyone should follow their passions. One popular quote is that, “If you do what you are passionate about, you’ll never work a day in your life.” In theory, ths idea sounds great on paper, but how does one know what they are really passionate about?

What really helped me to gain clarity was engaging with my close friends. I recently met with several of my friends one on one and asked each of them one simple question, Why are we friends? Most of them gave me really generic answers like “because you’re fun”, “ we have a lot in common”, “our relationship is easy”. All of these comments are fine but they’re not really saying much. There wasn’t anything unique about these anwers relative to me. The reasons they gave me can be used to describe any friend.

I then asked my friends to be more specific. Asking a question like, “Yeah, but why me?” I listened closely for them to describe how I make them feel. You see, how you make others feel says a lot about who you are authentically.

I took notes during each of my discussion and really searched for common themes from the each person. It was important to learn how I consistently showed up in the lives of each of my friends. I needed to learn what type of impact I was consistently making in each of their lives.

My discussions revealed that I made them feel valued. They felt that they were important to me and that I always made an effort to make sure that they felt included. They also said that I gave them inspiration and clarity by offering new perspectives in a non-biased way.

These discussions really gave me a lot of clarity on who I am and gave me a lot of clarity on my passions and the impact I am making in the world. It made clearer to me my motivation and what really drives me each day.

It’s been said so many times that we can’t succeed in this life alone. Engaging with my close friends really helped me to find my purpose to discover my authentic self.

I am truly grateful to my friends for helping me in this pivotal part of my journey. I encourage everyone to engage with their close friends as well. My hope is that engagement will help you find clarity and that you live your life as your most authentic self.

Peace and Love,

Rob