It Takes One to Know One

Self knowledge is something that has people have obsessed over for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks believed that in order to understand humanity, one would have to understand himself first. Self knowledge is very important in order to improve as a human, because if you know what your weaknesses are, you will be able to fix them. If you don’t work to try to fix your weaknesses, you will never get any better as a person and you will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

I think my biggest weakness is my penchant for brevity. I feel that I often over simplify things and have trouble elaborating. Even though I might have an answer to an English essay that makes sense, I will only give the bare minimum required to get by. Even though this is a problem that I have had for a very long time, I have not tried to do much about it. I have tried to give more details for papers, which is the biggest complaint that my English teachers have had, but it never seems to be enough. Because I understand what I want to say, it feels like the person reading the paper will too and I do not feel the need to put in all of the details.

I feel that my greatest strength is my intelligence. I have been able to get out of many tricky situations using my intelligence that would have ended badly otherwise. I think that while I have other strengths, the one that has the most practical applications in my life has to be my intelligence. My intelligence is also my strength that I am the most proud of, because I have been able to rely on it and had to work less. While I know that I could be working harder and doing even better in school and on tests, I feel that since I can just rely on what I have and still do well, there is no need to do the extra work.

Reflecting on one’s own weaknesses and strengths is difficult because it involves realizing that no one is perfect. It is hard to think about your imperfections because it makes you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. Thinking about your strengths can also be tough because it is hard to do while remaining humble. Having to think about my strengths and weaknesses made me feel slightly uncomfortable because I do not like to think about myself all that often, especially thinking about myself in front of others. Even though I have had to do this recently in the form of an English assignment, it did not make it any less uncomfortable. Talking about yourself is always unpleasant because it forces you to deal with aspects of your character that you may not want to face.