USE your Friends

A lot of people cannot fathom can thought of USING another human being #Gasp!#

Friends make life a little sweeter... and easier!

And yes I have the audacity to still call them friends... because they are

Let me reiterate. "Utilize your friends’ strength and weakness" in order to have a better standing in life... and less dirt on your hands.

Don’t feel guilty

They are also doing it to you except your judgement is clouded by love and affection . When you have to be their sounding board whilst they vent about work/relationships or how much weight they have gained. Or when you have to assist in prepping for their kid’s birthday party. Or even pick up the tab for that friend who is always low on cash. You are being willingly used... and it’s ok.

Now it’s your turn.

When I was growing up I was never bullied – not once. Not because I was a junior Mike Tyson, but because I had junior Evander Holyfield as a friend. As I got older I realised there are certain things I do not have to do when I can get someone else to do them for me.

In the workplace, you find those bold people who are always looking out for the little person – become their friend. They will come in very handy when you are passively fighting for recognition and arguing your own case would be a career limiting move.

What’s the point?

Do not waste your time and energy on things that someone else can willingly do for you.Also, there are certain lessons in life, you do not have to personally experience in order to learn from. You do not have to have crabs in order to learn about sexually transmitted disease. We all have those friends who just cannot seem to get it together – keep them around for life lessons but be careful not to let them drag you down with you. 

Know Yourself

We sometimes hear of a person going on a journey of "self discovery" whilst others would assume: No one knows you better than you know yourself. So how does it work when others know you better than you know yourself?... Its not that complicated

Humans are creatures of comfort, we believe what we knew back in kindergarten will be the same in high school and through to adulthood. We build on information we acquired years back without scrutiny. Also, we often associate what we know with who we are. In an interview we are often asked: "tell us about yourself" and more often than not, people tend to stumble and go off on a tangent about their achievements, goals and aspirations. We describe ourselves by our associations and roles in life - I am a mother of two, a Brand Manager, a rugby player.

But who are you?

Knowing yourself is the ability to accurately identify and understand your own strengths and improvement areas (previously referred to as weaknesses), so you can better understand their implications on your effectiveness in different areas of your life and take them into account to optimize your success rate.

So maybe you characterize yourself as "smart" but what does that really mean? Are you a person who is able to quickly grasp information? Are you able to link seemingly separate concepts into a fresh new model? or does "smart" refer to your ability to make good decision?
Plenty can be inferred from the word but what kind of smart are you?

Consult.

After some introspecting, online personality tests and diarising of thoughts. Engage people you trust to be honest with you, to get objective feedback on the different traits that make you unique. Note: I said TRUST. Your friends may love you to death but at this point you do not need sugarcoated or fluff information

Getting to know You.