On my flight back to Hong Kong, I sat next to a 40-something year old woman who was dressed in business attire and somewhat flustered as I assume she rushed to get to the plane on time. I didn’t think anything of it.
After one movie and a meal was complete, she removed her bag from the overhead compartment and took out a book and a pen. When she put them on her tray table, I quickly glanced over and couldn’t help but smile because I had recently recommended the same book to a friend of mine. It was a book called, “What Color is Your Parachute?” – one of the best selling books for job hunters and career changers.
What is most interesting about this book is not the tips for finding a job, but rather the deep probing questions and written exercises that help the reader think carefully about what is most important to them. These exercises are a personal audit and are meant to help the reader to figure out the characteristics of a job or career that is best suited to them.
As an executive health coach, I often tell my customers to engage in a similar personal audit – something I call a self-assessment. Too often when trying to improve our health we jump into an activity immediately because it’s what we ‘assume’ is best. For example, signing up for a fitness club membership, following the latest fad diet, or taking a weekend retreat to Thailand. Unfortunately, many of these activities fail to address our long term needs.
If you take even just a few minutes to do a proper personal audit, then it will be relatively very simple to determine the activity that will address your need. In a recent blog post called “Why Annual Health Checks Are Insufficient,” I discuss the importance of daily self assessments as way to mitigate long term health concerns and the FCO Assessment as a tool to help you do so.