The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-Awareness Helps You Treat Yourself Well in Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Helps You Treat Yourself Well in Relationships

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Self-awareness helps you treat yourself well in relationships because, when you understand why you feel, think, and behave the way you do, you are able to examine yourself, heal your hurts, move in the direction of your dreams, and invite others to join you.

We frequently give ourselves to others in ways that weaken our spirit and take us down a road we don’t want to travel. It’s almost as if we lose our sense of who we are and hand over our destiny to another person.

One of the reasons why relationships stagnate or engender conflict is that the parties have forgotten that they are the most important person in the world. We benefit by first understanding ourselves and working out our own issues and then entering relationships. In this way, relationships become about a connection between two or more healthy people rather than individuals who facilitate each other’s negative behaviors.

Think of yourself as the most important person in the world. Work on yourself first and you will attract people who will enjoy you for who you are, not for what they can get out of you.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and treat yourself well in relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Are the True Optimists - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware People Are the True Optimists

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A lot of people who lack self-awareness say they’re optimists but feel, think, and behave in profoundly pessimistic or negative ways, to the point of hurting themselves or others.

Being a true optimist means you’re consistently open to increasing your self-awareness, following an authentic path in life, and behaving hopefully and positively. You can’t claim to look on the bright side if you spread negative vibes in some other part of your life.

Real optimists make life better not only for themselves but for everyone else. They believe that the world can be a kind, peaceful place where people treat each other with empathy and care.

I love consulting for self-aware people because they aren’t afraid to examine who they are, warts and all, and keep moving forward fearlessly. It takes courage to look at the difficult things in life and keep learning and growing rather than pretending you’re doing OK while you’re really hurting inside.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and be a true optimist?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Don't Live in Fear - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware People Don’t Live in Fear

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Self-aware people don’t live in fear because they do the work necessary to be comfortable with themselves and be in touch with their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in order to move forward courageously.

Our culture often tells us that we have to live in fear. We’re constantly fed news and information about safety and avoiding various bogeymen. We scamper around, afraid that the latest threat is already under our bed. The challenge in the face of this onslaught of anxiety is to move beyond the fight or flight instinct and live with self-awareness, courage, and hope.

If all you do is sit around being scared of something, then you’ll live a life where you don’t follow your dreams, or do what you love doing. Fear keeps you stuck trying to be safe instead of courageously following your inner voice. It’s up to you to decide what kind of life you want to live: One where you stifle your voice, or one where you sing joyfully.

I love connecting with people who value self-awareness because they understand what’s it’s like to exist in a realm of uncertainty and nebulousness and create something positive out of it. They live with hope and valor instead of trepidation.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and not live in fear?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Helps You Say What You Want to Say - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Helps You Say What You Want to Say

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A big part of self-awareness is identifying who you are and what you really want to do in life. It’s being able to answer the question: “What do you have to say?” There is a simple beauty to sharing whatever is going on inside you. You don’t have to create some sweeping epic, just do things based on what you’re thinking and feeling inside. Forget about judging what you’re doing or comparing it to other people’s work, just use your own amazing voice.

When I write about self-awareness, I begin with no preconceptions. I let whatever thought is percolating in my mind guide my words. It doesn’t matter what the topic is, the only important thing is to listen to what my heart and mind say and be open to following my true instincts, which is what I encourage people to do in their own lives.

As you build your self-awareness, you’ll find it gets easier to just be yourself and let your true voice emanate from within you. You get to decide what floats your boat and is meaningful to you. Don’t miss the opportunity to share your amazing self with the world.

Each of us has valuable insights and perspectives to share with the world. What will you do to develop self-awareness and live the life you want to?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Making Things More Difficult for Others - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Making Things More Difficult for Others

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One of the characteristics of someone who lacks self-awareness is making things more difficult for others. When you don’t know yourself well, you can’t pull back far enough to realize how your behavior affects other people so you might do things like:

  • Treat people poorly.
  • Behave without empathy.
  • Think the whole world should bend to your point of view.
  • Frequently create situations that damage other people.
  • Do things that make others work harder.
  • Create a pattern of negative interactions and relationships.
  • Complicate things to gain power or control.
  • Make unrealistic demands.
  • Act as a gatekeeper.
  • Fail to take responsibility for your actions.

The antidote to these behaviors is to get to know yourself on a deeper level and become genuinely comfortable with who you are. The happier you are, the less stress you’ll create for others because you won’t be working out your personal issues on them. What will you do to make things less difficult for others?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leadership and Creating a Strategic Plan - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware Leadership and Creating a Strategic Plan

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Self-aware leaders are well-equipped to create a strategic plan because they don’t allow their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to get in the way of creating a path forward that helps their organization thrive.

When I consult with leaders and organizations they tell me about the gigantic strategic plans that sit on their bookshelves. While those plans include reams of valuable information and input, they collect dust because they are too complex for anyone to use as a reference.

I’m a strong advocate of being self-aware enough to get out of the way and keep things simple in order to live a happier life, so I thought I’d share my basic approach to strategic planning. Strategic planning doesn’t have to be a chore. If you think about it, a strategic plan is really just a document that describes what you want to do and how you’ll do it.

Use the following ideas to create a concise document that guides your organization and that people aren’t afraid to reference.

  1. What’s your mission? Write a one sentence mission statement. Keep it simple and speak from the heart. Think in terms of what it is you really want your company to stand for. Stay away from jargon and business speak and focus on a meaningful, basic idea of what your organization does.
  2. What are the things you do well? Make a brief list of the things your organization does well so that you know what you have to work with moving forward.
  3. What would you like to strengthen? Create a brief list of the areas where you need a little help.
  4. Where would you like to go? Write down three to five things you’d like your organization to accomplish. These should be deeply meaningful to your organization and reflect your mission.
  5. Who will do what and by when? Decide who will take on each part of where you want to go. This step is much more successful if people assign themselves the tasks. Create a date for completion of each task.

When you work on these five steps you will end up with a living, breathing document that is intentionally concise and open to re-interpretation and change. The whole idea of strategic planning is to give you a framework or foundation you can build on. You can always add more detail or specific tasks but you can’t do it if you don’t build a firm footing first.

Try these steps with a key group of individuals and you’ll be on your way to creating an easy strategic plan that encourages dynamic movement instead of confusion and heartburn. What will you do to develop self-awareness and create a usable strategic plan?

Cheers,

Guy

Why Self-Awareness Matters - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Why Self-Awareness Matters

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You’ve probably met people, even very successful ones, who behave like they’re clueless or unbalanced in some part of their lives. Perhaps they don’t deal with others very positively, can’t get past some childhood trauma or have ideas about the world that aren’t grounded in reality. What they’re often missing is self-awareness, the ability to understand how their thoughts, emotions and behaviors affect them and others.

People avoid looking at themselves because they’re afraid of what they might find. It takes courage to admit that they’re not perfect, that they’ve made mistakes, that they’ve been wrong in the past or that there are areas that need improvement in their lives. Those who do decide to take a candid look at themselves soon discover that they can live deeply satisfying, meaningful, healthy and balanced lives.

Self-awareness matters because you’re worth it. You deserve to live a fully conscious life that reflects the real you rather than doing all the other garbage that makes you (and the people around you) unhappy. When you understand who you are and why you think and behave the way you do, you get to live an authentic life being yourself rather than trying to be someone you’re not or relying on outside sources for your happiness.

Increasing your self-awareness gives you the opportunity to live the life you were meant to live without restrictions. It’s a journey that begins with your willingness to look at yourself honestly and become the most healthy, balanced you possible. How will you start building your self-awareness?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy