3 Simple Steps to Launch Your Self-Discovery Journey

Jordan Tarver
December 7, 2021
Self-discovery

Self-discovery is not a journey to discover someone new, it’s a journey to break down the barriers within yourself to discover your deepest truths. As you begin to invest time in learning about yourself, you’ll turn over new leaves that reveal your most authentic self—the person you deserve to be. Starting your journey of self-discovery can help satisfy your cravings for clarity and a sense of direction.

After putting in years of effort to discover myself on my journey of self-discovery, I’ve identified three areas of life you can focus on to give yourself the best opportunity to find yourself. These are also known as the three pillars of self-discovery—awareness, comfort zones, and intentional living—which is a unique framework I developed and teach in my book, You Deserve This Sh!t, and this article.

If you’re tired of running around life without a sense of direction and crave finding the path you’re supposed to be on, get a copy of my book or download chapter one for free below.

What Is Self-discovery?

Self-discovery is a process of understanding your own character and becoming aware of your abilities, potential, and motives. If you discover yourself, you’re able to tap into your passions, decipher your life’s purpose—the reason you get up in the morning—and live aligned with your core values. Ultimately, discovering who you are and what you want to do allows you to unlock the best version of yourself.

Without discovering yourself—understanding your purpose, passions, potential, and motives—you’ll never achieve something better than what you have now. You’ll choose to live a life inundated by unconsciousness and the pain that comes along with it.

Self-Discovery Toolkit

These are the self-discovery tools you’ll need to support your journey of self-discovery and becoming the best version of yourself. Click “LEARN MORE” to be redirected to an article about each specific topic, or continue reading for a complete overview of self-discovery.

At the bottom, you’ll also find a list of related self-discovery articles.

Awareness

Learn how to cultivate awareness and self-awareness in your life.

Learn More >>>

Comfort Zones

Learn how to get outside your comfort zone and why it’s important.

Learn More>>>

Intentional Living

Learn how to live intentionally and how it will change your life.

Learn More>>>

Finding Yourself

Learn an easy process you can use to find yourself and step into your power.

Learn More >>>

Awareness

Learn how to cultivate awareness and self-awareness in your life.

Learn More >>>

Comfort Zones

Learn how to get outside your comfort zone.

Learn More >>>

Intentional Living

Learn how to live intentionally and how it will change your life.

Learn More >>>

Finding Yourself

Learn an easy process you can use to find yourself.

Learn More >>>

How to Discover Yourself In 3 Steps

One purpose of this article is to teach you the three pillars of self-discovery—awareness, comfort zones, and intentional living—you’ll need these tools for your journey of self-discovery. Learning about these pillars and this self-discovery process will help you discover who you are and aid you in becoming the best version of yourself. When you discover who you are, you’ll be set free of taking the wrong paths in life.

1. Cultivate Awareness

The first step in discovering yourself is cultivating awareness.

Awareness is the ability to recognize what’s happening internally and externally. It will allow you to understand your character, feelings, and what inspires you. When you have that awareness, you’ll discover more about yourself and your identity will come to the surface.

If you want to discover yourself or re-invent who you are, you need to become wildly aware. You’ll begin to realize and accept the things that move you physically, emotionally, and mentally, which will lead you to your most authentic self.

Nothing can change without awareness.

Tips to Cultivate Awareness

Start to journal. Journaling gives you access to the author’s chair of your own life—a seat that lets you learn more about yourself and bring your true identity to the surface. Instead of journaling about the things you did, journal about how the things you did made you feel. This will let you tap into a reservoir of endless self-discovery.
Look for the small things in life. Practicing mindfulness—the practice of being aware of something—is crucial when mastering your awareness. As you begin to take note of all the small things in life, you’ll begin to open a new door to your awareness and find ways to improve certain areas of your life. Sometimes those seemingly insignificant things can teach you a great deal about yourself.
Ask yourself honest (and hard) questions. The right questions are ones that hurt to ask and also hurt to answer. Begin to ask yourself questions about aspects of life like happiness, stress, grief, relationships, career, purpose, etc. This can help you learn more about yourself and become aware of areas of life you may be neglecting.
Adapt to your surroundings. As you increase your awareness, take notice of when life is encouraging you make changes and adapt with them. Resisting change makes you stay stagnant and closes you off from new potential opportunities. However, when we let go and adapt to our surroundings, we can go to unimaginable places.
Practice meditation. Similar to journaling, meditation is another way to look inward and learn more about yourself. Quieting your minds can lead you to profound realizations about yourself. If you’re new to meditation, start small (five to 10 minutes) and look for guided meditations on YouTube or meditation apps like Headspace and Calm.

2. Get Outside Your Comfort Zone

As humans, it’s in our own nature to want to live within safety—our comfort zones; we choose comfort over discomfort. Your comfort zone is a behavioral space where you can easily minimize stress, risk, and failure. While it provides mental security and you benefit from low anxiety and stress, it keeps you from your greatest potential.

Whether you believe it or not, achieving any goal—especially the goal of discovering yourself—will require you to put yourself in some sort of uncomfortable situation or position. Living outside your comfort zone will give you an opportunity to learn more about yourself, require you to grow, and flood your life with purpose.

True living exists in places of discomfort, and everything in life begins to flourish outside our comfort zones. That’s where the magic happens.

Tips to Become Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

Build trust with yourself. Because you may value safety, which makes it challenging to live outside your comfort zone, you must first build trust within yourself. Fill your mind with positive self-talk and try a new activity that interests you to build up your confidence. The more you try new activities that interest you, the easier you’ll find it to get outside your comfort zone.
Reject the normal. Grasp the understanding that you need to live the life that you want and not one others think you should live. This means following your heart even if other people don’t perceive it as “normal.” If you surround yourself with genuine people who support your journey, they will accept you for who you are.
Give yourself permission to be the beginner. Don’t get me wrong, being a beginner is never an easy situation. But you must realize that being a beginner is part of doing anything new, including trying new activities outside your comfort zone. Start to see it as an opportunity for infinite growth and possibility.
Embrace your curiosity. Curiosity is innate within all of us. However, it’s been taught to us since a young age. But you can reverse that. Embrace your inner child—your original or true self—and use your curiosity to your advantage to explore new areas of life outside your comfort zone.
Learn how to use failure to your advantage. Up until now, you’ve probably seen failure as one of the most uncomfortable challenges you’ll face. However, changing your mindset around it can help create a positive relationship. You can change your perspective with a quote from my book, You Deserve This Sh!t: “The more you fail, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the more you grow.”

3. Live Intentionally

Intentional living is putting purpose behind your choices and actions. When you live intentionally, you align with your core values, beliefs, and goals. This alignment sets you up to make decisions that naturally guide you to who you want to become; you’re constantly choosing to only do things that push you in that direction.

In other words, when you live intentionally, your choices and actions become selective. When your choices and actions are selective, you ensure they always support your journey of self-discovery and becoming the best version of yourself.

Tips to Live an Intentional Life

Form a routine. The easiest way to be in the driver seat of your day is to create a morning practice that gives you the keys. Morning routines can help improve your attitude, performance, and overall energy. Be sure to create a morning routine that works for your goals and schedule.
Embody positive thinking. Your thoughts are energy; they impact both your mind and actions. Become intentional with your thoughts because they are a powerful aspect to unlocking the maximum version of your character.
Consciously choose your lifestyle. Your choices dictate your life path. If you want to live a specific life, you must be intentional with your choices to ensure they help lead you in the direction you desire. For example, if you want to lead a positive life, it’s in your best interest to choose to surround yourself with positive people.
Aim to create good, intentional habits. We all have our personal goals, whether they relate to your journey of self-discovery or something else. However, to achieve these goals we must form habits—a system—that help do just that. Similar to choosing your lifestyle, you must choose habits that support arriving at your desired destination.
Dream big. Anytime you create a vision for yourself, remember that your life will be as big as your aspirations. Don’t be afraid to dream your wildest dreams; it’s these intentions that will help you realize and reach your highest potential.

Finding Yourself On Your Self-discovery Journey

Finding yourself helps you develop an acute awareness of your own life and values, live outside your comfort zone, and be intentional every day. There are seven principles of finding yourself:

Understand where you came from
Identify what fuels and depletes you
Be the person you want to be
Follow your interests
Work with your inner critic
Always seek a life of meaning
Step into your power

Understanding your path is one of the greatest feelings you can experience, and that’s what will happen when you begin to find yourself. It will allow you to align with what’s best for your soul and understand which steps you should take daily. Finding yourself and living in this alignment is key to experiencing a purposeful life. And as a JAMA Network Open study shows, having a purpose in life may decrease your chances of dying early.

The Truth About the Journey of Self-discovery

Now, I’m going to be honest because that’s what any good friend would do. The journey of self-discovery does not have an ending, meaning discovering who you are is an ongoing process. I’m not saying you’ll never discover your true self; however, there will always be more to learn and areas where you can dig deeper.

You will encounter different phases of your journey, and with each phase, you’ll start to understand yourself more. Your journey of self-discovery will become the healthiest addiction in your life. Embrace the self-discovery process because life becomes a whole lot more exciting when you’re uncovering new parts of your soul.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you embark on a journey of self-discovery?

The best time to start the self-discovery journey was yesterday, and the next best time is now. To embark on a journey of self-discovery:

Visualize your ideal self
Try new things
Discover your purpose and passions
Live outside your comfort zone
Identify your values
Journal about your experiences
Embrace your curiosity
Face your fears
Ask yourself hard questions
Make choices that support your journey of self-discovery

Why is self-discovery so important?

Self-discovery is important because it allows us to discover our purpose, passions, and the core values that guide us through life. The self-discovery process ultimately lets you unlock the best version of yourself and live a life in full alignment. If you don’t discover yourself, you risk living a life without a sense of direction.

What are examples of self-discovery?

Everyone’s self-discovery journey and experience are unique. However, we can use similar tactics to one another to gain a sense of direction. Here are common examples of self-discovery:

Using meditation to become aware of your values and beliefs
Journaling to understand your strengths and weaknesses
Spending time in isolation to sit with and understand your thoughts
Living outside your comfort zone to discover new passions
Going on a soul-searching adventure like a backpacking trip
Embracing your curiosity to discover new areas of life
Giving yourself the permission to be a beginner to try new things that interest you

Bottom Line

Self-discovery—discovering your true character—is an on-going process that begins by making a commitment to living the life you want to live. By using the three pillars of self-discovery—awareness, comfort zones, and intentional living—you can get unstuck, find your path, and become the best version of yourself.