Nobody Knows You Better

There’s one thing that you are the world’s foremost expert on: you.

You have an intricate and intimate understanding of what makes you tick—your habits, triggers, strengths, and weaknesses. You know what motivates you, what distracts you, and when you perform at your best—or worst.

This expert knowledge is easy to overlook, but when it comes to improving, it’s a powerful advantage that can work in your favor. You just have to be intentional about using it.

Self-Knowledge Is Your Edge

When we want to learn new skills, we often turn to experts for advice or information, as we should. But they won’t be there with you when it’s time to execute and implement change.

Experts can provide direction, but it’s up to you to translate it into action that works in your life. Your self-knowledge is your competitive advantage.

More often than not, lack of information isn’t what holds us back—it’s our inability to effectively convert information into action.

We have to become our greatest strategic partner in order to get it done.

You Are the Expert

If you want to improve your diet, a nutritionist can tell you what to eat, but they can’t tell you how to make those changes work for you. They don’t know when and why you tend to give into cravings, or what fears are preventing you from eating certain foods.

Do you eat junk food when stressed? When bored? Late at night? Do intense cravings hit at 9pm once you retire to the couch?

That’s expert level knowledge—about you.

A nutrition expert might suggest “meal prep on Sundays,” which works great for some people. But if you know that Sundays are your favorite day to rest and decompress, and that you relish doing nothing on Sunday afternoons—that plan won’t work for you.

However, if you get off work on Monday afternoons at 3pm and always have some extra early week energy, maybe that’s the best prep time for you. Or maybe you enjoy daily food prep because it breaks up your day, and you just need to decide what you’ll prep ahead of time.

Is that the best plan for you? Only you can answer that, since you’re the expert.

Study the Film

We underestimate what an advantage self-knowledge is.

In sports, teams spend hours studying game film to identify patterns—strengths to defend against and weaknesses to exploit. They know that insight gives them an edge.

When it comes to your inner playbook, you’ve already got the edge. You know when you’re at greatest risk of “choking” and when you should be the one with the ball. You’ve got the film from every previous game. You just need to study it and develop a game plan.

Make A Game Plan

How can you put your self-knowledge to use? What strengths can you leverage? What weaknesses do you need to defend against?

Example 1:

Maybe you thrive at work because you perform well under tight deadlines. That’s a strength.

Can you create artificial deadlines for health goals? Can you use an accountability partner or reward yourself in ways you know will motivate you?

Example 2:

Maybe you know you struggle to manage social pressures. That’s a weakness.

Do the same social pressures trip you up when it comes to meeting health goals? Can you prepare scripts for situations you know are coming, or develop a mantra or breathing exercise to use when you feel yourself wavering?

Now go one step further. Beyond strengths and weaknesses, what other skills or quirks can you account for? How can you use them to your advantage?

Use What You Have

You’ll never have perfect information. You’ll never have ideal circumstances. But you do have something no expert, coach, or guide has: intimate knowledge of how you operate.

That knowledge is your edge. Lean on it. Use it any way you can.

Stack the deck in your favor. Use every trick play in the book.

It’s okay to cheat on this test—you’re the only one who already has most of the answers.

As always, thanks for reading. I’m truly happy you’re here.

All the best,

Nate