Studies have shown that about 95% of individuals worldwide presume they are self-aware. However, only roughly 10-15% truly are. Setting your focus on developing self-awareness directly impacts your likelihood of triumph.
When you become intentional with your journey, you will be able to focus on yourself more and identify your needs, beliefs, and challenges that can help you manage your emotions and feel empowered.
Individuals who lack self-awareness have a poor understanding of self-awareness. They are not conscious of how their decisions influence their lives. Their absence of self-awareness in their knowledge does not only affect their lives, but it can also tear down their chances of success in half.
Identify Your Strengths
You might have heard several times that you are unique in your own ways. Yet, it’s very unlikely that you have pondered on the reason why despite the fact that there are over 7 billion of us scattered around the world.
Our strengths define each and everyone of us, and understanding these strengths is a certain way to become self-aware, giving you a sense of direction. Moreover, it also demarcates the measures you need to take in order to reach your goals.
Developing self-awareness isn’t all about identifying your strengths, though. It’s also all about getting more satisfactory at them.
Identify Your Weaknesses
On a similar note on the latter point, you should know your weaknesses. Although your shortcomings won’t actually affect your self-awareness development that much, it’s essential for you to recognize them.
Consider your skills and development areas, and always remember that your weaknesses don’t define you. You only need to be cognizant of them to know when to reach out for assistance and when you should face things on your own.
Become Self-Disciplined
Self-discipline is among the essential values a person could ever have. It is basically the ability to control your emotions, introspections, urges, and behaviors despite provocations and temptations. This helps in staying 100% immersed in the things you need to do, and it helps in building healthy habits, developing potential, as well as in stretching out your limitations.
Be Curious About Yourself
If you believe that you fully know yourself, sorry to burst your bubble― but no one really knows everything about themselves. To be self-aware, remember to be genuinely curious about yourself. Spare some time about how your mind works and reminisce on what you find.
Take time to know about your body, understand what triggers you, what calms you, and what drives you to the edge. There are times that we tend to get scared about finding particular things about ourselves, yet if total self-awareness is your goal, you have to go down that road no matter how hideous they may seem.
Let Your Guard Down
Did you notice how defensive you get when you catch a glimpse of something that is totally foreign to you, especially if you don’t take delight in it? It’s your instinct that’s trying to protect you. However, instead of letting fear take over and choosing to ignore this newfound information, better learn more about this aspect of yourself.
Understand that it’s completely okay to discover new pieces of yourself that you never knew you had— even if they do not fit into your previous accounts. You will only be able to achieve total self-awareness and maybe shine out some rough edges.
Know Your Triggers
Everyone has something that triggers them and if you fail to find yours, your journey to developing self-awareness could be dangerous. It would take quite a lot of work to come face to face with your triggers, but you have to do it. Otherwise, you’ll accomplish nothing.
Always Ask For Feedback
When you ask for feedback from other people, you get the chance to learn something about yourself that you have never even contemplated before in the first place. But be careful about the people you would ask for feedback, consider only a few people know you well enough to have a valid opinion of you.
Trust is an essential factor when asking for feedback, so you have to make sure to ask someone you trust. However, you have to prepare your mind and heart for the words you’re going to receive from people. It can be a bit difficult to accept criticism when it does not sound pleasant to the ear, but that’s where challenging work comes in.
No matter how harsh the words you will receive, don’t get angry, though. In the first place, you ask for feedback to see yourself from their perspective to better understand yourself.
Question Your Opinions and Values
Another good way to learn more about yourself is by questioning the opinions and values you have in mind. Oftentimes, our values are a close reflection of who we really are, and contesting them places us face-to-face with our thought processes, behaviors, opinions, and biases that result from these thoughts.
There’s no need for you to change your mind about your values and opinions when you question them inside your head. You just allow yourself to explore new possibilities that could perhaps change them. Remember not to let the ideas of change you, though.
Be Open
Don’t expect yourself to be self-aware if you don’t keep an open mind. Your openness to learning more about yourself makes it more manageable to accept the not-so-beautiful part while also making a conscious effort to drive these parts to be better.
