Personal Awareness

Self-Awareness Can Help You Practice Effective Team Building - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Can Help You Practice Effective Team Building

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

A lot of leaders and organizations want to practice effective team building but don’t have the self-awareness to actually do it. I often hear people in workplaces saying things out loud that illustrate why they aren’t building teams, but they’re not aware they’re doing it. People have beliefs hardwired inside them that they don’t even realize get in the way of bringing employees together and encouraging them to collaborate. Here are ten of the most prevalent beliefs that show a lack of self-awareness and that block team building.

  1. They’ll never get along. If you believe people won’t get along they’ll prove you right almost every time.
  2. We’re rugged individualists. Individuals functioning in this way aren’t as adept at working in teams as people who believe in collaboration.
  3. If you want it done right do it yourself. If you’re doing everything it leaves your team stranded and feeling like they can’t do anything right.
  4. Teams must have a strong leader. It’s often the strong leader that gets in the way of everyone having a voice and participating actively.
  5. Collaboration was fine in kindergarten but this is the real world. If you believe this then I know how you practice team building.
  6. Everybody has a specific job. This keeps people firmly in their boxes and discourages creativity.
  7. Team building is secondary to productivity. Many leaders overlook the idea that if you build a strong foundation of high-functioning teams you become more productive.
  8. Team building is too touchy-feely. Leaders who believe this create workplaces that only allow three feelings: forced happiness, fear and anger.
  9. I don’t have to participate. Nothing says you lack commitment to team building than not participating in it with your employees.
  10. I don’t have time for team building. This is like saying you don’t have time to build a roof over your building because you’ve got to get to work and then it rains and soaks everything.

Self-aware leaders understand that team building is a vital building block to create workplaces where people interact positively and help each other get things done. The way you actually build teams is to have the self-awareness to objectively review and understand the team building strengths and areas for improvement in your workplace and take action in small increments over time. You might offer ongoing team building training or provide opportunities for people to work together to solve problems. Some organizations form brainstorming groups that tackle thorny issues. The idea is to gradually build a workplace where working collaboratively is encouraged. What will you do to create a culture of self-awareness and team building in your organization?

Cheers,

Guy

How Self-Awareness Can Help Me - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How Self-Awareness Can Help Me

/ / Self-Awareness / , , ,

If you’ve ever searched online for, “How self-awareness can help me,” then you’re likely on the path to trying to learn more about yourself.

Self-awareness is a vital skill to improve your life. It can help you experience greater happiness, productivity, and fulfillment.

Here are some ways self-awareness can help you:

  • You’re able to identify your feelings and use them to help you live more effectively.
  • You understand why you think certain things and how you can focus on thinking positively.
  • You behave in ways that that indicate you understand who you are as well as being able to keep other people’s needs in mind.
  • You’re able to feel good about yourself.
  • You treat others with empathy and kindness.
  • You’re constantly improving as a person.
  • You’re able to get past the things that hold you back.
  • You’re able to heal your past hurts and move forward positively.
  • You feel genuinely happy inside.
  • You feel a sense of fulfillment and balance.
  • You do things that are meaningful.
  • You have positive relationships.
  • You make the world a better place for yourself and others.

Self-awareness is the key to living a well-rounded, fulfilling, happy life. It’s the difference between living unconsciously and consciously. Start working today on building your self-awareness and you’ll be on your way to truly enjoying your time on this planet.

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Can Help You Talk about Difficult Topics - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Can Help You Talk about Difficult Topics

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

Self-awareness can help you talk about difficult topics with others because, the more you know yourself, the better able you are to have complex conversations with others.

There’s a frequently recited adage that you shouldn’t talk about religion and politics in polite company, advice created by people who don’t know how to talk about charged topics without getting angry or hurt. The key to effective communication is for the participants to have the self-awareness to realize that other people’s ideas, beliefs, values and opinions aren’t necessarily an attack on their own, just another perspective. Here are some ideas that will help you talk about difficult issues in your personal or professional life:

  • Go in with good intentions. Keep an open mind and engage in the conversation with the idea that you’re going to learn something and that you’ll do everything you can to make sure things go well.
  • Assume the other person isn’t trying to hurt you. Interact based on the premise that you’re having a positive two-way conversation, not that you’re walking into a life-threatening ambush.
  • Listen to the other person. Don’t talk, interrupt or give your opinion, just listen actively and learn about the other person’s point of view whether you agree with it or not.
  • Practice self-awareness. Be aware of your own thoughts, feelings and actions and manage them so you don’t get angry or defensive.
  • Stay calm. Communication doesn’t have to be a contact sport, it can be calm and pleasant.
  • Resist the urge to fight back. Increase your chances of interacting positively by keeping yourself under control.
  • Avoid participating in an argument. Look at the conversation as an opportunity to learn about another perspective instead of creating conflict.
  • Realize the other person’s point of view is just a point of view. No matter what someone says, it doesn’t mean that you have to change your values or beliefs.
  • Know when to back off. Sometimes people aren’t ready or able to talk about a certain topic. Let them know you’re available to talk when they’re ready.

Individuals who understand and master these skills are able to talk about any issue because their communication style shifts from confrontational to actively listening to what other people are saying. Virtually nothing someone else says merits an explosive reaction unless you decide it does. The key to effective communication is to move from reacting viscerally to consciously working on listening, learning and getting along with the other person. What will you do to increase your self-awareness so you’re able to talk about difficult topics?

Cheers,

Guy

Using Self-Awareness to Overcome Your Fears - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Using Self-Awareness to Overcome Your Fears

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

You can use self-awareness to overcome your fears because, the more you understand your emotions, thoughts, and actions, the easier it is to not be scared of things.

Fear often keeps us repeating the same patterns, even to the extent of repeating behaviors we dislike. We get stuck doing the same thing over and over and don’t see a way out. Overcoming fears is a challenge we avoid because we tend to hang on to the familiar rather than the unknown.

The paradoxical thing is that the unknown can often lead us in new and wonderful directions we couldn’t even imagine when we started out. Facing your fears is a matter of finding out what they are, where they come from and taking action to move in a different direction. Here is what some smart people have to say about the subject.

Bonaro W. Overstreet

Perhaps the most important thing we can undertake toward the reduction of fear is to make it easier for people to accept themselves, to like themselves.

Don Miguel Ruiz:

Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are.

Dorothy Thompson:

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.

Eleanor Roosevelt:

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. What will you do to use your self-awareness to move beyond fear?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Self-Awareness and Being Sensitive

/ / Self-Awareness / , ,

A lot of people who are labeled sensitive go through life being mocked or belittled for having an extraordinary way of looking at the world. Being sensitive simply means that you have the self-awareness to be in touch with deeper feelings and are able to experience things more intensely and fully.

Being a sensitive person requires a lot of courage because you’ll likely feel things that others are afraid of, don’t want to deal with, or will never get close to experiencing. That’s what makes you unique and wonderful, the ability to examine yourself and the world around you and feel things that are important to anyone who wants to live with self-awareness.

As a highly sensitive person, I feel things in my heart; literally like a flooding sensation in my chest. I’m tuned into what others are thinking and feeling even when they aren’t. There have been times in my life when I was told to squelch these feelings and it made me feel horrible about myself. Luckily, as I kept building my self-awareness, I realized that I could actually be myself and make a career of it, which allowed me to live a meaningful, happy life.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and be a sensitive person?

Cheers,

Guy

Using Self-Awareness to Improve Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Using Self-Awareness to Improve Relationships

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

You can use self-awareness to improve your relationships starting today because, when you understand how your emotions, thoughts, and actions affect your interactions with others, you’re better able to connect with them positively and understand where they’re coming from.

It’s easy to focus exclusively on our own perspective in relationships. We tend to think of our relationship issues in terms we are familiar with and this often means we keep repeating the same patterns and acting the same way we always have. This works well if we get great results but what happens if our behaviors always lead to less than satisfactory relationships.

We all know people who lack self-awareness and never quite resolve their differences with others, and we watch them repeat the same pattern over and over. I’ve noticed that it is helpful to let in some new information and get a fresh perspective. When we let new information in it’s like opening a window in a stuffy room, we can breathe better and think more clearly. Think about some of the following ideas next time you feel stuck in your relationship.

1. Who can I turn to that is not involved in my situation and can give me impartial advice?
2. Am I willing to let an outside person offer me advice?
3. How open am I to talking about personal issues with an outside person?
4. How open am I to doing the work necessary to move in a different direction?
5. What actions will I commit to doing?

Think about these questions and keep in mind that none of us has all the answers but we all have the ability to improve our self-awareness and acquire new information if we are open enough. Let some air in, enjoy a fresh perspective and start moving in a new direction. What will you do to increase your self-awareness so you can improve your relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

How to Achieve Goals and Increase Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How to Achieve Goals and Increase Self-Awareness

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

Here are some practical tips to achieve goals and increase self-awareness:

  • Pick one issue you want to work on. Define it as specifically and narrowly as possible.
  • Keep your goal manageable. For example: “I will write one chapter of my book,” “I’m going to work on 50 books.” This sets you up for success instead of feeling disappointed because you took on too much at once.
  • Monitor your progress and celebrate as you go along. When you accomplish one task, congratulate yourself and reflect on the great work you did.
  • Keep taking small steps even when you don’t feel like it. You will feel at times that nothing positive is happening. Keep pushing through those thoughts by continuing to take action.

An important part of self-awareness is to keep things manageable and work little by little. It’s the small steps that eventually lead to big results.

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy