What is self-awareness and why is it important?
Self-awareness means you know your own self. Being self-aware includes knowing what you like and dislike, recognizing what motivates you, and even being familiar with your strengths and weaknesses.
It also means being aware of what “rules” you live by. Following those guidelines and recognizing your own habits all contribute to your level of self-awareness.
When you live life being self-aware, there’s little confusion. You know who you are and what you believe.
Being self-aware means you’re self-assured. You understand yourself thoroughly.
A person who knows himself well is open to and accepting of critical feedback. After all, critical feedback informs you about yourself. When someone tells us honestly and without malice what we’re doing and how we could improve, we’ve just received some valuable information that helps us be more self-aware.
But what if you haven’t thought much about these issues, for example, your strengths and weaknesses or what motivates you?
In that case, you might want to get to know yourself better!
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How to improve self-awareness:
1. What are your likes and dislikes? Knowing what you prefer and don’t prefer in life will start you on the road to self-awareness. After all, if you dislike going to the theater, it may not be a great fit for you to go. On the other hand, if you love going to the ballet or attending the symphony, why not spend more of your time there?
2. What motivates you? Are you motivated by love, personal interest, or money? Do you have to love your job to perform it to the best of your ability? Most people have knowledge of a student who loves math but, because he didn’t like his math teacher, he earned an “F” in the class.
- Maybe you don’t have to love something, but you’ve just got to have a high interest in it in order to perform it.
- Money is an incredible motivator for many. Perhaps money motivates you, too. Some of the hardest workers you’ll find are people who were paid to mow lawns when they were 12 years old. They learned the value of a dollar and how to get it and have been motivated ever since.
3. Write down your strengths. Then, write down your weaknesses. It’s important to recognize what you do well and what you can work on to improve.
4. Which rules do you live by? Whether it comes from your faith or handed down by your parents, knowing what you use as a standard, or ideal, in life will increase your self-knowledge.
5. Review your habits. Everyone has habits – those things you do repeatedly throughout your day. Simply knowing your habits reveal more to you about yourself. Do you have a habit of twisting your hair? Or snapping your fingers?
- When you know your habits, you know yourself. Not to mention that if you like, you can change them. But awareness is required in order to adjust your habits in any way.
- Openly accept feedback from others. When you’re lucky enough to have those around you willing to honestly give you input and feedback on your actions and behaviors, you’ll get another perspective on yourself, which enhances your self-awareness.
The more self-awareness you have, the more consciously you’ll live your life
When you’re in touch with who you are, your day-to-day life gains great clarity. Increase your self-awareness to enjoy a more rewarding life experience.