Examples of Self-Awareness Archives – Page 11 of 45

Self-Awareness and The Big Mouth

October 18, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

People who lack self-awareness have no idea what’s coming out of their mouths and they’ll say things that reveal their inner thoughts and get them in trouble at work and at home. We see examples of this all around us when people make sexist, racially tinged or other inappropriate or clumsy comments because they have limited understanding of how their statements might affect others. It happens a lot in the workplace when leaders trample on their employees or hurt them in some way without realizing that there are other options.

A major element of self-awareness is the ability to practice effective communication, as in, thinking before you speak and, more importantly, being as healthy a person as you possibly can be so that you understand how not to step on others. Here are some tips to heal a case of big mouth:

Listen more than you talk.
Think before you speak.
Resist the urge to say the first thing that comes to your mind.
Ask yourself how your words might be perceived by others.
If you think what you have to say might be offensive, it will likely be.
Clarify what’s going on by asking open-ended questions.
Ask people for feedback.
Watch people’s facial expressions and reactions.
Choose to step outside yourself and consider others’ feelings.
Think of a kind way of saying things.
Say things that build people up.
Monitor your own body language and reactions.

When you practice these behaviors you’ll run a far smaller risk of finding a foot lodged in your mouth and you’ll build a more compassionate and respectful workplace. You’ll also save time and effort because you won’t have to deal with the misunderstandings or conflicts that arise when the message is clouded by extraneous elements. What will you do to make sure you’re communicating effectively, kindly and compassionately?

Cheers,

Guy

7 Examples of the Importance of Self-Awareness

October 13, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Self-awareness is an important tool to help you succeed at a higher level. When you understand yourself well, you live your life consciously rather than just letting it happen to you. Here are seven examples of the importance of self-awareness:

You can connect more easily with other people.
You treat people with kindness and compassion and have them do the same for you.
You follow your true path in life.
You build a career you love based on your natural talents and abilities.
You live authentically and openly.
You resolve your inner issues so they don’t get in the way of your progress.
You can be yourself at all times instead of pretending to be someone else.

Imagine if you did all these things, think of the positive impact it would have on your life. When you build self-awareness, you give yourself the opportunity to enjoy who you really are and experience things at an entirely different level. What would you add to this list?

Cheers,

Guy

10 Signs You Lack Self-Awareness

October 3, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Here are ten signs you lack self-awareness:

You always feel off-balance.
You can’t seem to control your emotions: You’re angry, or sad, or scared a lot of the time.
You do things to not feel your emotions.
You have unresolved issues in your life that affect you and others adversely.
You feel like you’re living life as someone else.
You don’t know who you really are deep inside.
There is a lot of conflict in your life, within yourself and with others.
You feel like you’re not following your true path in life.
You’re unhappy with how your life is going.
You listen to others instead of listening to your inner voice.

If you recognize yourself in any of these items then you have a great opportunity to take an honest look at yourself and start working on being the best version of you possible. Self-awareness isn’t something that happens automatically, you have to identify the areas in your life that require some attention and work on them so you become a healthier more well-rounded person.

Cheers,

Guy

How to Build Self-Awareness

September 28, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Here are some ideas on how to build self-awareness:

Decide to get to know yourself at a deeper level.
Let go of thoughts and behaviors in your past that haven’t led to positive results.
Think of an area of your life you’d like to improve.
Brainstorm ideas of how to work on that area.
Pick one of your brainstorm items and start working on it.
Monitor your progress as you go along.
Repeat the process.

A lot of people think that self-awareness is something you acquire by chance or as you age, but it really requires recognizing and interrupting negative patterns in your life and consciously moving in a different direction. What will you do to build self-awareness?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Increasing the Love in Your Life

September 23, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

When you possess self-awareness, you deeply understand and are able to positively manage your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. This sense of well-being allows you to let more love into you life, as in loving yourself and others.

Love is a wonderful part of self-awareness. Imagine your life filled with many kinds of love including:

Love for yourself.
Love for and from others.
Love for your career.
Love for the planet and all its creatures.
Love for life.

Replacing the feelings of fear and anger in your life with love allows you to feel great about yourself and others. Your life moves in entirely different ways, wonderful opportunities and experiences open up to you, full of joy and fulfillment. Love can literally change your life if you let it in. What will you do to develop self-awareness and invite love into your life?

Cheers,

Guy

Developing Self-Awareness: 2 Exercises

September 13, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Here are two exercises for developing self-awareness.

1. The Personal Inventory

The way this self-awareness exercise works is that it requires that you actively look at yourself and start working on the things that don’t lead in a positive direction in your life. The process of working on certain issues helps you gain better insight into the areas of your life that might benefit from some extra attention.

In a notebook divide a page into two columns, label one column “Positive” and the other “Other Than Positive.”
Write down all the positive things you feel, think, and do in the “Positive” column.
Write down the things you think, feel, and do that lead in an “Other Than Positive” column.
Read the items in the “Positive” column and praise yourself for each item.
Look at your “Other Than Positive” column and pick the one item that seems the easiest to deal with. Once you pick a single item, decide on one action you will do to improve that item. Each subsequent day keep picking something to deal with that same item until it is no longer an issue that leads you in a less than positive direction.
Once your “Other Than Positive” item is no longer an issue, go back to the first step and repeat the entire process.
Repeat this exercise until you have very few “Other Than Positive” items.
Remember that developing self-awareness takes months, years, and will likely require a lifetime of commitment to learning and growing.

2. Looking Deep Inside

In this self-awareness exercise you get to take a deeper look at your emotions. A key element of self-awareness is the ability to look deep within and understand who your really are deep down inside and why you feel, think, and do what you do. Here’s how it works:

Think of an issue that creates a lot of discomfort in your life.
Label that issue with one of these four emotions (whichever fits the best): Anger, Sadness, Happiness, Fear.
Once you have chosen a single label then allow yourself five minutes to think of the issue and the emotion attached to it. After five minutes, write down your impressions of what you felt.
Keep repeating this exercise until you have a strong sense that the discomfort is no longer there or is greatly lessened.
Pick another issue and repeat the entire process.
Remember that this isn’t a one-time activity, it requires long-term commitment to developing your self-awareness.

You’ll find these exercises are challenging, some people even find them nearly impossible at first, but that’s the whole point of self-awareness; it’s a gradual process that takes time and repeated effort. So that you don’t get overloaded, I would recommend you work on these exercises on alternating weeks until you get really good at doing them, at which time you can do them simultaneously; the idea is to keep working on them until they become second nature. You’ll find that your self-awareness will naturally increase as you do the exercises. Please feel free to share your progress in the comments section below this post or contact me directly, I’d love to hear how you’re doing.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Parents Know How to Talk with Their Kids

September 8, 2023 - The Self-Awareness Guy

Many parents who lack self-awareness forget the cardinal rule of talking with children: listen to them. We get so caught up in coaching and directing their behavior or protecting them that we forget that they are people. The single most important key to talking with your kids is listening.

How to Listen

Don’t talk.
Don’t judge.
Invite your child to talk about anything her or she wants with no repercussions.
No commenting or editorializing allowed from you. No stories about when you were their age.
Invite them to keep talking to you anytime they want.
The only things you are allowed to say are, “Tell me more,” “I understand,” and “Thank you for talking with me,” or “I love you.” Try nodding and smiling as ways to invite them to talk more.
Try to avoid applying your beliefs to what they say.
Thank them and tell them you love them. Then say nothing else.

Practice these skills over time (at least one month, or longer) and always remember to tell your child you love them and that you are open to listening to them. If they don’t want to talk, respect their wishes and let them know that you are there when they are ready. When they do finally trust you, they will open up and then you can apply the ideas above. Once you’ve established and modeled that you can listen they may even invite you to offer your wisdom. They have to believe that you care enough to listen to them first.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and listen to your kids?

Cheers,

Guy