The Self-Awareness Guy

The First Step of Your Self-Awareness Journey - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

The First Step of Your Self-Awareness Journey

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The way to get started on your self-awareness journey is to take one step. Nothing happens if you don’t take a chance and deliberately choose to move forward. It’s the act of taking one step after another that builds confidence, stamina and eventual success. It takes effort and determination to achieve anything in life but each endeavor starts with one small step.

What kind of things might you do? How about working on:

  • Healing the hurts from your past.
  • Improving who you are as a person.
  • Admitting mistakes and working to make amends.
  • Feeling all your emotions.
  • Letting go of things that don’t work for you.
  • Becoming a healthier person inside and out.
  • Learning each day about what makes you tick.
  • Being comfortable and knowledgeable about your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.
  • Doing small things each day to make your dreams come true.
  • Being kind to yourself and others.

Please note that you don’t have to do all these things at once. All it takes to become more self-aware is to be open to examining who you are, celebrating the great things about you, and improving the areas that need some attention. You just need to be truthful and dedicated to becoming the best version of you possible.

What will the first step of your self-awareness journey be?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Honesty

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If you’ve been building your self-awareness over time, you realize how important honesty is to becoming a well-rounded, happy, healthy human being. Personal growth means you’re committed to taking a candid, honest look at your thinking, feelings and behaviors and making positive changes. If you start from a position of trying to hide who you really are or pretending you’re someone else, you’ll likely avoid looking at the areas that could really benefit from some attention. A more effective approach is to decide to improve yourself each day so you can live an open, genuinely fulfilling life without having to cover things up.

A lot of people create unnecessary difficulties in their lives because they refuse to honestly appraise what they think, feel and do. They exist day to day compensating for or tiptoeing around issues that hold them back instead of dealing with them directly and taking action to improve the situation long-term. Self-aware individuals understand that self-examination is a vital, necessary part of personal development. As you live your life, think of the things you do well and the things that hold you back. Work hard to heal the issues in your past that prevent you from completely enjoying your life. Experience the joy that comes from letting go of the things that don’t work and become the healthiest you possible. What will you do to be honest with yourself?

Cheers,

Guy

Kind, Self-Aware People Can Change the World - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Kind, Self-Aware People Can Change the World

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I’ve consulted for a lot of people in leadership positions and I’ve noticed that many genuinely believe they have to be stern and authoritarian instead of being kind. It’s like they lack any self-awareness about how they affect others. This harsh approach is the result of being sold the narrative that you have to be a hard-charging bully to get anything done, the punitive approach to leadership. We even routinely reward people who do unsavory things, including hurting others.

My modest proposal would be to gradually shift from encouraging harsh behavior to celebrating self-awareness and kindness. There is nothing a severe person can accomplish that a kind person can’t. You can treat people really well and still get amazing results in your personal or professional life. You can do things that uplift others and help build a more beneficial world for everyone.

Kindness is a valuable tool that can inspire and motivate the people around you. The proof is that individuals respond much more positively to praise than they do to criticism or punishment. Praise encourages people to try harder while punishment leads to doing whatever is necessary to avoid more punishment. Our current behavioral model for our personal and professional lives is punitive. What if we shifted to being kind to each other? It might even lead to (gasp) people feeling good about themselves.

If you’re a kind person, keep doing it. You’re a vital resource and a valuable example for the individuals around you. At very least, you demonstrate that people don’t have to be punitive and harsh and that there’s another, more positive alternative. I love consulting for people who value self-awareness because they know how to treat others with empathy and care.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and promote kindness in the world?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Creating Positive Vibes - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Creating Positive Vibes

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Like anyone who is working on building his or her self-awareness and trying to spread positive vibes in the world, my patience and interpersonal skills are often tested. I recently went through a really challenging experience where a series of negative things happened over a period of several days. At the end of the ordeal I was left with a stark choice:

  1. Fight.
  2. Move on and live kindly and peacefully.

Regrettably, I initially chose number one and it took an awful toll on me. I felt like I was creating all kinds of negative energy; making not only myself but others unhappy. I struggled with my feelings about the situation and finally discovered what was bothering me so much: I was creating negative vibes instead of living my life how I really want to, with self-awareness, kindness, and grace.

As a thinking, feeling person, I had the ability to behave any way I wanted and I chose a less than wonderful course of action. When I realized that I was acting in a way that wasn’t leading down a positive path, I consciously moved in a more self-aware, beneficial direction. This deliberate decision not only made my life easier but also created a better world because there was one less person creating negative energy, me.

I love consulting for people who value self-awareness because they try to understand how their thoughts and actions actions affect other people and the world in general. They also work hard to build a better world for themselves and others. What will you do to develop self-awareness and create positive vibes?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Listening

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People who possess a high level of self-awareness tend to be good at listening, which is one of the most vital skills to live consciously, meaningfully and compassionately. The ability to listen allows you to:

  • Avoid getting your stuff all over other people.
  • Learn more about other people.
  • Avoid jumping to conclusions.
  • Honor other people.
  • Treat people with respect.
  • Build trust.
  • Connect on a deeper level.
  • Practice self-awareness by not stepping on the important things people are trying to tell you.
  • Show how healthy and balanced you are.
  • Build positive relationships.

It takes a lot of restraint to let go of having to be in the spotlight and give other people the time and space to tell their stories but it will help you live a richer and more meaningful life. What will you do to listen more?

Cheers,

Guy

Building a Culture of Workplace Self-Awareness and Team Building - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Building a Culture of Workplace Self-Awareness and Team Building

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Genuine team building goes beyond the occasional bonding activity or retreat to establishing a culture that encourages self-awareness, rewards collaboration, and teaches everyone in your workplace how to build and participate in cohesive teams. Here are five ideas to keep in mind as you begin creating a culture of self-awareness and team building in your organization:

  1. Team building flows from the top. Leaders who practice self-awareness set a positive example of how to behave in the workplace. They show employees the organization is genuinely interested in building healthy teams by actively setting up and participating in an ongoing program.
  1. Team building is a company value. You get to choose what your organization values and what it doesn’t and whether people in the organization work against each other or collaborate. You decide what behaviors are acceptable and encouraged in your workplace.
  1. Train the trainer. Set aside the time and resources to train people at all levels of the organizations who then train their particular departments until all employees have the knowledge to practice effective team building.
  1. Schedule regular time for team building activities. You show your employees that team building is a priority by establishing a weekly stand-alone activity that doesn’t have to share space with other meetings and is attended by people at all levels.
  1. Team building is about celebrating your employees. Design team building activities where leaders and employees can connect on a deeper level, build meaningful relationships and praise each other in public.

As a leader, you decide what kind of work environment you create and whether you commit long-term to making it easier for your employees to come together and work collaboratively. What will you do to support a culture of self-awareness and team building in your organization?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Reduces Anger - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Reduces Anger

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One of the biggest benefits of building self-awareness is that it reduces anger. If you wake up each day and don’t pursue your dreams, go to a job you hate, hang out with people who don’t value the real you, stuff your feelings, or pretend you’re fulfilled, you’re very likely to be upset. Living this way leads to anger because you’re just not happy. Here are some ideas on how you can use self-awareness to improve the situation:

  • Agree with yourself to move in a new direction.
  • Get to know who you are deep inside.
  • Understand your strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Choose one thing to work on.
  • Take action each day to create movement in your life.
  • Praise yourself each time you notice a positive change.
  • Repeat the process.

People feel unsettled and upset when they’re not living authentically or doing things they find meaningful. What will you do to be less angry?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy