5 Steps to Improve Self Awareness
Have you ever met an intellectual individual with very little to show for it?
They knew so much data.
But their lack of awareness had you scratching your head.
I have a friend like this.
He is the first to give others great advice on how to lose weight & maintain a healthy lifestyle.
But he has been heavy & out of shape for as long as I have known him.
If he bothered to apply his own tips, he’d be shredded.
We all know his advice works.
The question we have is, how come he doesn’t apply it?
Truth be told, my overly heavy friend is unware.
In his mind, he doesn’t see much of an issue.
He thinks he is in shape or often tells us ‘he’s getting to it…’
But the results are non-existent.
We know plenty of people like this.
And if you don’t know someone like this, then you are probably that person.
A know it all with low self-awareness.
And these are the type of characters to have trouble in the communications world.
Self-awareness is a staple of street smarts.
And street smarts is a staple of dealing with people.
A life without self-awareness is like driving a car with only a view of the windshield.
But no rearview, side mirrors, windows to the side.
A life with self-awareness opens up your vision & allows you to become more patient.
You are on the process of taming your ego & building your empathy.
In this article, I am going to give you 5 tips on how to improve your self-awareness,
Learn these 5 tips, and you’ll see WHAT to fix before giving others tips on HOW to fix it..
1. Listen to Common Criticisms
I don’t like haters.
Think those who are jealous or don’t have much going on in their lives have the time to talk shit about others.
But a key component of dealing with other humans is being able to distinguish between haters and constructive critics.
The difference boils down to this:
- Hater = Points out flaws.
- Constructive critic = Points out flaws & offers feedback.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have the social intelligence to fall into the constructive critic boat.
Which is why you’ll notice a lot of people who come off as haters.
My tip is to listen to haters & use them.
They will often bring awareness to common personality traits that you were unaware of.
And haters will tell you what your kind-hearted friends may often leave out.
Look out for repeat criticisms and meditate on it.
If it’s something you dub as a nuisance, then push it aside.
But at least check it out.
2. Have grand Goals
A lot of people lack self-awareness because they aren’t striving for much.
They have the same routine that they carry out on autopilot.
The only conflict that they have is anxiety due to a LACK of problems.
Your brain is a problem-solving machine.
And if it doesn’t have any problems to solve, then it will create them.
Small issues will be blown out of proportion.
Grand goals force you to come to terms with character deficits.
And character deficits don’t necessarily mean a bad thing.
It simply is a PRODUCTIVE goal for your problem-solving brain to work towards.
If you’re going to have problems no matter what…
Might as well chase a grand goal to at least have problems that help you grow.
This brings me to my next point.
3. Evaluate where you are now
Creating a grand life goal allows you to evaluate where you are in life right now.
But you know what’s funny?
A lot of people don’t evaluate where they are.
That’s like me dropping you off in the middle of nowhere, and asking you to pick me up from Disneyworld.
You have a destination in mind.
But you have 0 clue which city you are in.
Let alone, continent.
A polarity between your BIG goal & evaluating where you are now, improves self-awareness.
If you want to become the best public speaker in the world, then at least ask yourself if you are a beginner or intermediate.
4. Follow your Confusions
I used to hate when I was confused about something.
Thought it meant that I was dumb.
Then I realized which era that I was blessed to be living in.
Your boy is living in the Information Age.
Anything I want to learn, I have access to it.
Nowadays, confusion is not a bad thing.
But rather a compass.
Your gut instinct is primal for your body.
Your confusion is primal for your mind.
No one is born knowing everything.
When you can accept that, your confusion becomes a compass rather than a life sentence.
This is what allows you to build self-awareness, curiosity, and intellect.
5. Journal
Journaling is huge in terms of building self-awareness.
What journaling does is that it allows you to detach from your ego.
My pro tip is to write your journals down & re-read them.
What I noticed is when I read a journal entry from a month or 2 ago, I feel more open to providing myself constructive criticism.
This is when you are able to detach yourself from making it personal & analyze the situation for what it is.
You are able to analyze who you are for what you are.
The writing by hand technique allows you to freeze your personality in moments & come back to it later.
Understanding where you are coming from allows you to understand where you are.
Understand where you are & the improved self-awareness will lead you towards your destination.
Bonus Tip: Meditation
The common misinterpretation with meditation is that it’s about clearing your thoughts.
While in reality, it’s about learning to sit with your thoughts.
MEDITATION IS A WORKOUT TO BUILD SELF AWARENESS.
Now that I think about it, this should have been step 1.
But since you made it so far into the blog, this is my gift to you.
Meditation is all about giving your mind a target, and making yourself AWARE when you have gone away from the target.
You can choose any target: your breath, body sensations, a vision, candlelight etc.
A breathing meditation simulation goes like:
- Focus on your natural breaths.
- When you get lost in thought, make yourself AWARE and bring yourself back to the breath.
- Repeat.
Don’t be hard on yourself for losing focus.
Making yourself aware is what you are going for.
That’s a rep for your mind.
The more reps, the more you improve self-awareness.
Get to know yourself like a Best Friend
The mind can either be your best friend or worst enemy.
This is what emotional intelligence is all about.
EQ often gets the reputation as emotional management & regulation.
But think about it…
Can you really manage & regulate what you don’t understand?
Nah..
It’s a game of building self-awareness so you learn to enhance your maturing.
The more self-aware you become, the less impulsive you are.
Getting to know yourself is a lifelong journey.
A journey that will constantly bring about new levels.
If you improve self-awareness, then you will be kinder to yourself.
And once someone is kind to themselves, they become much more pleasant to be around.
Strong communication skills will simply be a byproduct.
