Self-awareness as a superpower, mastering yourself, and untethering who you are not
James Gray
Data and AI Leader | Builder | Consulting and Fractional Expert | Data and AI Strategy Instructor @ Berkeley Haas | ex-Microsoft Data Scientist | Accelerating innovation through data and AI
Welcome to Graymatter, a weekly newsletter that shares ideas and strategies for unlocking career potential and business value through data and AI.
The Graymatter newsletter is also available on Substack.
🧠 Graymatter
“You collect memories and experiences that shape your identity as you go through life. This can feel like baggage that slows you down or prevents you from becoming the person you wish to become. To pursue your best work and operate at your true potential, know what you need to leave behind to make room for the new life you envision. Failure to act and clinging to the things that no longer serve you will leave you in the status quo of life.”
- Know What You Need to Leave Behind
“Your resume must tell the story of who you are, your achievements, and transferrable skills without much explanation. Craft your resume bullets with WHAT you delivered or achieved, HOW you did that through skills, tools, and techniques, the IMPACT from your work, and WHY this work is important.”
“The most important relationship we have is with ourselves. In the hustle and bustle of life, losing our identity over time and becoming disconnected from what is most important is easy. We become a mystery to ourselves unless we make time to reflect on the reality of our lives. Connect with yourself each day to navigate and stay on course to the next destination of your journey. You are your best coach.”
- Connect with Yourself: Self-awareness is a Superpower
📚 Book Nuggets
“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
- Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown
“We must master ourselves unless we’d prefer to be mastered by someone or something else.”
- Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday
“Remember: weak character will neutralize all of the other possible good qualities a person might possess. People of real strength are as rare as gold, and if you find them, you should respond as if you had discovered a treasure.”
- The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene
“Freedom is the most natural thing in the world - it is, in fact, our birthright. The problem is that we obscure this simple truth with our mind, emotions, and preferences. The Untethered Soul takes us on a journey in which we directly experience the innate truths within us. We discover who we are by letting go of who we are not.”
- The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
🤖 Tech to Unlock Your Potential
Notion is a game-changer for managing important information and maximizing your productivity. I have been using Notion for almost two years, and it’s how I manage three lines of business and my personal life.
Notion is the canvas I use all day instead of context-switching across various documents, apps, and journals. The mobile and iPad apps are fantastic. Notion has a free plan that will get you going and paid plans for more functionality. I highly recommend Notion to anyone who must improve their organization and execution skills.
🌎 Inner Quest Cohort Course
“Feeling that we are called to accomplish something is the most positive way for us to supply this sense of purpose and direction. It is a religious-like quest for each of us. The quest should not be seen as selfish or antisocial. It is in fact connected to something larger than our individual lives.”
Unlocking your career potential and aligning your vision with what you want from your life starts from within. I have distilled this internal discovery process into a continuous framework of three simple ideas:
Vision - WHY you do what you do
Discipline - HOW you do what you do
Autonomy - WHAT you do and get in return
If you are seeking to accelerate your career direction or take it to the next level, join me as your guide. I will show you "how" to put these three ideas into practice. We will take a four-week quest together in a small cohort to explore these three concepts. One seat remains before we push off into the wilderness on Thursday, May 30th.
Purchase your one-way ticket to unlock your potential.
♻️ Thanks for reading Graymatter and sharing it with your network.
- James