The Self-Awareness Guy, Author at The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-Awareness Helps You Find Your Purpose and Passion in Life

Self-awareness can help you find your purpose and passion in life because, when you are in touch with your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, you can look deep inside yourself and discover the path that is most meaningful to you.

Here are some ideas on how to find your purpose and passion in life:

Decide that you’re going to think for yourself and make your own decisions about what you do in life.
Get professional help to heal your inner hurts so you can focus on the wonderful things about you.
Start the process of discovering who you are by looking deep inside. Ask yourself, “If I could do anything I wanted to in life, with no restrictions and without worrying about finances or what people and society tell me I should do, what would it be?” Be completely honest with yourself, be courageous. Don’t consider anything but what you truly want to do in life, what really speaks to you at your core or in your heart. Make sure that your answer is something having to do with your path in life, avoid things that force you to give up your power to someone or something else or that you do out of some sense of external duty or obligation. This is solely about you and what you genuinely want to do.
Write down the idea you come up with, this is your purpose and passion.
Take one small action to make your idea a reality.
Continue taking small actions until you have achieved your dream.

A big part of self-awareness is understanding that all that matters in life is being yourself, the real you, the person who lives deep in your heart and who has the courage to live intentionally and consciously.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and find your purpose and passion in life?

Cheers,

Guy

2 Self-Awareness Exercises

February 24, 2023 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness / Examples of Self-Awareness, Self-Aware, Self-Awareness Meaning, Self-Knowledge, Work Environment and Self-Awareness

Self-awareness refers to your ability to understand how your emotions, thoughts, and actions affect you, the people around you, and the world in general. Here are two self-awareness exercises to help you start getting to know yourself better:

The Writing about an Emotion Exercise

Sit in a comfortable, quiet area with paper and pen and think of some emotion that pops up in your life and causes you some kind of discomfort.
Name the emotion by using one of these four words: happiness, sadness, anger, fear.
Once you’ve named the emotion write it down.
Under the emotion write down three undesirable results that emotion has created in your life.
After each result you’ve written, jot down the actual results you’d like to see, the positive side of things.
Once you have the positives written down, pick one of the positives you’d like to work on and decide on one small thing you can do to make it happen.
Keep taking small actions to reach the positive result you would like.

This exercise works by encouraging you to focus consciously on what emotions you feel and to direct them in a positive direction instead of letting them run your life. The idea is to repeat this exercise for any emotion that is causing you discomfort. It builds self-awareness by asking you to carefully examine what you feel. At first, it will seem hard but, with practice, you’ll get good at repeating these steps.

The What I Did Exercise

Think of a time when you did something that hurt someone, write it down.
Write down how you feel about hurting that person.
Write down what they might have felt.
Write down ten positive things you could have done instead.
Picture the the scenario in your mind again and insert each of the alternatives into the scenario. Repeat the process through all ten positive alternatives.
Write down what you would do differently if that kind of situation arose in your life again.

This exercise encourages you to examine some action you did in the past that hurt another person and think about what you might have done differently. It raises your self-awareness by asking you to consider what you did and provide a positive alternative. It also asks you to think about other people’s perspectives and how they might have seen the event.

Try doing these two exercises a couple of times a week until they seem second nature. The idea is to continue becoming more self-aware by carefully examining what you feel, think, and do.

Cheers,

Guy

15 Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence Self-Aware People Are Familiar With

February 24, 2023 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness / Awareness of Emotions, Self-Aware, Self-Awareness Meaning

If you’re able to deal positively with your own emotions as well as other people’s, then you’re likely self-aware and emotionally intelligent. To illustrate more in depth, here are fifteen characteristics of emotional intelligence you can look for:

You’re familiar with the four basic emotions: happiness, fear, anger, and sadness.
You are able to identify what you’re feeling inside—you can name the emotion.
You’re comfortable feeling, dealing with, and managing your emotions, and other people’s.
You’re not afraid of your emotions, or other people’s.
You understand that emotions are a normal part of life.
You don’t try to avoid your emotions.
You use your emotions to enrich your life, making you a more well-rounded and healthy individual.
You can take care of your emotional self no matter how difficult your situation is.
You have good social skills.
You have empathy for others and what they’re going through.
You don’t let your emotions hurt others.
You don’t let fear and anger rule your life.
You’re kind to others.
You’re self-aware and understand how your thoughts, emotions, and actions affect you and others.
You feel good about yourself deep inside and live a genuinely happy life.

If you’ve ever met a highly self-aware and emotionally intelligent person, you know that it’s a pleasure to be around them because they feel great about themselves and help you feel the same way about yourself. The good news is that anyone can become emotionally intelligent, it just takes practice.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Know What Emotional Intelligence Is

February 23, 2023 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness / A Self-Awareness, Awareness of Emotions, Self-Aware, Self-Knowledge

What is emotional intelligence? You know that feeling you get inside when you encounter an emotion and you’re able to experience it fully without falling apart? That’s what it is. Self-aware people know what emotional intelligence is because they are in touch with what’s going on inside themselves and how it affects what they do each day.

You are a human being that has emotions. In an ideal world, you would deal with or manage your emotions so that they always lead in a positive direction, but that doesn’t always happen because you likely haven’t been taught what to do when you or others feel things that are scary or uncomfortable.

You were raised in a certain way and move in circles that tell you what role emotions should have on your life. The problem is that the information you get about how to feel things may be fatally flawed.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and effectively deal with or manage your emotions when they arise, and do the same for others. It means you’re an emotionally stable person who isn’t afraid of feeling things or interacting with people when they’re experiencing their own emotions.

As you continue your journey through life you’ll find that it will benefit you greatly to learn how to manage your emotions in a positive way. What will you do to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy

5 Quick Ways Self-Aware Leaders Improve Their Workplaces

February 23, 2023 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness in Leadership / Examples of Self-Awareness, Leadership Self-Awareness, Self-Aware, Work Environment and Self-Awareness

I help leaders improve their workplaces through thinking and behaving in positive ways, starting with increasing self-awareness. Sadly, I see a lot of practices that lead in the opposite direction. It’s amazing how much time and effort many leaders spend doing things that don’t work simply because they’ve never done it any other way. Most leaders mean well and want to create happy workplaces but lack self-awareness and just haven’t found out how to do it yet. Here are five quick ways to improve your workplace starting today.

1. Praise Employees

Start praising your employees today for the work they do well and they’ll be much more likely to repeat the behavior and want to do other things.

2. Start Listening

Listen to what your employees say without jumping in or offering advice and you’ll have access to richer and more complete information so you can make better decisions.

3. Don’t Micromanage

Step back and let your employees do their thing. Don’t offer unsolicited advice but be there for them if they ask for help.

4. Be Kind

Behave kindly, treat people well, appreciate everyone and do things that build employees up so they feel great about themselves.

5. Interview Your Employees

Find out what the talents and abilities are of each of your employees. Use this knowledge to work with them to find ways they can do work that fits what they enjoy doing.

Try these five ideas starting today and you will notice that your workplace will become a more enjoyable environment. There’s no magic to this process, you’re simply building a foundation based on valuing employees and encouraging them to do a great job.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and improve your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Are Okay with Making Mistakes

February 23, 2023 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness in Leadership / A Self-Awareness, Lacking Self-Awareness, Leadership Self-Awareness, Self-Aware

Self-aware leaders are willing to make mistakes because they realize that every error is an opportunity to learn, grow, and continue to build self-awareness.

Perhaps you’ve encountered a leadership situation where you ask an employee about some task or project that didn’t go too well and he (or she) quickly shirks responsibility. This type of behavior is common in many workplaces because we design them that way. We create work environments where it’s not acceptable to make mistakes and where people will do anything to avoid the consequences.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some ideas to help leaders and employees increase self-awareness and accept responsibility for their actions:

Realize that people make mistakes.
Allow people to make mistakes without being punished or reprimanded.
Use mistakes as an opportunity for people to evaluate what they did correctly and what they would change in the future.
Encourage people to come up with their own solutions on how they would avoid repeating the same behaviors in the future.
Make it acceptable for people to admit that something went wrong without being mocked by leadership or co-workers.
Implement an authentic open-door policy where people can come in and talk with you about what’s going well and what needs attention without fear of retribution.
Avoid talking down to people or reprimanding them in front of others. Try having a calm conversation where you listen to what happened instead of clobbering the person publicly or privately.
Leadership sets a positive example by taking responsibility when things don’t go as planned and working hard to find positive solutions.

One of the major reasons people avoid responsibility is that they think they’ll look dumb or incompetent or that they’ll be punished in some way. If your company culture is set up to hurt or shame people then they’ll naturally avoid accepting responsibility for their actions. On the other hand, if you promote a philosophy where people are encouraged to learn from their mistakes, they’ll be more open to evaluating and improving their behavior. The underlying idea is to move away from a punitive culture to one where people are allowed to learn from their mistakes.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and help people, including you, accept responsibility for their actions?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Developing Emotional Intelligence

February 22, 2023 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness / A Self-Awareness, Awareness of Emotions, Self-Aware

Self-awareness is key to developing emotional intelligence because, when you understand yourself and others well, you are better able to deal with any internal or external emotion.

The process of developing emotional intelligence is not as mysterious or scary as you might have been led to believe. The vast majority of human beings have the capacity to feel emotions and use them to improve their lives.

Being able to effectively deal with and manage your emotions will help you feel happier and more balanced, solve problems, get along with others, and improve your quality of life.

Here are some ideas to help you develop your self-awareness and emotional intelligence:

Realize that emotions are a normal part of life and that even the uncomfortable ones can benefit you.
Understand that emotions aren’t positive or negative, they are all potentially beneficial.
Learn to identify and name the emotion you are feeling inside at any particular moment.
Do something that is positive with the emotion. For example: If you feel sad about something, you can use those feelings to learn and grow and take action in way that will be beneficial to you and others.
Keep practicing feeling your emotions and using them in a positive way until you feel comfortable with any emotion that arises.
Once you are comfortable with your own emotions, start applying these ideas to other people’s: Identify and empathize what what they’re feeling and be there for them to take positive action.

Developing emotional intelligence is the process of learning to identify and feel your emotions, use them positively, and relate to other people’s emotions as well. The idea is to be able to feel what’s going on inside you and use it to improve your life, and doing the same thing with other people’s emotions.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy