Self-Awareness
Definition
Maintaining a clear idea of your own strengths and weaknesses
What is it?
Self-awareness is the ability to take an accurate inventory of our strengths and weaknesses and to be aware of our emotions throughout each day.
Why is it important?
Knowing what we’re good at gives us the confidence to tackle new challenges and learn new skills. We can intentionally capitalize on our strengths when addressing a problem. Similarly, being tenaciously honest about our shortcomings informs us about we need to work on. People who are self-aware can work to mitigate their weaknesses. By contrast, those who are unaware of their shortcomings have serious blind spots that can compromise performance or derail careers.
Suggestions for Improvement
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Articulate Your Strengths and Weaknesses
First of all, create an updated list of your top 10 strengths and your 10 biggest weaknesses. Some of those items might come from the G360 feedback report you received and some might come from your own experiences and observations. Some people think more highly of themselves than they ought to and will have qualities only on the strengths side of the list. Others think more poorly of themselves than they ought to and will have a much longer list of weaknesses. The goal is to have an accurate assessment of your strengths and weakness with a balanced list of items.
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Be Aware of Your Moods
Second, strive to become more aware of your daily emotions and behaviors. What time of day are you at your best? What gets you energized? How do diet, exercise, and sleep patterns affect your mood? Keeping a journal is a good way to identify patterns and operate at your optimal level of performance.
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Learn from Your Emotions
Strong emotions can be powerful indicators of issues within us that are being triggered. It’s important to identify these emotional rushes and figure out why we are feeling them. We might feel rejected by a boss, hurt that our efforts are not being recognized, or angry because of something a colleague said about us, perhaps without even realizing what we are feeling. Being in the grip of anger or anxiety distorts our ability to accurately understand what’s going on and will create significant emotional stress that will wear us down over time. By contrast, an awareness of these emotions helps us to understand them, resolve them, and learn more about ourselves.
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