Personal Awareness

Insecure Leaders Lack Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Insecure Leaders Lack Self-Awareness

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

Lack of self-awareness leads to insecure leaders who are unable to run their organizations effectively or interact positively with their employees. They focus way too much on unhealthy and unproductive behaviors rather than building positive, supportive, flexible workplaces.

Insecure leaders often do negative things in the workplace because they don’t feel great about themselves deep down inside, which comes from a lack of self-awareness about their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, and how they impact others in the workplace.

Leaders display insecure behavior for many reasons including because they are frightened, feel threatened, are not in control of their own actions or emotions or feel like they are not important enough. Some leaders withdraw when they are insecure and others become overbearing or require a lot of support and attention. Regardless of how you behave, insecurity is about how you feel about yourself. So what can you do to feel great about yourself and your leadership abilities.

Consider the following ideas to boost your self-awareness and reduce your insecurity.

Characteristics of Secure Leaders

  • Aren’t threatened by others and don’t need to dominate.
  • Listen well and don’t talk on top of others.
  • Don’t require attention all the time.
  • Are comfortable with other people’s success.
  • Don’t feel they have to win.
  • Don’t put other people down to make themselves feel better.

Characteristics of Insecure Leaders

  • Threatened by others.
  • Talk a lot to get attention.
  • Need to be the center of attention.
  • Jealous of other people’s success.
  • Competitive, always need to win.
  • Put people down to feel better.

Which list do your behaviors reflect more often? If you see yourself on the insecure side, it’s not the end of the world, all you have to do is increase some of the positive traits. Even highly insecure people can feel better about themselves by practicing behaviors that allow them to experience their own success and help others do the same.

Leaders can increase their self-awareness by working out their own personal issues and finding ways to use their talents and abilities in the workplace. When you focus on building yourself up in positive ways you can then do the same for your workplace and employees. Being confident takes some practice but you’ll get to enjoy a more rewarding work life.

What will you do to develop your self-awareness and be a healthy, secure leader?

Cheers,

Guy

Moving Past Criticism with Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Moving Past Criticism with Self-Awareness

/ / Self and Self-Awareness, 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

15 Benefits of Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

15 Benefits of Self-Awareness

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

There are many benefits of self-awareness including:

  • Knowing yourself on a deeper level.
  • Listening to your inner voice.
  • Not having to live someone else’s life.
  • Living the life you want to.
  • Thinking, feeling and behaving positively.
  • Understanding why you think, feel and behave the way you do.
  • Being open to learning and growing.
  • Making your dreams come true.
  • Treating yourself and others well.
  • Living mindfully and consciously.
  • Being proactive rather than reactive.
  • Experiencing deep happiness and fulfillment.
  • Living authentically and meaningfully.
  • Simplifying your life.
  • You get to be the real you.

When you possess a high level of self-awareness, you honor who you really are and live a life where you don’t have to pretend you’re someone else. You also get to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from finally being able to be yourself. What will you do to live a self-aware life?

Cheers,

Guy

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

Being Happy and Self-Awareness

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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 - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Dating Tips and Self-Awareness

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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 - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Being Kind to Yourself

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

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 - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

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

/ / Self-Awareness in Leadership / , ,

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

The Self-Awareness Guy