Know Thyself

Know Thyself

The age-old maxim “Know Thyself” stretches back to well before the Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates (400 BC). It captures the importance of self-understanding that is echoed throughout the centuries in the writings of likes of Alexander Pope, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and many others. Getting to know and understand yourself is a major developmental task of childhood and adolescence and it takes on even more importance during the transition to adulthood because it is the only solid basis for decision making about the future. It may sound obvious, but it is true: If you do not know yourself, you are more likely to make decisions that do not fit you, and you will regret these decisions in the long run. The better you understand yourself, the better basis you have for making smart decisions that fit you.

Young people (and their parents) who are panicked about deciding what to do after high school often protest, “I don’t know what to do!” and “How can I know what I want to do for the rest of my life?” What they are really saying is, “I don’t know myself well enough yet to make smart decisions about the future.” A big step in the right direction is to start working on understanding yourself. A key developmental task is to develop perspective so you can see yourself more accurately and objectively and insight into who you really are—your individuality, your interests, and your values, priorities, and goals. Of extreme importance for decision making about the future is to understand your own strengths and weaknesses and your deeper interests, priorities, and goals in life. For most people, these will be the only true basis for making life decisions.