How Do YOU Define Yourself

How you introduce yourself in a social setting tells you everything about yourself. Most people relate their identity with their profession, title they hold, place of birth, family name, or school they went to.

There is nothing wrong with it, but I feel this is not the right approach to having your identity.

Who I am needs deeper introspection and some of the techniques that can help in thinking through it are:

• What is my purpose

• What themes will help develop this purpose

Now let’s take an example of how one should go about defining the purpose and themes. I will take my example to elaborate on this.

My broad purpose is to help simplify things around me. A phrase that perhaps best describes it is, Thinking Simplicity. 

I help make life meaningful and simpler.

Themes to me are topics that I would build my purpose upon. I have decided to broadly focus on three themes

Physical - How do I keep myself in good shape

• Mental - How do I keep myself mentally active

• Spiritual - How do I have peace with myself

My profession, family (spouse, children, and others), passions that I follow, faith, obligations to society, and fellow beings are all part of it. The way I see these themes is, they consist of different topics. These topics are like any craft, which I need to develop and become the absolute best at. The only way you can become best at it; is by making it simple. Most people hide behind jargon whereas the beauty lies in simplicity. This is where I see the biggest challenge, as most are not ready to put in the time and effort, to become the best at their craft.

Richard Feynman has described a beautiful technique known as Feynman Technique in which there is a step ELI5 (Explain It To Me Like I'm 5). Feynman technique is a foundational mental model for learning. This step involves breaking down the complex concepts into simple terms that a five-year-old could understand. This is a critical step in the learning process because it helps you identify areas where you might be lacking in your understanding. If you can explain a topic in simple terms, you have a good grasp of the underlying concepts.

Now let’s look at one of the crafts and see how you need to be the best at it. If you want to become the best photographer, you need to know, not just about the camera, and types of photography but also have a clear insight into why you should choose one over another. A few examples from this craft

• if you are into portraits, what is the perfect kind of face you should be looking at

• if you are into products, what is the effect of shadows

• if you are into landscape, how to bring the parallax effect

• if you are into wildlife, should we be using mating calls

I will take another craft, which is fitness. Most people go to the gym, run marathons, do meditation, do exercises, or play sports without answering a few basic questions on why they are doing what they are doing. A few examples from fitness

• Why you are doing any fitness activity

• How to become good at it

• What is the muscle-mind connection

If you do not answer this question, it will never become a habit, and either you will quit in the next five years or you will not get the desired benefit out of this routine.

Many people respond to it by saying I am doing it as fun or a family activity. Treat this as any other activity like having dinner.

Don’t assume it will increase your fitness as it will not. If there is no purpose to it, the desired outcome will never be there.

I hope this article helps you in identifying your purpose and then mastering whatever you choose to do in each of your chosen themes.