Discernment
(Lesson 2)
Context:
In this lesson, we’ll explore one more benefit of developing discernment, and review two ways to become more discerning.
The Benefits of Developing Discernment
3. Purpose and Alignment
By understanding motives and values, you connect your personal purpose to your work, increasing engagement and fulfillment. Employees who work with a sense of meaning bring greater motivation, reliability, and long-term commitment to their roles.
Many people move through work or school without a clear sense of why they’re doing what they do.
Discernment helps you look deeper—to recognize what truly matters and motivates you, how your values connect to your goals, and, most importantly, the kind of person you want to become while reaching your goals.
That awareness—of the type of person you want to be—shapes your choices, your behavior, and the way your decisions impact others.
But it goes deeper than that.
High-performing people understand how their purpose aligns with their motives and goals.
You can often discern a person’s true character by examining their motives and goals—they reveal not just what someone wants, but why they want it.
Take a moment to think about your goals and motives. What do they reveal about you? About who you’re becoming?
Examples:
A person who seeks a leadership position to improve working conditions and support their team shows a motive rooted in purpose and service.
Another person may pursue the same role purely for status, control, or a higher paycheck—revealing motives centered on ego rather than impact.
A student who studies hard because they want to contribute to their community displays purposeful ambition, while one who does so only to outshine classmates may be driven more by competition than meaning.
When using discernment with others—or even with yourself—look closely at a person’s actions and motives, and especially at how their words and behavior impact others.
Developing Discernment
1. Look at the Context
Discernment means stepping back to understand the whole picture before forming an opinion. That includes what led up to a situation, the emotions involved, and a person’s past actions or experiences.
In both work and life, it’s easy to react to what’s right in front of you—a mistake, a tense conversation, or an outcome that feels unfair. Our brains are wired to make quick judgments to save time and energy, but those snap reactions can blur the truth.
Identify patterns, pressures, and histories that may not be visible at first glance.
People and events rarely exist in isolation.
Excercise
Context doesn’t excuse poor behavior, but it helps explain it—and that understanding can guide a wiser, fairer response.
In the picture above, a team lead is meeting with a team member who has been late the past week and hasn’t completed all her assignments recently.
If you were the team lead, what questions would you ask to better discern the situation before taking action?
Developing Discernment
2. Separate Conviction from Context
Strong convictions give direction and purpose, but without discernment, they can harden into judgment. Your convictions may come from deeply held beliefs, your culture, or past experiences—all of which shape how you see the world.
It’s important to hold firm to your values while still considering the circumstances that shape someone’s actions. You can disagree without condemning, and correct without shaming.
With empathy, discernment allows you to create space to see things from another perspective—theirs.
This aspect of discernment will be invaluable in building and maintaining relationships—both on the job and in life.
Metacognitive Assignment
How are you doing with your metacognitive task this week? Were you able to identify anyone in your life that you may have misjudged? Did you need to use discernment with any of your friends to better understand who they really are—or why they acted the way they initially did?
Also, take notice of how easy or difficult it is for you to see things from someone else’s point of view, especially when you completely disagree.
Thought of the day.
Don’t believe everything you think.