Self-Awareness - Everything You Need to Know
Are you looking to be happier? Do you want to have more influence and be a better decision-maker? Do you have dreams of being a great leader? If you answered yes to any of the following questions, you need self-awareness.
Aware people have high emotional intelligence and overall better mental health than people with low self-awareness. They tend to have influence over friends and loved ones. They tend to exhibit a healthy perspective on the world and have stronger relationships. Let's take a look at self-awareness. We will answer what self-awareness is and how to build self-awareness.
What is Self-Awareness?
Not everyone agrees on what self-awareness is. One proposed definition of self-awareness is the ability to understand their thoughts and feelings. In this definition, a highly self-aware person is a person who knows their values. They would only act according to them. These are people with high integrity, who are unlikely to lie, but can be difficult to get along with. They might also have issues communicating and frequently come across the wrong way.
Another definition of self-awareness is knowing how others perceive you. By this standard, a highly self-aware person understands a lot of social dynamics. These people are excellent at interpersonal understanding but may compromise their beliefs to fit in with the crowd.
If you wanted to take self-awareness to a spiritual level, self-awareness is understanding your place in the universe. Spiritually self-aware people have low levels of anxiety because they understand their purpose and stick to it. These are highly resilient people.
So, which version of self-awareness is the right? It's all these, which is why it's such a hard skill to build. But there are many benefits of self-awareness. They include:
Greater confidence
Better ability to manage your emotions
Sounder decision-making
Increased productivity
Better relationships in the professional and personal sphere
Levels Of Self Awareness
Biologists classify animal self-awareness into three levels:
Spacial Self Awareness
The animal is able to pay attention to its surroundings. It can tell what is and is not its own body and can keep itself alive.
Social Self Awareness
This is observed in pack animals. These are animals that can understand their role within the social unit.
Emotional Self Awareness
This is observed in animals of great intelligence, like apes, elephants, and dolphins. Animals with emotional self-awareness can understand their own desires and beliefs.
Types of Self-Awareness
Since self-awareness is such a complex concept, we’re going to break it down into three different types of self-awareness.
Public Self Awareness
This is external self-awareness. People with high levels of public self-awareness are good at understanding others, communicating, and showing empathy. Leaders with high levels of public self-awareness tend to have better relationships with their employees.
That said, a person with high public self-awareness and low private self-awareness may be willing to lie or cheat to maintain a public image. They also may be willing to compromise their values if the group decides to go in another direction.
Private Self-Awareness
This is internal self-awareness. These people have a great ability to understand their own thoughts and feelings. People with high internal self-awareness tend to have better job and relationship satisfaction. They also tend to be prone to blindspots because they don’t receive much feedback from others.
Spiritual Self-Awareness
The next level of self-awareness takes on a spiritual dimension. People with high levels of spiritual self-awareness understand their place in the big picture. They have an air of calmness around them. They make decisions easily and are willing to change their minds when presented with new information.
It takes both internal and external self-awareness to reach spiritual self-awareness. Usually, people need to work with a close mentor to fully understand where they fit in the world.
Ways to Increase Self-Awareness
Organizational psychologist and executive coach Tasha Eurich has studied the self-awareness of over 5,000 people. Of those 5,000 studied, everyone claimed to have a high level of self-awareness, but only about 10-15% actually did.
So it’s actually uncommon to be self-aware. How can you actually improve self-awareness? Here are some findings from Eurich’s study that we can apply in our own lives.
Be Curious
Curiosity about other people is a surefire way of developing self-awareness, especially in your social world. Talk to people to understand where they are coming from rather than forming your reply.
Remember: everyone in the world knows something that you do not. When you enter a conversation trying to find out more about the other person, they feel naturally drawn to you. Curiosity is automatically charismatic.
Stay Humble In Roles of Leadership
Tasha Eurich’s studies reveal that leadership roles often decrease levels of self-awareness. This happens for two reasons. One is that people who enter roles of leadership often get a bit overconfident. They become less curious and less willing to listen to feedback.
If you are entering a role of leadership, it is crucial to stay humble. Practicing meditation every day can help build patience and keep y our ego in check.
Cultivate Constructive Critics
Another reason people lose self-awareness in leadership roles is that people around them become shy to offer feedback as they gain status. But good leaders are made by good advisors.
The best leaders cultivate a circle of trusted loving critics. These are people who understand you, believe in your cause and are willing to tell you when you are starting from your mission.
Adopt a Trusted Mentor
If you’re not sure who to turn to for feedback, you might want to find a mentor. This is especially important before you become successful and gain a leadership role. This way, you’ve already built rapport with someone before you are put in a position to lose self-awareness.
Ask “What”, Not “Why”
Lots of introspection does not necessarily lead to self-awareness. In fact, the wrong kind of introspection can lead to rumination, depression, and anxiety.
Asking “why” tends to lead to less effective answers. Questions like “why did I snap at my coworker?” can lead to answers like “because I'm bad at managing my emotions, " when you just had low blood sugar. Whereas questions like “what factors led up to my outburst?” can lead to more effective answers like “I skipped breakfast; maybe I shouldn’t do that on a workday.”
Understand There’s Always More to Learn
One thing to understand about self-awareness is that it’s not a fixed point. You are alive and always in motion. The self-awareness you have today will not be the same self-awareness you have ten years from now. You will always be learning, changing, and growing as a person.
This brings us back to the first point about being curious. Curiosity is a growth mindset, which leads to more self-awareness. Be curious about yourself and the world around you.
Begin Gaining Self-Awareness Today
As mentioned before, getting a good mentor is one of the most effective things you can do to improve self-awareness. A good spiritual coach can help you reach your full potential and maintain self-awareness even at the top. Get in touch to receive a free 30-minute consultation.