 Greek philosopher and polymath, Aristotel once said, knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Self-awareness is an essential part of life because the more you know about yourself, the more the tendency to become successful. In this video, I will share with you nine things you need to know about yourself to be successful. 1. What are your strengths? Your strengths are not limited to your physical ability. Strengths are things that come naturally to you, physically, mentally, and in any form. For example, the ability to network with people and build strong teams, or to be able to think of quick solutions in a tense environment is strength. Understanding your strengths keeps you ahead in a lot of things. For instance, if you are looking at career options, you will be able to narrow down specific job scopes based on the items you know you are good at. It also helps you to invest more in personal development. Knowing what you can excel at gives you confidence, which enables you to aim higher and achieve much more. 2. What are your weaknesses? Success in life does not only come from being aware of your strengths, you also ought to know your weaknesses. Weaknesses are areas of your life that you cannot correctly handle. It can be as subtle as not being able to say no, or as direct as being a control freak. Knowing your weaknesses is as important as knowing your strengths. These weaknesses that you often try to leave aside can limit you from chasing after your dreams and achieving many great things in your life. Even though you try to make everyone else believe that you don't have flaws, be careful not to lie to yourself that you are perfect. Knowing your weaknesses gives you a clearer understanding of things that may be holding you back, so you can work around finding ways not to let those weaknesses pull you behind. The good thing about weaknesses is that you can improve on them if you can discover and accept them. 3. What drives you? Do you know how it feels to work on a project that does not excite you? Carrying out a task without having a drive is draining. Chances are you may not be able to complete the job, and even if you do with the help of other people, there will be no sense of fulfillment or satisfaction. Your passion will invigorate you and give life to the things you choose to do. It is what gets you up in the morning and allows you to do what you love. Determining what's driving you forward and what you're busting the gut for will help you set more achievable and meaningful goals. Whereas misinterpreting your motivating factors means that you'll fail to progress. If you want to be successful in life, it is needful for you to answer questions such as where does my passion lie? How can I start getting into doing what I love? 4. What makes you happy? If someone asks you the question, what makes you happy? How would you answer it? Do you know a list of things you can do to pull yourself out of a rut? Things you can do to brighten your day when you're not feeling overwhelmed? Often, we go through our days without actually consciously thinking about our happiness. We'll fail to notice the moments in our days that make us happy. We assume the satisfaction is the big end goal that we are always working our way towards. But the truth is that getting our desired results is much dependent on the mood we are in when we carry our tasks. What makes you happy may be something as simple as a walk on the beach, a freshly brewed pot of tea or being with people you love. If you must reach the peak of your aspirations, you must find out the things that make you happy and apply them along the way. Then and only then will you be fulfilled. 5. Your stressors and healers A lot of individuals do not even know that there is a term called stressors. Whatever can trigger stress or strain you or make you tensed is a stressor. Yes, nobody likes to pass through stress. Its effects are always adverse. Although stress is normal in life, too much of it leads to both physical and mental problems. Thus, it is paramount for you to know what activities stress you and try your best to abstain from them. Apart from your stressors, one thing you should know as well are your healers. Healers are also termed stress responses. These are things that can help reduce stress. Knowing how you respond to stress can help you identify highly stressful situations. Create healthier stress coping habits and help you keep calm and cope better with unavoidable stressful situations. 6. Family medical history Out of personal experience, American self-help author asserted we are what our genetics say we are. A family medical history is a record of health information about a person and his or her close relatives. You can investigate your family's medical history by talking to relatives, beginning with those closest to you, such as your parents, children and brothers and sisters. Although a family medical history shows information about the risks of specific health concerns, having relatives with a medical condition does not mean that an individual will develop that condition. But then, a person with no family history or a disorder may still be at risk of developing that disorder. Even though knowing one's family medical history is vital and allows a person to take steps to reduce his or her risks, it guides you in making changes that will benefit your long-term health. 7. Know your life's purpose An anonymous quote says if you don't know where you are going, you can end up anywhere. Having a goal makes it impossible to exist merely. When you have a definite reason for living or why behind every action, your passions and talents will drive you towards a happy, fulfilling destination. Create a compelling vision and practice daily to see beyond your struggles. Use positive thinking to help you stay on track and take action so you can see your vision come to life. Day by day, you create your future. Make one that you love, one where you can look back and be proud of your story. In the words of a Russian novelist, philosopher and journalist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive but in finding something to live for. 8. Your love language Everyone speaks different languages to communicate love. Unfortunately, many individuals are oblivious towards understanding the love language they speak. Love language is a term used to describe the way people speak and understand emotional love. Marriage counselor Gary Chapman developed the concept of love languages. Chapman stated that there are five primary love languages in numerous variations. The languages mentioned by Chapman are acts of service, physical touch, quality time, receiving gifts and words of affirmation. Knowing your primary emotional language helps you identify your needs in a relationship and also puts some sense around why partners misinterpreed one another's intentions. 9. Your short-term goal Having a long-term life purpose is not enough. You should know the steps you need to achieve your life's purpose. If you don't have any goals in life, other people will create them for you. It's not enough to know your purpose. You must take the necessary steps to make them a reality. Setting and achieving your sub-goals gives you the motivation needed to reach your long-term vision. There is a need for you to go back to the drawing board to review your already known purpose so that you can know what your short-term goals are at any given time. We should be the ones that know ourselves the best but often it seems like our loved ones know us more than we do. Self-reflection and self-discovery are a huge part of personal development that everyone ought to partake in.