Have you ever missed an opportunity only because you didn’t know that you could have made it once you think positively about your hidden powers?
It’s crucial for anyone to know how important it is to start thinking and improving inside-out once a decision is taken on a life changing plan.
Knowing ourselves is crucial prior to trying to understand others, a point depicted by Steven R. Covey in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
He writes that to be successful one needs to seek to understand before being understood. Being aware of our thoughts, emotions, words, and goals helps in shaping our actions and our results.
Many people blame many circumstances for not achieving their goals and forget the most important factor that causes them to miss targets, which is ‘themselves’.
Being the only one responsible for my life gives me the power to exert more efforts, as nothing else will impact the outcome but me. The same should be shared with the people I’m responsible for, or who report to me, to let them unleash the power within and believe that they are in the driver’s seat.
We all know that knowledge is power, yet the most important knowledge is the self-awareness to know where we are, where we’re heading, and what to do to reach there. This journey starts with knowing ourselves to take better decisions that properly fit us.
Knowing ourselves helps us know our strengths and weaknesses to empower the former and fix the latter. In management we have the internal environment tool known as ‘SWOT’ analysis where the company should analyse its: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This analysis is not restricted to corporates but applies to individuals as well in order to reach well-based decisions.
Self-awareness is a prerequisite to a better life that we look for. It helps pinpoint what our passions and emotions are, and how our personality can help in life. We can realise where our thoughts and feelings are leading us to make any necessary changes in the direction of our future.
All of the above needs to be emphasised and become built into our subconscious to act accordingly and be able to take control of our lives as a starting point in our journey towards positive and impactful change.
One must do self-reflection in order to have self-awareness. This requires setting aside some time, daily if possible, to honestly look at oneself as a new person. Committing to this practice can help one improve.
Finally, self-awareness supports individuals in knowing the right path for self-improvement and preparing the proper action plan to get things done according to their current skills. Hence, we need to look objectively at ourselves, aiming to achieve a better life through thoughtful decisions and meaningful goals. The more self-aware someone is, the more predictable the results can be.