Know yourself: Take the first step to becoming a global changemaker

Global changemaking begins at the individual level. Knowing who you are, where your strengths lie, and what your natural proclivities may be, are all important steps for your path towards becoming a changemaker.

Understanding your strengths can help you determine your change

Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and character traits can put you in a position to optimize your goals. More importantly, pinpointing the areas where your passions align with your aptitudes can make for a more efficient and enjoyable changemaking process.

For example, if you are strong in creativity and have a passion for the environment, it may be most effective to map your goals from the bottom up, first considering broad ideas over technically specific ones.

Knowing yourself will help you optimize your education path

Understanding yourself can also help you to optimize your pre-changemaking path. Some schools, including our own EF Academy campuses, offer calibrated education programs where students can focus and tailor their paths towards what interests them the most.

EF Academy Oxford student Julia, for instance, knew she wasn’t ready to specialize her high school studies. When faced with the choice of whether to pursue the British A-Level program or IB Diploma, she chose the IB because it allowed her to continue taking a wide range of courses. “It has impacted my whole outlook on life,” she said. “At EF Academy, you can really choose the path you want and you’re encouraged to think outside of the box. The possibilities are limitless if you are determined and work hard.”

Furthermore, knowing your personal strengths and weaknesses can help you to identify areas to focus on for improvement, as well as areas which you can consistently rely on for results in your changemaking pursuit.

Things to think about

There are several ways to reconnect with your ideal path. The easiest way is to take a moment to consider: what ideas consistently excite you? Do you have a passion for activism? Perhaps you are fascinated by storytelling, space exploration, professional sports– usually, one can answer this question immediately.

The same simple method can be enacted when considering your strengths and weaknesses– simply take some time to think about what you are consistently good at and what you struggle with. Are you bad at planning? Perhaps you are great with people– make sure not to limit this reflection to material ventures like sports or grades. I recommend writing your ideas down for clarity.

Beyond this initial phase of questioning, it can be surprisingly helpful to think back to your childhood– what were you passionate about and where did your strengths lie? Before children are introduced to societal pressures directing them towards certain careers and interests, kids can actually be very in touch with their own natural proclivities.

Take a free online personality test

One of the easiest and most certain ways to learn about yourself is through a free online personality test. The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, for example, will define you as one of 16 personalities through a short quiz.

After taking this online test, you will be guided through the typical attributes of your personality type. Each personality type description contains a section that identifies general strengths and weaknesses, along with more sections discussing areas like relationships and career paths.

Consider your attributes when designing your path, harness your strengths to pursue a passion, and optimize your changemaking process.

Understand yourself to become a changemaker.