THE FIRST STEP TO BEING AUTHENTIC
What is self-awareness? The dictionary defines self-awareness as “knowledge and awareness of your own personality or character.” When you’re self-aware, you have an accurate and clear understanding of your personality, strengths, weaknesses, and beliefs. You know what makes you tick. Self-awareness also includes an understanding of how others perceive you.
Lacking self-awareness can lead to a very confusing and frustrating life!
Your level of self-awareness can influence your relationships, career, and happiness:
1. Self-awareness is necessary for taking control of your life. The direction of your life is determined by your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and reactions. Self-awareness is the principle way of understanding and influencing these things.
• Self-awareness highlights faulty beliefs and emotional reactions that stand in your way, and gives you the power to make adjustments.
2. Self-awareness illuminates the real reasons for past failures and challenges. We often dismiss our failures as bad luck or a lack of proper timing, but it’s also possible that we failed to perceive the situation, others, or ourselves accurately. Those who lack self-awareness are puzzled by their negative outcomes and can only blame others for their problems.
• Do you consistently struggle at work or in your relationships? What can you do better? It’s much easier to see the reason behind relationship, work, and other struggles when we can look at ourselves clearly.
3. Self-awareness is a critical quality for leaders. One study concluded that a high degree of self-awareness was the best predictor of success for executives.
• Executives who have an understanding of their weaknesses are able to build a team composed of members who fill those weaknesses.
• A lack of self-awareness puts a limit on your leadership abilities.
4. Self-awareness is the foundation for personal progress. Without it, any personal development efforts will be at a standstill.
• Self-awareness is the cornerstone of success and self-improvement. Without self-awareness, the knowledge you possess can’t be applied effectively. It’s necessary to understand your beliefs, habits, strengths, and weaknesses to make a personal change. Avoid assuming that you’re already self-aware. Give it some time and actually think about it.
Building greater self-awareness won’t happen overnight, Queen, but it can be developed. Start building your self-awareness and reaping the benefits!
Here’s what you need to do today:
• Make a list of your daily habits and mark each habit as either positive or negative.
• Then pick just one habit to work on. It can be a positive habit that you want to develop further, or you can pick a negative habit that you want to change. Either way, make a plan for changing your chosen habit.
Pre-order a copy of your Queen Journal today, so you can continue to increase your self-awareness and live authentically.