A Self-Awareness Archives – Page 5 of 52

Moving Past Criticism with Self-Awareness

When you’re actively developing and practicing self-awareness, you’re able to accurately assess your strengths and areas for improvement, which helps you worry less about what other people say, including if they criticize you.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of criticism and, for some people, it can be debilitating and even paralyzing. The good news is you can be self-aware and learn how to listen to the criticism, focus it in a different way, and use it to become a stronger person. Here is what some smart people have to say about the subject.

David Brinkley:

A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her.

Elbert Hubbard:

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

Franklin P. Jones:

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.

Henri Frederic Amiel:

We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves.

A significant part of self-awareness is the ability to think and behave positively regardless of what people say. What will you do to move past criticism?

Cheers,

Guy

Being Happy and Self-Awareness

March 26, 2024 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self and Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness / A Self-Awareness, Personal Awareness, Self-Aware, Self-Awareness Examples, Self-Awareness Meaning

There’s a big difference between saying you’re happy and behaving in ways that reflect genuine joy, fulfillment and balance. If you’re actively developing and practicing self-awareness, you know that finding happiness is an ongoing learning and growth process. You can’t just wake up one day and declare that you’re happy, it requires gradual, deliberate and conscious work. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to see if you’re genuinely happy:

In what ways does my current career reflect my dreams?
In what ways do I feel long-term happiness?
In what ways am I actively healing my unresolved issues?
In what ways can I like myself more?
In what ways can I improve how I treat myself?
In what ways am I learning and growing each day?
In what ways am I building self-awareness each day?
In what ways am I becoming emotionally healthy each day?
In what ways can I improve how I interact with others?

Each day is an opportunity to become a more well-rounded individual in your personal or professional life. The key to being authentically happy is to move beyond temporary or superficial contentment to feeling fulfilled on a deeper level. You’ll know you’re genuinely happy when you think and function in a way that reflects who you really are deep inside. What will you do to be more self-aware and truly happy?

Cheers,

Guy

Dating Tips and Self-Awareness

March 26, 2024 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self and Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness / A Self-Awareness, Examples of Self-Awareness, Personal Awareness, What Is Self-Awareness, Work Environment and Self-Awareness

I’ve noticed that when people ask me for relationship advice a recurring questions is, “Why can’t I find anyone.” There are many ways people arrive at this conclusion. I’ll list them and put a self-awareness twist on each. In this way you can move in a different direction and find out how much power you really have to affect your dating life.

1. I keep going out with bad boys/girls. Different direction: I get myself healthy enough to recognize that it’s OK to treat myself well and go out with positive people.

2. I feel lonely. Different direction: I actively work on things that resolve why I am lonely and emphasize learning about myself before dating.

3. Where can I meet people? Different direction: When you get yourself healthy and do the things you love you move in circles where you attract people who are like you.

4. All men/women are terrible. Different direction: There are a lot of great people out there we just need to learn to accept them into our lives and be healthy enough to encourage good people to go out with us.

Hope these ideas help navigate the dating waters. Dating is ultimately what you make it; you have a lot of control over where it goes.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Being Kind to Yourself

March 16, 2024 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self and Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness, Self-Consciousness / A Self-Awareness, Personal Awareness, Self-Aware

People are frequently quite hard on themselves and are constantly concerned about how well they are doing things. The key in life is to develop your self-awareness so you can truly understand your strengths and areas for improvement instead of just berating yourself over everything. Try this three-step process every day to start being kind with yourself.

1. Praise yourself for something you did today.
2. Do something positive that you enjoy.
3. Repeat every day.

Getting in the habit of doing these simple things can feel different at first but, over time, it leads to us doing things that make us feel good. It’s great when we can rely on ourselves rather than others to make us feel good. As you build your self-awareness you will begin to understand how to channel your emotions, thoughts, and behavior in a positive direction.

Next time you feel completely stressed out and about to explode, take a moment and try these steps instead of being hard on yourself. You are an amazing human being who deserves caring and affection. What will you do to be more self-aware and kind to yourself?

Cheers,

Guy

6 Steps to Be a Self-Aware Leader and Resolve Workplace Conflict

March 16, 2024 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self-Awareness in Leadership / A Self-Awareness, Examples of Self-Awareness, Personal Awareness

The two most common approaches to workplace conflict resolution are: making it worse and avoiding it. Leaders who possess self-awareness understand that conflict is a signal that something important is happening and that they need to pay attention to it. They are self-aware enough to realize that conflict is a great opportunity to bring co-workers together and improve how their workplaces function. Try these six steps the next time conflict erupts in your workplace:

1. Name the conflict (keep it simple, one sentence or less). Don’t worry about giving it the perfect name, what matters is just making sure everyone is on the same page.

2. Each of you describe how you see the conflict. All views are valid. Let people share their stories without judgments, rebuttals, or comments.

3. Brainstorm a few ideas to fix the conflict. All ideas are valid and welcome.

4. Agree and choose one of the ideas from the brainstorm to work on. Don’t worry about which one you pick, the important thing is for the people involved to work together.

5. Each of you decides what you will work on and by when. Let each person chose what he or she wants to do.

6. Get an outside person involved if you are still having difficulty working together.

I’ve found that, if two people just sit down and agree to talk (respectfully, without shouting, and in a quiet setting), they can resolve even the most complex situations. It’s wonderful when two people have the self-awareness necessary to work together, come to an agreement, and figure out a mutually beneficial way to resolve the issue at hand.

Remember that dealing with workplace conflict isn’t a quick fix that happens immediately, it takes people agreeing to sit down with each other and working together to develop new solutions over time. What will you do to develop your self-awareness and resolve conflict in your workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Means Looking at the Difficult Things in Life

March 6, 2024 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self and Self-Awareness, Self-Awareness / A Self-Awareness, Define Self-Awareness, Examples of Self-Awareness, Personal Awareness, Self-Aware, Self-Awareness Meaning, Self-Knowledge, What Is Self-Awareness

A lot of times self-awareness is about looking at the difficult things in your life. These are the areas that perhaps you don’t want to bring up or examine. The challenge is to find a way to deal with the difficult issues in your life so you can move past them and live without their influence. It’s like finally healing a wound that’s been hurting for a long time.

The vast majority of people live their entire lives without resolving the pain from their past. This limits their ability to grow and succeed. Think of how amazing your life would be if you became self-aware to the point that you genuinely loved yourself and were able to live as the real you. Too many people get stuck living a life that they settle for instead of doing the hard work necessary to live a conscious, fulfilling life. Self-awareness requires effort but it allows you to let go of all the junk that holds you back.

If you’re afraid of looking at the difficult things in life, that’s normal. The choice you have is whether you decide to move past those things or you let them dictate what you should do. Self-aware people choose to deal with the challenges so they can live wonderfully healthy and expansive lives.

Cheers,

Guy

Characteristics of Someone with Self-Awareness

March 6, 2024 / The Self-Awareness Guy / Self and Self-Awareness, Self-Consciousness / A Self-Awareness, Awareness Meaning, Examples of Self-Awareness, Personal Awareness, Self-Aware

People frequently ask me to describe the characteristics of someone with self-awareness, here are some examples:

They’re in touch with their emotions and are comfortable with them, even when they’re unpleasant or difficult.
They’re comfortable with other people’s emotions.
Their thinking matches objective reality; they don’t make up scenarios that aren’t based on demonstrable fact.
They’re able to manage their thinking patterns and move even their most difficult thoughts in a positive direction.
Their actions lead in a positive direction for them and for others.
They deeply understand their strengths as well as their areas for improvement.
They’re always working on becoming the best version of themselves possible.
They work hard to heal their inner hurts, preferably by going to a professional therapist.
They’re genuinely happy with who they are deep inside.
They follow their dreams.
They live as themselves.
They’re open to new people, ideas, challenges and changes.
They relate well to others and build positive relationships.
They treat themselves and others with kindness and compassion.
They make the world a better place because they’re so comfortable with themselves that they’re able to freely help others.

Imagine your life if you possessed any number of these qualities. The wonderful thing is you can achieve them all if you choose to actively develop your self-awareness.

Cheers,

Guy