Why Knowing Who You Don’t Want to Be Can Clarify Your Direction

In a recent LinkedIn post, Cruz Gamboa discusses how self-awareness and personal values can help people find a meaningful direction. This article examines Gamboa’s reflections in the post, which also introduces a new podcast, The Blind Spot.

“One of the biggest blind spots can be not knowing what you want, or who you want to become.”

Questioning inherited ideas of success

Gamboa suggests that uncertainty about personal goals can make it harder to distinguish an authentic ambition from an image of success absorbed from others. In the post, Gamboa proposes that the search for clarity can begin by identifying what a person does not want to become.

“Sometimes that clarity starts with recognizing who you don’t want to be.”

According to Gamboa, taking time to define personal values matters because curated portrayals of achievement may be mistaken for a meaningful destination. The post frames self-awareness as an active process: people can question the goals they have inherited or absorbed, then decide which ones reflect their own priorities.

Choosing a direction through self-awareness

Gamboa argues that a person cannot aim for an insight or outcome they have not yet recognized. That observation connects the post’s practical advice—examining values and questioning assumptions—to its broader point about direction. Rather than treating goal-setting as a matter of selecting the next visible marker of achievement, Gamboa encourages readers to consider where their targets came from.

“Self-awareness begins with questioning the targets we’ve inherited or absorbed, and choosing our own.”

Gamboa’s post does not prescribe a particular set of values or define what a meaningful life should look like. Instead, it emphasizes the reader’s role in examining and choosing personal aims. That leaves the central question open: what would a worthwhile direction look like if it were shaped by an individual’s own values?

A new podcast focused on leadership lessons

The post also announces Gamboa’s new show, The Blind Spot. Gamboa describes being energized and grateful for the opportunity to explore lessons on life, scaling and business with leaders featured on the podcast. The show’s title echoes the post’s focus on what people may not yet recognize about their aims or assumptions.

Together, Gamboa’s reflections and podcast announcement point to a shared theme: learning can begin by noticing what is missing from one’s view. In the post, that means looking closely at personal values and questioning borrowed definitions of success before choosing a direction.