What Does It Really Mean to ‘Know Yourself’?
We hear it everywhere: Know yourself.
It’s printed on journals, slipped into speeches, stitched onto throw pillows like it’s simple.
But here’s the truth: knowing yourself is not a moment of arrival.
It’s not a tidy statement of who you are.
It’s an ongoing practice — sometimes gentle, sometimes gritty — of turning toward yourself with honesty and care.
Self-awareness is not self-branding.
It’s not your job title.
It’s not just your StrengthsFinder results or your Enneagram number.
Those tools can be incredibly helpful — they give language, insight, and patterns to explore. (Type 3, 2 wing here– if you know, you know).
But they’re only powerful if we use them as mirrors, not definitions.
Knowing yourself isn’t about labeling who you are.
It’s about engaging who you are — with curiosity, compassion, and depth.
And it’s not just about naming what’s hard.
Knowing yourself also means honoring what’s beautiful, polished, and powerful. The parts of you that have been hard-won. The strengths that shine without apology. The clarity that comes from experience.
Because self-awareness without self-compassion just becomes another way to self-critique.
And we don’t do that here.
So what is it, then?
To know yourself is to build a deep, dynamic relationship with your inner world — one that evolves over time.
It means:
Understanding what has shaped you — your story, your identity, your lineage, your lived experiences
Naming what matters most — your values, your vision, your voice
Noticing your patterns — especially the ones that show up in tension or transition
Listening inward — not just performing outward
Owning your growth — the tender and the triumphant
It’s about wholeness.
Not perfection.
Not performance.
Wholeness.
Why it matters for leadership
When we don’t know ourselves, we lead from reaction — or worse, from replication.
We mimic what we’ve seen. We please. We protect. We produce.
But when we do the heartwork of self-awareness, we lead from a rooted place.
We know:
What fuels us — and what depletes us
When to move — and when to pause
What to say yes to — and what to release
How to lead from clarity instead of fear
And that kind of leadership?
It’s magnetic. It’s liberating. And it’s deeply aligned.
This is where the Cor journey begins.
Cor — Latin for heart — is the root of it all.
In the Cor Framework™, everything begins here: self-knowing.
Because purpose without self-awareness becomes performance.
Leadership without reflection becomes burnout.
And impact without intention can lose its integrity.
You don’t need all the answers to begin.
You just need the willingness to be with yourself — fully.
A few questions to begin with:
What do I want people to see in me — and what do I want to see in myself?
When do I feel most like me?
What truths have I grown into — even if they once scared me?
Where do I feel the tension between who I’ve been and who I’m becoming?
There’s no gold star for figuring it all out.
But there is power in paying attention.
There is courage in choosing to stay curious.
Knowing yourself isn’t the end goal. It’s the beginning.
From here, we build alignment.
From alignment, we build community.
From community, we build impact.
One honest, wholehearted step at a time.