Self Exploration
You'll be surprised at how little people understand about themselves. You can get to know yourself and stay engaged in your professional pursuits, or even external groups, when you focus on three main points of honest self-reflection:
- Your core interests - Core interests reflect how you engage with the world. For instance, you may have a core interest in quantitative analysis if you spend your free time tracking the statistics of all your favorite teams.
- Your values - These are the rewards that motivate you most on the job (i.e. financial reward, social mission).
- Your strongest skills. - Try taking a skill inventory; although I must caveat that what you're good at may not be what you want to do.
- feedback from colleagues and
- formal assessments - I highly recommend using a personality test to assess your personality traits. I, myself, have used the well-known Myers-Briggs test but there is also a very good source called 16 Personalities. I even felt compelled to buy my premium profile because the premium results provide you with a road map and guidance customized for your personality type, in all areas of life, beyond your career.