How many of us know our true strengths and weaknesses? Are we aware that we have more strengths and weaknesses than we know of? Let’s dig deep.
There are some who only know of their strengths and are hesitant to learn about their weaknesses and then there are some who are convinced that they only have weaknesses and admire others for their strengths. In both of these cases, people lose out on some precious knowledge about themselves. Individuals who only focus on their strengths, lose out on improving their weaknesses and may hence sometimes be perceived as arrogant or narcissistic. Individuals who only focus on their weaknesses lose out on being confident in most crucial times of their lives and also experience a dip in their self esteem, which in turn causes an inferiority complex. There are only handful of people who objectively look at their strengths and weaknesses. This set of people learn to improve on their weaknesses and also try to amp up their strengths. These individuals have pushed themselves to overcome their ego issues and are more open to the idea of knowing themselves in depth. Perhaps to reach self actualization.
So, how can we achieve self-actualization? Is it even achievable?
Yes it is. However, it is not simple but not impossible as well. We just need to tweak our thinking and perceiving methods to learn about ourselves. However, it is most difficult when our self-perception is biased. Over the years and through our experiences we are programmed to look at our self with just one set of lens, when it is essential to look at it from all sorts of lenses. So how do we broaden our perception? Perhaps, social perception could come to our rescue.
What is Social Perception
Social perception is how people perceive us. The people who know about you see you as a whole picture and not just a part of you. Mind you, they also see a lot of traits in you that you miss out to see (also referred to as our blind spot). Reason being simple, everybody is different hence everybody wears different lenses. Imagine if you could get feedback about yourself from all these people in your life. It would be pretty amazing and easy for all of us to know about our true positives and negatives. Therefore, social perception could help us to gain confidence on our positives and improve or control our negatives.
The question which arises is, how do we get this social perspective from people. Rather, how do we gather how people perceive us. To answer this question, a team of geniuses have come up with an amazing app called WeSay.
WeSay – the app!
WeSay is everything that we read till now and more. It helps an individual to learn about one’s own personality. WeSay helps you to connect with people who mark those traits for you which they see in you. WeSay does two jobs in one: you would learn about how people perceive you and also, your perception broadens. It’s a win-win situation. However, I understand that people would be more skeptical about this than amazed. Because, believe me, I was.
Let’s learn about it through a scenario; if somebody at work appreciates me for my kind behavior, immediately I start to think if that person really meant it or is simply saying that for just to flatter me for some favor later on. So I do not take that compliment/comment seriously. And, if I am a person who has less self-esteem because I ignore my strengths then it is a direct hit on my confidence. Now for another instance, imagine on WeSay few people give me a trait of kindness then as an individual who rarely believes in having any strengths at all, I will slowly start to acknowledge and see for myself that there are some strengths in me too. Because it is not just a person but few known people trying to tell me that I am something that I am not aware of. Gradually my self- esteem would increase and hence my confidence too. Now you see this app helps us know about ourselves and also drives us to explore more about oneself.
Acknowledgement of one’s own qualities is essential. Especially in this era of social media, where everybody is sharing just a part of their lives and not focusing much on their downsides, at least publicly. This conveys to others that other people seem to have happier lives than one self. Many get affected by the lifestyle of others and begin to concentrate on only negatives in lives or things that are lacking in their lives, rather than having a wholesome approach to their lives. We need to appreciate ourselves first and then also extend the appreciation to the significant others. Being mindful, helps.
Being a student of psychology and having learnt all of this myself I see WeSay as a step in the direction of attaining the ultimate goal of Self actualization. I understand this might sound too difficult or might have overwhelmed you. However, if you’re considering taking the journey within, or introspecting to continuously better yourself, then there is no better start than WeSay. Even if you have never thought of introspection then at least be the one who would help other souls understand their strengths and weaknesses
I’m excited to see this app coming out soon. Do you relate to the statements I made above. If yes, do register and show your interest to the makers of WeSay.