What is Self-Awareness?
Self-awareness is the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards.
If you’re highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behaviour with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you.
The Significance of Self-Awareness for Leaders and Business Owners
Self-awareness is crucial for effective leadership, impacting confidence, creativity, decision-making, relationship building, communication, ethical behavior, career progression, and overall leadership effectiveness.
Despite its significance, true self-awareness is rare, with only 10%-15% of individuals meeting the criteria.
Thinking we have self-awareness might be like thinking everyone else is a bad driver…. but the statistics say different.
The Significance of Self-Awareness in BNI
In BNI as entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and business owners we can have behaviors and lifelong habits we have developed that can harm or Visibility, Credibility and Profitability (VCP). It can be hard for others to let us know about these characteristics. We need to have self-awareness and seek constructive feedback.
An example is having the habit of being late and not being aware of the impact it has on your credibility.
Two Types of Self-Awareness
Internal Self-Awareness: Understanding one’s values, passions, strengths, weaknesses, and impact. Linked to higher satisfaction, control, and happiness.
External Self-Awareness: Understanding how others perceive oneself. Correlated with empathy, better relationships, and overall effectiveness.
Tips for Becoming More Self-Aware
- Keep an open mind,
- Be mindful of your strengths and weaknesses,
- Stay focused,
- Set boundaries,
- Know your emotional triggers,
- Embrace your intuition,
- Practice self-discipline,
- Consider how your actions affect others.
