The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-Awareness and Regaining Hope - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Regaining Hope

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Self-awareness helps you regain hope because, when you understand why you feel, think, and behave the way you do, you are able to move your life in a positive direction and move past the barriers that used to hold you back.

Many of us reach points in our lives where we feel like nothing is going right. I ask people to continue building self-awareness and focus on the things that are going right. It may sound simplistic but much of how we see the world is based on perspective.

Why is it that one person sees an event as a tragedy while another sees it simply as a bump in the road? Perspective. Why is it that one person crumbles when faced with adversity but others thrive? Perspective.

When you give up hope you give up believing that you can affect the world around you. This is only a perception because, in fact, you can always do something to move your life in a different direction. Try these simple techniques to overcome the challenges in your life.

1. Take an inventory of the things you do well.
2. Pick one of the things you came up with to work on.
3. Take steps to finish the work.
4. Move on to the next thing you want to do.

Regaining hope is often about finding your inner confidence. You reconnect to your inner hope and confidence by actually doing things and experiencing the challenge of completing tasks. Doing things literally impels you to do something besides dwell on your loss of hope. Try these steps and move in a direction that satisfies you. You deserve it.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and live hopefully?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Being an Independent Thinker - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Being an Independent Thinker

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Self-awareness means understanding who you are and why you think the way you do so you can be your own person. Every time I’ve let other people think for me, I’ve felt powerless and have been unhappy with the results. It’s very common in our society to undermine people’s natural gifts and talents by telling them what to do. There’s no shortage of “helpful” advice to guide those who are seeking something or are just used to getting their answers from the outside, but it robs them of their ability to control their own destinies.

The key to living a meaningful, fulfilling life is to listen to yourself and follow your own path rather than one prescribed by someone else. When I discovered that I could think for myself, I began honoring the person I really am and following my own natural course. I now wake up each day and do what I want to do instead of what someone else tells me to.

People who value self-awareness tend to be independent thinkers who listen to their own inner voices. They do their own thing, arrive at their own conclusions, and live more genuinely happy lives.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and be an independent thinker?

Cheers,

Guy

How to Resolve Conflicts with Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How to Resolve Conflicts with Self-Awareness

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People who lack self-awareness often ask me how to resolve conflicts. Many individuals think that letting conflict build up, followed by an explosion, followed by another build-up period is the natural cycle of conflict. The only difficulty with this approach is that the conflict continues and doesn’t get resolved. The only real solution is to increase self-awareness and fix the conflict by taking action. Follow the following steps to begin working on resolving rather than perpetuating conflict.

1. Each person identifies what the they think the conflict is.
2. Both people agree together on one definition of the conflict to begin resolving.
3. Each person comes up with two or three possible solutions.
4. Both people agree together on which solution to implement.
5. If the parties can’t work together find a mediator.

Resolving conflict is about having the self-awareness to work with the other person to actually fix the situation. The act of doing all the previous steps (always in order) allows us the chance to work with the other person rather than against them. Make sure you start at the first step and do not progress to the next if you haven’t finished the previous step. We are conditioned to rush to solutions but frequently forget that it the working through the issue that gets us the most permanent and satisfactory results.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and actually resolve conflicts?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Living Superficially - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Living Superficially

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If you possess a high level of self-awareness you’re probably not living superficially, which means that you enjoy life on a deeper level. People who don’t know themselves well tend to think, feel and behave in ways that are almost exclusively superficial and, ultimately, unfulfilling. The more you understand yourself the easier it is for you to go below the surface and appreciate the nuance and complexity inside and around you. There are many benefits to going deeper:

  • You get to live your life based on your real dreams, talents, and abilities.
  • You get to connect with others on a more meaningful level.
  • You enjoy fulfilling conversations and interactions.
  • You know more about yourself and understand others more completely.
  • People know the real you.
  • Your relationships are based on deeper interaction.
  • You share yourself with the world.
  • You’re genuinely happy.

Some people go through their entire lives living superficially and miss out on all the rich, gratifying experiences that living more deeply provides. What will you do to keep increasing your self-awareness and move beyond living superficially?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Being Ready to Take Action - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Being Ready to Take Action

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Many people get closer to their dreams by building self-awareness and taking action. When you purposefully decide to move in a certain direction you begin a conscious journey that will take you in directions you may not even have imagined. Here’s what some wise people have to say about the subject:

Anais Nin:

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

Anatole France:

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Alfred North Whitehead:

We cannot think first and act afterward. From the moment of birth we are immersed in action, and can only fitfully coach it by taking thought.

Self-awareness helps you be ready to take action because, when you understand your own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, you’re able to clarify what you want to do in life and move forward confidently. What will you do to develop self-awareness and take action?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Experiencing Joy in Life - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Experiencing Joy in Life

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When I coach people who lack self-awareness they often tell me they have difficulty experiencing joy in their lives. Joy is a wonderful concept which I define as experiencing pure bliss and contentment. Joy is also complex in that we could not experience it if we did not also experience pain. A life of perpetual joy would soon begin to feel bland, so we need the ups and downs that come with everyday experience.

How do you define joy? Joy can be that moment at which you feel complete happiness and want for nothing else. It can be gazing into someone’s eyes whom you love or doing something that means a lot to you. Joy is what we experience when we work through difficulties and as we let go of the things that bring us down. Here’s what some smart people have to say about the matter:

Pearl S. Buck:

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

Audre Lorde:

The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.

Kahlil Gibran:

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?

Feeling joy in life arises from doing the work necessary to heal your hurts and learning how to manage your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. It requires deliberate and continuous effort, but the rewards are wonderful.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and experience joy in life?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Finding Balance at Work - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Finding Balance at Work

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I was talking to a very accomplished person who lacks self-awareness and was feeling overwhelmed by everything going on in his work life. After I asked him to take some time to think about what was going well and what might need improvement in his life, he realized that he had been juggling a great deal of different challenges in the workplace and hadn’t taken time to think about the things that gave him balance.

We become so engrossed in working at a rapid pace that we forget that we can enjoy our efforts more if we pause occasionally to build self-awareness, relax, recharge, and reflect. Take some time in your day to do nothing. Look at the sky, take a walk, draw a picture, meditate, listen to music or do anything else you enjoy that requires no goals or deadlines. Work becomes more enjoyable when you take time to regain our balance and do it on a regular basis.

Balance helps you maintain a generally positive course and helps you be a more effective leader because you are functioning from a place of calm and reflection. It is this middle road where you can find grounding and greater peace rather than the standard rat race. You will always experience highs and lows but, if we nurture the middle, we will always have a place to seek refuge.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and find more balance at work?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy