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

Being Sensitive Is Self-Aware

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Individuals who lack self-awareness don’t understand their impact on others. When people say things like: “You’re too sensitive,” or “Stop being so sensitive,” I can almost guarantee that someone is in the process of being hurt in some way. It usually happens like this:

  1. Person one says something rude to person two.
  2. Person two gets upset.
  3. Person one says, “You’re too sensitive.”

Being sensitive is a good thing, it means that you’re in touch with your feelings and you’re able to express them, and that’s why it makes people who aren’t well-versed in dealing with emotions uncomfortable. Most people run screaming when they experience an uncomfortable feeling inside themselves or coming from someone else, and they’ll do anything to get away from it.

I love connecting with people who value self-awareness because they know what it’s like to experience the world through heightened emotions. It doesn’t mean they don’t use their brains, it just shows they’re extra intuitive and perceptive about their environment.

If you’re a sensitive person, that’s great. Keep experiencing your feelings and encouraging others to do the same. After all, we’re all thinking, feeling beings. What will you do to develop self-awareness and be sensitive?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and the Closing of the Mind - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and the Closing of the Mind

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The closing of the mind occurs when people who lack self-awareness decide that the world is too complicated and difficult and drift toward easy answers to their discomfort instead of looking inward and healing themselves. I’ve noticed over years of helping people build self-awareness that many individuals gravitate toward safe, rigid, ways of thinking and behaving when they face uncertainty. It’s not unusual to want order and predictability in one’s life, but it can easily get in the way of living genuinely and courageously.

When people close their minds and latch onto things that promise them safety and comfort, they lose the ability to be themselves because they’re relying on someone or something else to do the hard work for them. It’s like saying you do something but having someone else do it for you. The good news is that you can open your mind by listening to your inner voice and following your true path in life.

When I share my inner thoughts with the world, I’m exposed, even uncomfortable at times. I show everyone my true self rather than a polished veneer that hides the real me. The reason I write is not because it’s easy, safe, or orderly, but because it keeps my mind flexible, nimble, open, and able to deal with the uncertainties that come my way.

A major element of self-awareness is the ability to keep your mind open to new ideas and experiences instead of running away from difficult issues. What will you do to develop self-awareness and avoid the closing of the mind?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Realizing Life Is Precious - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Realizing Life Is Precious

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Many individuals lack the self-awareness to realize how precious life is and wait until they’re on their deathbeds before they admit they would have liked to resolve certain issues in their lives or behave differently. People often live their lives unconsciously and feel, think, and behave unfavorably or unproductively. I would love for them to ask themselves: If life is precious,

  • Why would I ever hate someone?
  • Why would I spend one more moment living in fear?
  • Why would I let my past hold me back?
  • Why would I resist change?
  • Why would I not live every moment to its fullest capacity?
  • Why would I not pursue my dreams?
  • Why would I live my life based on my hurts?
  • Why would I not do everything in my power to treat myself and others well?
  • Why would I not live a deeply meaningful and enlightened life?

So many people never ask themselves these types of questions, they just exist unconsciously. Luckily, life doesn’t have to be a sequence of reactions to unforeseen events, you can decide to move it in any direction you wish. It’s possible to keep building your self-awareness so you can live courageously and authentically instead of doing stuff that gets in the way and takes you off your true path.

Self-aware people constantly strive to find out who they are deep inside and how they can make the world a better place. You only have one chance to enjoy your time on this planet. What will you do to develop self-awareness and make the most of your precious life?

Cheers,

Guy

Ways for Self-Aware Leaders to Celebrate Diversity - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Ways for Self-Aware Leaders to Celebrate Diversity

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Self-aware leaders frequently ask me how they can celebrate diversity in their organization. There’s no standardized formula, all it takes is some planning and goodwill. Try these ideas as you begin celebrating diversity in your workplace:

  1. Celebrate everyone. Don’t just focus on a certain group, pay attention to everyone in the workplace.
  2. Put diverse people in leadership positions. Nothing says that you care about diversity more than promoting diverse people to leadership positions.
  3. Set up an ongoing diversity discussion. You’ll show exceptional commitment to diversity if you have a program that allows people to regularly discuss how it affects them.
  4. Set an example. How you treat your employees and colleagues sets the tone for the organization.
  5. Include diversity in your values. Not only is is advisable to have a diversity policy but make it one of your core values as in, “We will value people from all backgrounds and experiences.”

Try these ideas and see how they affect your workplace. Companies that try these kind of approaches find that they create an atmosphere of greater trust and employees who feel valued. What will you do to develop self-awareness and celebrate diversity in your organization?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Empathy

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Self-awareness and empathy are closely linked together because they are both part of being a happy, healthy individual. Empathy is the ability to understand another being’s situation, to walk a mile in their shoes and attempt to comprehend what they are experiencing. As you build more self-awareness in life, you become more and more comfortable with who you are as a person and you create balance and security. The better you feel about yourself, the better you treat others.

Having empathy means that you feel confident enough in yourself to put your needs on the backburner for a while and think about how others see the world. It’s the ability to step outside your head and think about what someone else is going through before you think, say or do something. What will you do to practice more empathy in your life?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Don't Crave External Validation - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware People Don’t Crave External Validation

/ / Self and Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness, Self-Consciousness / , ,

Self-aware people don’t crave external validation because they are happy with themselves and understand their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. They are comfortable with who they are and forge their own path in life.

Many individuals lack self-awareness and spend their lives doing what other people say. The only person who really matters is you and it’s important that you listen to what your inner voice is telling you. That doesn’t mean that you need to ignore wise people, just that it’s positive to think independently and trust yourself.

If you feel yourself craving validation, try doing something different than you normally would, like:

  • Increasing your self-awareness by evaluating your strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Working on healing the hurts from your past.
  • Doing some positive thing you love doing and that moves you in a beneficial direction.
  • Taking a walk.
  • Doing something creative.
  • Creating a list of wonderful things about you and adding to it each day for thirty days.

The trick to moving past needing outside validation is to learn how to love yourself by knowing who you are and what brings you joy in life. All it takes to get there is doing small things each day that will eventually transform your life. What will you do to develop self-awareness and stop craving external validation?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Don't Discipline Employees - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware Leaders Don’t Discipline Employees

/ / Self-Awareness in Leadership / , , , ,

Self-aware leaders don’t discipline employees because they understand that being punitive is a poor approach to elicit better performance from people. So why do so many leaders and organizations insist on disciplining everyone? Because they lack self-awareness and the knowledge to do something differently.

See if you recognize this pattern: An employee does something against the rules and sets in motion a complex series of consequences which may include a verbal warning, counseling, reprimanding, written warning, heartfelt lecture and so on up to termination or taking away their TV privileges.

While I understand that workplaces need a standardized, consistent way of dealing with behaviors that break the rules, I’ve found it helpful to encourage an alternate approach that treats employees like thinking, capable people instead of children. Here are 5 ideas to help you deal with negative employee behaviors before you even think about going to the HR manual:

1.  Ask the employee what happened and then listen without interrupting.

2.  Ask the employee to tell you what they did that worked well toward fixing the situation and listen to them. Then ask them what didn’t work as well and listen.

3.  Ask the employee to come up with three recommendations of what they would do to remedy the situation.

4.  Ask the employee to take action on the most important recommendation and give you a time limit by when they will do it. When they report back ask them what three other things they recommend doing and have them follow-through on the top one of that set of ideas and report back.

5.  Praise the employee for the corrections he or she has made.

The trap leaders who lack self-awareness fall into when disciplining employees is that they think they have to correct behaviors through external consequences or punishment rather than helping them learn positive behaviors. This overlooks the concept that employees are able to think for themselves and correct their own behavior.

When I talk with leaders about this approach I invariably get the question, “Well, what if the employee has no clue what to do?” My answer is, you won’t find out until you give them an opportunity to do it. Leaders are so used to running to the rule book that they forget that there are many other ways of resolving all kinds of workplace challenges. The key to this approach is practicing it until people get really good at it. This leads to employees who are able to think critically and problem-solve their own situations.

What will you do to develop self-awareness, stop disciplining employees, and start involving them in improving their own behaviors?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy