The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-Awareness and Being Sensitive - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Being Sensitive

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A lot of people who are labeled sensitive go through life being mocked or belittled for having an extraordinary way of looking at the world. Being sensitive simply means that you have the self-awareness to be in touch with deeper feelings and are able to experience things more intensely and fully.

Being a sensitive person requires a lot of courage because you’ll likely feel things that others are afraid of, don’t want to deal with, or will never get close to experiencing. That’s what makes you unique and wonderful, the ability to examine yourself and the world around you and feel things that are important to anyone who wants to live with self-awareness.

As a highly sensitive person, I feel things in my heart; literally like a flooding sensation in my chest. I’m tuned into what others are thinking and feeling even when they aren’t. There have been times in my life when I was told to squelch these feelings and it made me feel horrible about myself. Luckily, as I kept building my self-awareness, I realized that I could actually be myself and make a career of it, which allowed me to live a meaningful, happy life.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and be a sensitive person?

Cheers,

Guy

Using Self-Awareness to Improve Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Using Self-Awareness to Improve Relationships

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You can use self-awareness to improve your relationships starting today because, when you understand how your emotions, thoughts, and actions affect your interactions with others, you’re better able to connect with them positively and understand where they’re coming from.

It’s easy to focus exclusively on our own perspective in relationships. We tend to think of our relationship issues in terms we are familiar with and this often means we keep repeating the same patterns and acting the same way we always have. This works well if we get great results but what happens if our behaviors always lead to less than satisfactory relationships.

We all know people who lack self-awareness and never quite resolve their differences with others, and we watch them repeat the same pattern over and over. I’ve noticed that it is helpful to let in some new information and get a fresh perspective. When we let new information in it’s like opening a window in a stuffy room, we can breathe better and think more clearly. Think about some of the following ideas next time you feel stuck in your relationship.

1. Who can I turn to that is not involved in my situation and can give me impartial advice?
2. Am I willing to let an outside person offer me advice?
3. How open am I to talking about personal issues with an outside person?
4. How open am I to doing the work necessary to move in a different direction?
5. What actions will I commit to doing?

Think about these questions and keep in mind that none of us has all the answers but we all have the ability to improve our self-awareness and acquire new information if we are open enough. Let some air in, enjoy a fresh perspective and start moving in a new direction. What will you do to increase your self-awareness so you can improve your relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

How to Achieve Goals and Increase Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How to Achieve Goals and Increase Self-Awareness

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Here are some practical tips to achieve goals and increase self-awareness:

  • Pick one issue you want to work on. Define it as specifically and narrowly as possible.
  • Keep your goal manageable. For example: “I will write one chapter of my book,” “I’m going to work on 50 books.” This sets you up for success instead of feeling disappointed because you took on too much at once.
  • Monitor your progress and celebrate as you go along. When you accomplish one task, congratulate yourself and reflect on the great work you did.
  • Keep taking small steps even when you don’t feel like it. You will feel at times that nothing positive is happening. Keep pushing through those thoughts by continuing to take action.

An important part of self-awareness is to keep things manageable and work little by little. It’s the small steps that eventually lead to big results.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Compassion - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Compassion

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Self-awareness and compassion are interwoven because, when you understand how your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors affect you and others, you’re able to treat people well and build a better world. Here are some characteristics of compassion:

  • Consciousness of another person’s distress and the desire to help them.
  • The ability to understand when someone else is suffering, hurt, struggling, or feeling down.
  • The desire to help others without any need to be rewarded.
  • The ability to step outside your immediate needs and tend to someone else’s.
  • Consciousness that all kinds of people fall on hard times or have difficulties and need help.
  • Helping people without judging them.

A big part of self-awareness is strengthening your ability to see beyond your own horizons and feel compassion for others; which means that you’ve become comfortable and healthy enough as a person that you can feel other people’s pain and try to help them with it.

A world without compassion is one where nobody helps anyone and everyone just worries about their own desires and needs. As you increase your self-awareness you will find that your compassion increases and you’re better able to tend to others because you’re healthier. What will you do to increase your self-awareness and practice compassion?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness, Team Building, and Workplace Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness, Team Building, and Workplace Relationships

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If you’re a leader who possesses self-awareness, then you know how important team building and promoting positive workplace relationships are to creating a healthy, high-functioning organization.

The leaders and employees I consult with frequently talk to me about not feeling like they connect with certain people in the workplace. It’s almost as if they lack self-awareness and expect the other person to behave a certain way or read their mind. This is a very common experience in workplace relationships: One person expects a certain kind of interaction while the other seems oblivious. This dynamic leads to a lot of frustrated people and poorly functioning teams.

The difficulty arises when people hold on to their expectations even when they see repeated evidence that they will never get what  they want. They hang on to their hopes for a long time waiting for something to magically change. Their expectations can easily become an obstacle to building positive workplace relationships because they expect things to go a certain way rather than working on improving their own self-awareness and dealing with what’s actually happening.

No amount of hope can change the course of your work relationships and you can’t wish your way out of a negative situation. The only way you can introduce positive energy into your relationships is by having the self-awareness to do things that change the patterns you’ve established.

Changing the way you do things is the only way to affect your situation. No amount of hope or expectations can take the place of being self-aware and applying effective behaviors such as excellent communication, team building or problem solving skills. The great news is that you can do things to change the course of your work relationships, it just requires some courage and taking action to move in a different direction.

What will you do to use self-awareness to promote team building and positive workplace relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Facilitates Team Building and Reduces Conflict in the Workplace - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Facilitates Team Building and Reduces Conflict in the Workplace

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Conflict in the workplace can be painful and sap your energy. My clients who lack self-awareness often ask me what to do about a employee who they can’t get along with or people who are in constant conflict. It can be tricky to deal with workplace conflict because most organizations don’t have strategies beyond reprimands and other punishments.

Our workplaces are often places where we give people a free pass to hurt each other because we lack the self-awareness to do anything else. We like to think we know how to deal with conflict but we end up enduring feuds that last years.

So how can you reduce conflict in your workplace and increase self-awareness? Here’s a couple of ideas to think about:

1. Develop a strategy to deal with conflict. Set up clear goals, expectations and parameters and ask for input from leadership and staff.

2. Inform everyone that this is the new way of doing things and train them to make sure everyone is on the same page.

3. Inform your workplace that you have resources in place to help people work things out.

4. Work with your leaders and employees to give them the skills to resolve their own conflicts.

5. Set the example and consistently behave in a way that reduces conflict.

6. Develop an ongoing conflict resolution training program and participate actively in it.

7. Expect resistance to your new ideas about conflict. Things will settle in once you train people and they get a chance to practice the new skills.

Healthy workplaces help their leaders and employees resolve their own conflicts in peaceful and lasting ways. As a leader, you set the example for how conflict is viewed and dealt with in your organization. You can start designing a conflict resolution program today that will help you create a workplace where people get along and aren’t at each other’s throats all the time.

What will you do to develop self-awareness, build stronger teams, and reduce conflict in your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and What You Put Out in the World - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and What You Put Out in the World

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Self-awareness affects what you put out toward others or in life in general because, when you understand your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, you’re able to spread positive energy in the world.

Think about what you feel, think, and do the next time you interact with people at work or in your personal life. How does the vibe you put out affect what you get back from people? For example, how do you feel when someone does the following?

  • Frowns.
  • Scowls.
  • Speaks in an aggressive tone of voice or shouts.
  • Doesn’t listen.
  • Doesn’t look at you.
  • Is angry or impatient.
  • Talks over you.
  • Rolls their eyes.
  • Always griping or negative.
  • Lacks self-awareness.

How would you react to a person acting like this? I bet you can think of
many other things that are not conducive to great communication or to
effective interpersonal relationships. It’s amazing how much the energy
we put out affect what we get back. On the other hand, think of how you react when someone does the following:

  • Smiles.
  • Listens.
  • Speaks in a calm tone.
  • Looks at you.
  • Talks when appropriate.
  • Nods and prompts you for more information.
  • Focuses on positive approaches.
  • Is self-aware.

What was your reaction to this type of behavior? If you’re like most people
you would likely be more attracted to interacting with this person.
There really is something to the idea that what we put out is what we
get back. What can you do about it? Start today by putting out positive
vibes that the world can pick up on. It will take conscious effort and
practice on your part but, over time, you will transform who you are
and live more in harmony with yourself and others.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and spread positive energy?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy