Examples of Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness and Finding Your Path as a Leader - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Finding Your Path as a Leader

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Self-awareness helps you find your path as a leader because, when you understand who you are and what you really want in life, you are able to identify things that bring you joy at work instead of misery.

Many leaders experience discomfort at work because they are not doing the things they love. This feeling manifests itself in many ways including unhappiness, lack of motivation and loss of focus. The great thing about work is that you can move in any direction you want at any time. Here’s a couple ideas to help you begin your journey.

Define Your Path

How will you know where you want to go if you haven’t defined it yet? Take some time to increase your self-awareness and figure out who you are and what really brings you joy at work. Focus on ways to reach for your dreams. The idea is to work in an environment that reflects what you really love to do and becomes your path. The more you connect with yourself the clearer your path will look.

Listen to Your Inner Voice

We spend so much time listening to what other people think we should do that we frequently ignore the most important voice, our own. Once you focus on developing your self-awareness and connecting with your dreams at work, the voice inside you will let you know if you’re on course or veering in some other direction. Your inner voice gives you clues and insight and tells you when you’re on the path. Learn to listen to it and pay attention to what it says.

Take Action

Once you’re on your path, doors will open for you that you didn’t know existed before. Make sure to take advantage of opportunities that come your way and that fit with your true goals and dreams. Focus on small actions that build your self-awareness and confidence, and always keep in mind that  staying on your path means staying true to yourself.

Following your path is a matter of building self-awareness by getting in touch with who you really are and building a career based on that idea. Remember to take it easy on yourself; it’s OK to go off the path occasionally as long as you’re living the majority of your life on or near it. What will you do to increase self-awareness and be more fulfilled at work?

Cheers,

Guy

Unhappy People Lack Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Unhappy People Lack Self-Awareness

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Years ago, I had to interact with this unhappy person who was always stomping around in a state of heightened agitation and unease. I remember feeling drained and annoyed by what seemed to be a person who lacked self-awareness, was always in his own little world, and didn’t seem to care about anyone else but himself. I always wanted to tell him that there was so much more to life than being miserable and upset all the time, or that he didn’t have to get his stuff on others.

Then I realized that I was the unhappy person. Regardless of how he was behaving, it was I who was becoming upset about the things he was doing. For many years after this realization, I worked hard on calming and healing myself instead of focusing on others. Where once I would get perturbed by someone like him, I eventually learned to handle it.

The moral of the story is that we have within us the power to react any way we want to any person or event in our lives. Self-awareness means possessing the balance within you to find calm in the heaviest storm. What will you do about the unhappy person in your life?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware Leaders Value Diversity - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Aware Leaders Value Diversity

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Self-aware leaders and organizations are aware of the benefits of a diversity in the workplace. Diversity is not just a buzzword that creates extra work for human resources departments, it is a tangible asset that can be used to benefit the organization. First a brief definition of diversity. I have worked with many companies to help them overcome the challenges diversity presents and each company defines diversity differently. I don’t believe in complicating things so I propose the following definition:

Workplace Diversity

The issues related to developing a workplace that is uniformly inclusive and encourages meaningful participation from all individuals in the organization regardless of background.

This brief definition gets rid of a lot of the extraneous noise related to diversity. We tend to ask too many questions and stumble around issues like race, age, gender, disability and culture when all we really want to do is help our employees get along.

Proactive human resources departments understand the benefits of designing policies that draw from the talent pool and encourage productivity and innovation. Why would any company limit the potential of the employees unless it expressly wanted to limit its own success?

If you are in human resources or are a leader/manager looking for ideas to increase inclusiveness then you might consider the following diversity-boosting ideas.

1. Hire based on qualifications required for a specific job.

2. Strive to create as varied a mix of people in your workplace as possible.

3. Ask your managers to actively identify people’s talents and use them.

4. Encourage people to leave their preconceptions at the door.

5. Create opportunities for the growth and success of all your employees.

6. Set up an ongoing training program that helps individuals discuss diversity.

7. Create a comprehensive written strategy for increasing diversity in your workplace.

8. Practice these approaches over time.

Diversity is not a mystery and is easily incorporated into the culture of any organization. It requires self-awareness, buy-in, and commitment starting at the top. The rewards are impressive. Many companies report increased innovation, productivity, morale and team effectiveness when they implement a thoughtful plan to boost diversity.

Diversity is not a destabilizing force, it is an opportunity to harness the power of the many amazing talents of your workforce. Those who understand this potential succeed at high levels. What will you do to develop self-awareness and use diversity to help your organization thrive?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Leads to Real Happiness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Leads to Real Happiness

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A lot of people claim they’re happy and then think, say, and do things that indicate they’re not. The thing I like so much about self-awareness is that it’s an actual path to happiness, not just some false assertion. Here’s how it works:

  1. You take an ongoing, honest, candid look at yourself, examining your strengths and areas for improvement.
  2. You identify the parts of your life that don’t lead to joy, these are often the remnants of your formative years when you were hurt in some way.
  3. You feel all the emotions related to your past hurts and actively work on healing them. You go to therapy if necessary.
  4. You begin forming a clear picture of your whole self.
  5. What you feel, think, say, and do all follow the same path and don’t conflict with each other.
  6. You identify who you genuinely are deep inside and what you really want to do with your life.
  7. You take action every day to live life as the real you.
  8. Your level of kindness and compassion toward yourself and others keeps growing.
  9. You feel, think, and behave positively toward yourself and others; not just say you do.
  10. You become so happy inside that you make the world a better place for everyone.

If you value self-awareness, you’re likely doing one or several of these things right now and you’re on your way to living a peaceful, loving, balanced, dynamic, fulfilling, healthy life. What does real happiness mean to you?

Cheers,
Guy

Leadership, Self-Awareness, and Improving Morale in Your Company - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Leadership, Self-Awareness, and Improving Morale in Your Company

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Leaders who possess self-awareness are able to improve morale in their companies because they understand how their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors affect them and others.

I consult with leaders and organizations to help them improve morale by focusing on positive behaviors. It’s very normal for companies to experience flagging morale and there are some practical things they can do to improve the situation.

The Example of Leadership

Leaders lead by example, a positive one. If they behave in stressed-out ways then employees pick up on it. Think about the difference if a leader is calm and balanced instead of panicking.

Knowledge Instead of Drive

Many leaders get caught up in the idea that they have to drive their employees like a team of horses. They push and push and push until the stagecoach goes careening down a gully. Try being there for employees when they ask for help and give them your knowledge only when they ask for it. Trust that they know how to do their jobs and drive them less.

Find Out What Your Employees Love Doing

People feel great when they are using their talents and are actually interested in what they’re doing. Identify what your employees love to do and have them do it.

Praise Constantly

Telling people they’re doing a great job makes them feel great. Praising also helps you focus on successes rather than always correcting perceived mistakes or offering the dreaded constructive criticism.

Offer Opportunities for Bonding

Give people a chance to interact in positive ways. Set up a regularly scheduled meeting time where people can talk with each other and share success stories.

Value Self-Awareness

Leaders who value self-awareness are able to mange their own and others emotions, thoughts, and actions to build a more cohesive, healthy, positive workplace.

Try these six ideas and you’ll find that your employees are feeling better about themselves, each other and you. What will you do develop self-awareness and improve the morale in your company?

Cheers,

Guy

Getting Rid of Destructive Pride with Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Getting Rid of Destructive Pride with Self-Awareness

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A lot of people who lack self-awareness believe that pride means being as outwardly tough and invulnerable as possible. They’ll insist they’re proud of doing something or being a certain way even when they’re not. This type of thinking produces people who can never back down, admit being wrong, or change their minds. They present a strong facade but are internally shattered and don’t possess the self-awareness to change direction.

True pride is not how much bravado you project or how strong your shell is, it’s how you actually feel about yourself deep inside and how genuinely self-aware, balanced, and fulfilled you are. People who are willing to take a look at who they are and make the necessary adjustments are much more likely to live happily than those who only focus on projecting invincibility.

Being proud really means being at peace with yourself by living life as the real you, not just pretending you’re doing it. Constructive pride is the ability to feel great about who you are as a person at every level, without any rationalizations or qualifications. What will you do to develop self-awareness and move beyond destructive pride?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness, Leadership, and Building a Compassionate Workplace - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness, Leadership, and Building a Compassionate Workplace

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Leaders who possess self-awareness are able to build compassionate workplaces because they have the ability to manage their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and treat others with kindness and empathy.

You don’t often hear the word compassion and work in the same breath because, at some point, some brilliant leader decided that work should be constraining and repetitive instead of uplifting and fulfilling. This is the same genius who decided that people are just there to help make money and that it doesn’t matter what kind of hardships they have to endure or how unpleasant the work is as long as they’re making the machine run.

The practice of using people solely as robots creates all kinds of tension and disease in the workplace. I’ve found that leaders get much better results when they use compassion to create healthy workplaces. Compassion simply means treating people as if you deeply care about them and understand their experience. It’s a powerful tool to create an environment where employees are valued and understood. Think about what would happen in your workplace if you applied what these smart people say about the subject.

  • Compassion is more important than intellect in calling forth the love that the work of peace needs, and intuition can often be a far more powerful searchlight than cold reason. Betty Williams.
  • If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded. Maya Angelou.
  • Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscaglia.
  • We are already one. But we imagine that we are not.  And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are. Thomas Merton.
  • The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama.
  • The act of compassion begins with full attention, just as rapport does. You have to really see the person. If you see the person, then naturally, empathy arises. If you tune into the other person, you feel with them. If empathy arises, and if that person is in dire need, then empathic concern can come. You want to help them, and then that begins a compassionate act. So I’d say that compassion begins with attention. Daniel Goleman.

When I talk with leaders about self-awareness and compassion in the workplace, I get the distinct sense that many don’t yet understand why you would want to care for people at a deeper level because, after all, they’re there to do a job. It is precisely this kind of thinking that keeps their organizations stuck in the cycle of dealing with unhappy and unfulfilled employees.

Leaders who lack self-awareness spend so much time attending to the problems that arise from toxic workplaces that compassion is a welcome alternative. Compassionate workplaces get rid of the negative garbage that comes from not caring for people and replaces it with results from people who feel valued.

Leaders can start doing this at any time they choose but it takes conscious effort and focus on the well-being of their employees. What will you do to increase self-awareness and build a more compassionate workplace?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy