self-knowledge

Self-Awareness and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

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When you possess a high level of self-awareness you’re able to step outside your comfort zone more easily because you understand your strengths and abilities as well as your areas for improvement. The reason so many people have a difficult time with change is that they only know how to do things one way and don’t realize that there may be other equally or more viable options available to them. Here are some tips to build your self-awareness and move in a positive direction:

  • Recognize that you’re uncomfortable.
  • Remind yourself that you can handle anything.
  • Remind yourself that you have options.
  • Make a list of positive alternatives to what you are doing right now.
  • Pick one of the alternatives and start working on it.
  • Practice your new approach until you get good at it.
  • If you run into another wall, repeat the process.

Discomfort often comes from not realizing that there are many other opportunities available to you. The next time you feel like you can’t do something or it’s too daunting, take a deep breath and deliberately walk yourself through this process instead of doing what you’ve always done. What will you do to begin consciously stepping outside your comfort zone?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Relationships

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Have you ever had a relationship that isn’t going well and you have no idea how to improve it? Do you have a pattern of relationships that are permeated with discomfort and conflict?

In order to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships, it is vital to to start building up your ability to deal with and manage your own emotions, as well as how you relate to other people’s emotions. Here are some examples of self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships:

  • One person gets angry and the other person recognizes that there is an emotion under there and simply listens to the other person talk about it.
  • Something stressful is happening in the relationship and both individuals are able to identify their emotions and use them to improve the situation.
  • An emotion comes up and the other person doesn’t feel threatened and doesn’t react or fight back.
  • Both individuals in the relationship are comfortable with their own emotions and each others’.
  • Both individuals have empathy for the other.
  • Both individuals are able to reason and problem solve because they can manage their own emotions.
  • The relationship has a natural, calm, safe, healthy feeling.

Imagine how you would feel if the examples above were a part of your relationships. How many of these things do you currently do? Most people don’t have relationships like this because they haven’t learned how build self-awareness and use their emotions positively. Here are some ideas on how to start being self-aware, comfortable with your and other people’s emotions, and create more enjoyable relationships:

  • Learn to identify and name the emotion you’re feeling, and do the same for other people.
  • Shift from seeing your emotions as a threat or something to be avoided and start feeling them and using them to move in a positive direction.
  • Learn how to experience your emotions and see them as a normal part of life.
  • Learn how to deal with and manage your emotions so you can make positive decisions.
  • Stop reacting to other people, let them experience their emotions without getting in the way or making it about you.
  • Stop thinking that other people are trying to harm you with their emotions.
  • Learn how to just observe and listen when other people are experiencing an emotion. Ask open-ended questions like, “What are you feeling?” or “What’s going on?” and just be there for them.

The key to building self-awareness and emotional intelligence in relationships is to practice feeling what’s going on inside you, be there for the other person when he/she is feeling something, and then using your self-awareness and emotions to take action in a positive manner. This process requires practice but, over time, you’ll enjoy much deeper, stronger, happier relationships.

What will you do to increase the self-awareness and emotional intelligence in your relationships?

Cheers,

Guy

11 Advantages of Possessing Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

11 Advantages of Possessing Self-Awareness

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There are many advantages to possessing self-awareness including:

  • A deeper knowledge of who you are.
  • A clearer understanding of why you think, feel and act the way you do.
  • The ability to build more meaningful relationships at work and in your personal life.
  • You can live life as the real you.
  • The ability to read other people and understand where they’re coming from.
  • You can interact with others without getting your stuff all over them.
  • You realize that not everything is about you.
  • You create less conflict.
  • You spread positive vibes because you’re happy with yourself.
  • You have the opportunity to work on your hurts and genuinely like yourself.
  • You have a big picture view of who you are and how you interact with the people around you and the events in your life.

When you’re thinking about the advantages of self-awareness, it’s important to realize that you get to decide how you think, feel and behave in life. If you understand yourself well, you’ll be much more likely to let go of the stuff that doesn’t work and live a life of joy and fulfillment. How will you start building self-awareness?

Cheers,

Guy

How Self-Aware Business People Communicate - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

How Self-Aware Business People Communicate

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Your communication style tells other businesses a lot about your level of self-awareness, your professionalism and what they can expect when they deal with you. A theme that frequently arises when I consult for leaders is how to communicate in a manner that invites other companies to want to do business with us. The following tips will help you put your best foot forward and communicate confidently:

  1. Listen actively. It’s amazing what you learn when you’re not talking.
  2. Say it briefly. Go with the approach that less is more in communication.
  3. Keep it professional. Business communication is not the appropriate time to vent about personal problems or delve into people’s private lives.
  4. Keep your temper in check. If you fly off the handle it not only shuts down communication but also reduces the likelihood that the other company will give you an opportunity in the future.
  5. Remind yourself that communication glitches aren’t a personal slight against you, they are just part of doing business.
  6. Practice excellent conflict resolution skills. Brainstorm with the other person to get some ideas on how to deal with the issue at hand and agree on a solution that works for both of you.
  7. Train everyone, starting with top leadership, on how to communicate effectively.

Other businesses judge us in much the same way our clients do. How we communicate says a lot to the outside world about the way we conduct business. Keep these tips in mind as you interact with other companies and you’ll be on your way to increasing your success exponentially.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and communicate positively?

Regards,

Guy

15 Benefits of Developing Self-Awareness - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

15 Benefits of Developing Self-Awareness

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Here are fifteen benefits of developing self-awareness:

  1. You heal the hurts from your past.
  2. You’re in touch with your emotions, are able to feel them, and can use them to move in a positive direction. You’re also comfortable with other people’s emotions.
  3. You understand your strengths and areas for improvement.
  4. You treat yourself and others with kindness, empathy, and compassion.
  5. You do things to make the world a better place.
  6. You focus on the deeper things in life rather than living superficially.
  7. You get to know the real you and live your life accordingly.
  8. You let go of the need for power and control and focus instead on being the best person you can be without dominating others or having to win.
  9. People like you at home and at work.
  10. You don’t have the constant internal conflict of saying one thing and doing another.
  11. You’re generally happy and balanced, even in difficult situations.
  12. You understand why you feel, think, and do things.
  13. You learn and grow each day.
  14. You become a nice person.
  15. You enjoy life.

When you develop self-awareness you have a wonderful opportunity to move beyond all the garbage that creates conflict, chaos, confusion, and misery in your life and focus instead on living a kind, joyful, deeply introspective and fulfilling existence. When you’re fully self-aware, you no longer live day to day, reacting to everything, you get to be the real you and do what you really love in life.

Cheers,

Guy

Choosing Safety or Self-Awareness and Courage - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Choosing Safety or Self-Awareness and Courage

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Do you choose safety in life or self-awareness and courage? Your decision will have a major impact on how your life will unfold.

A lot of wonderful people don’t pursue their dreams because they’d rather feel safe than experience heartache and setbacks. Sticking your neck out and showing the world your talent, no matter what happens, is one of the most difficult things for anyone to do. It takes an amazing amount of self-awareness and courage to be who you really are and share it confidently with everyone, including critics and detractors.

If you live for safety you’ll always take the route that leads to maintaining a feeling of being comfortable, and that’s rarely a creative or fulfilling path. If you’re actively striving to make your dreams come true, you know that it can be challenging but at least you’re proving that you have the courage to keep moving forward regardless of what anyone says or any obstacle that presents itself.

The difference between safety and courage is that playing it safe keeps you stuck and unhappy, often for a lifetime. Thankfully, you can always choose to build up your self-awareness, understand your strengths and areas for improvement, and take action each day to make your dreams come true. What will you do to choose self-awareness and courage instead of safety?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness Means Looking Inside Yourself - On Developing Self-Awareness and Being Self-Aware

Self-Awareness Means Looking Inside Yourself

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Self-awareness means looking inside yourself rather than relying on outside influences, entities, or events to make you happy in life. Countless people spend inordinate amounts of time living based on what some outside person or entity tells them to do, or reacting to whatever circumstance they find themselves in, rather than charting a course based on who they are deep inside and what they find meaningful and fulfilling. The key to being truly happy in life is being able to look inside yourself and:

  • Define who you really are.
  • Discover your true inner voice.
  • Determine what you really want to do in life.
  • Figure out what you need to do to live authentically.

When you do these things you’ll live life based on what’s inside you rather than always reacting to outside people and situations. It’s up to you whether you live life consciously or passively. What will you do to look inside yourself?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy