Without doubt, the greatest advance you can make in your Personal Development program is to Know Thyself, identify your strengths and weaknesses.

In what areas of your life are you supremely confident (but not arrogant or prideful)?  In what areas of your life are you insecure or lacking confidence?  Knowing your strengths and weaknesses provides valuable insights with respect to where to most effectively focus your efforts in your Personal Development program.

In Napoleon Hill’s companion books, “Think and Grow Rich” and “Law of Success“, he has provided us with an idealized list of the most desirable character traits of the most successful people of his time as the foundation for his Personal Philosophy of Success.  The reason the books, particularly “Think and Grow Rich“, remain bestsellers is that the information they contain is just as pertinent today as it was when initially published.

Undesirable character traits can be identified and eliminated through conscious effort over time. It will be difficult, however, the first step to resolving an undesirable character trait is to identify it in the first place. Similarly, to manifest or strengthen desirable character traits in your life, you must first identify those traits desired. Easy enough to say, but how to you undertake such change?

Napoleon Hill’s Character Categories

In his books, Napoleon Hill discusses a diverse suite of character traits identified in his examination and study of many of America’s most successful business men and women, entrepreneurs, inventors, politicians and so on. Having identified these traits, he then incorporated them into his “Philosophy of Success” (or Achievement). The Character Traits he identified are as follows:

Personal Practice - specific to an individual

1. Specialized Knowledge - (Think and Grow Rich (TGR) - Ch. 5)
2. Organized Planning - (TGR - Ch. 7)
3. Habit of Doing More Than Paid For - (Law of Success (LoS - Ch. 9)
4. Habit of Saving - (LoS - Ch. 4)
5. Mental Programming - (TGR - Ch. 4)
6. Goal Setting - (LoS - Ch. 2)

Practice involving “Others”

Master Mind Principle - (TGR - Ch. 10, LoS - Ch. 1)

Character Traits

Those that pertain to “Self”

1. Faith - (TGR - Ch. 2, 3)
2. Persistence - (TGR - Ch. 9)
3. Imagination - (TGR - Ch. 6, LoS - Ch. 6)
4. Self-Confidence - (LoS - Ch. 3)
5. Enthusiasm - (LoS - Ch. 7)
6. Self-Control - (LoS - Ch.
7. Accurate Thought - (LoS - Ch. 11)
8. Concentration - (LoS - Ch. 12)
9. Decision / Decisiveness - (TGR - Ch.
10. Failure / Defeat - (LoS - Ch. 14)
11. Mystery of Sex Transmutation - (TGR - Ch. 11, LoS - Ch. 10)
12. The Golden Rule - (LoS - Ch. 16)

Those that pertain to your interaction with others

1. Pleasing Personality - (LoS - Ch. 11)
2. Co-operation - (LoS - Ch. 13)
3. Tolerance - (LoS - Ch. 15)
4. Initiative and Leadership - (LoS - Ch. 5)

Identifying our Strengths and Weaknesses

This is the most difficult aspect of a Personal Development Program as you are, by definition, biased.  If you are familiar with Napoleon Hill’s Master Mind Principle and have a group set up, you might try to engage your Master Mind Group in a program of identifying each others strengths and weaknesses.  Be forewarned, however, that such a proposed program would present considerable challenges as you would be entering a highly emotionally charged arena.

Another valuable resource would be to survey your immediate circle of family and friends.  Again, be forewarned, there will be a high degree of trust involved here in that your family and friends must be confident they can provide the comments and insights critical to your evaluation without any backlash.  Again, receiving commentary with regard to your weaknesses is never comfortable and you, in turn, must trust the people from whom you seek comments.

There are also a number of on-line and/or hard copy psychological surveys / evaluations you might try (for example, a DISC profile).  A local psychologist might be able to provide a quick assessment or direct you to other resources for these purposes.  Finally, you might resort to reading “Think and Grow Rich” and “The Law of Success” and undertaking a self-evaluation.

The Sum Total of your Thoughts

An important fact to remember and ponder is that you are the sum total of your thoughts.  Who you are and where you are today is the result of your thinking, which have developed into your core belief system, which governs how you react and respond to any given circumstance or situation.  If you wish to change the manner in which you react or respond, you will need to change your thought process, and possibly aspects of youor core belief system.

“Reality” is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.”

The Dancing Wu Li Masters

Resources
The following are possible resources for further reading and/or self-improvement.

Think and Grow Rich
Law of Success

Integrated Success Program - Self-Improvement Blogs

Integrated Success Program on Squidoo

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