“Know yourself before you can show yourself” – Mia Mends
An essential quality for all of us – in work, in life, in relationships – is self-awareness. This is the ability to monitor our own emotions and reactions. Being self-aware better equips us for anything that comes our way and can help us to build even more healthy skills and qualities.
It is especially important for those of us in a leadership role to cultivate self-awareness. What we do, what we say, how we behave – all these things impact other people. Do we want to go about blindly, not sure of how we are affecting others? Or do we want to be self-aware and harness our impact on others for good?
Building self-awareness is not a ‘one-and-done’ task. As people, we are constantly changing, growing and evolving, as is the world around us. Therefore, developing self-awareness is an ongoing process requiring time, commitment and regular reflection. Also practise – because learning about ourselves and looking inwards can be difficult at times.
Here’s 10 ways we can build our self-awareness:
1. Keep an open mind – be open to listening to others and learning new things
2. Learn your strengths & weaknesses – be proud of your talents, embrace your good qualities, be mindful the areas you’re still working on
3. Stay focused – it’s easy to be distracted from our pain points or truths we’d rather not face, but building self-awareness means staying focused and consciously exploring these areas
4. Set boundaries – part of being self-aware is knowing what you can and cannot handle. Set reasonable and realistic boundaries to take care of yourself and avoid burnout
5. Know your emotional triggers – what sets you off? What triggers your anxiety, fear, anger? Know your triggers so you can be alert when they happen and manage yourself accordingly
6. Embrace your intuition – mentors, therapists, family, friends – all can benefit us enormously but at the end of the day, you know yourself the best. So, when needed, trust your gut!
7. Practise self-discipline – self-awareness includes the ability to control ourselves – sticking to good habits, keeping our emotions in check when needed
8. Consider how your actions affect others – self-awareness is not just about ourselves. It’s also about others and developing empathy, kindness and patience
9. Apologise when necessary – we all make mistakes and we are all wrong sometimes. Being self-aware means being able to acknowledge our moments of fault and say “I’m sorry”
10. Ask for feedback – a self-aware person knows that there are things they don’t know – and they are willing to listen to others around them and take on board genuine feedback
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