Self-awareness is something that is taking more precedence in today's society. Most people tend to repeat similar actions and end up taking actions which in the long run hold them up. We are so used to pretending to ourselves and others that we're fine with the way that things are.
The first point with self-awareness is being honest to yourself. When I say being honest to yourself I mean not pretending, you have to be happy with who you are and what you're doing. Thinking one thing and doing another will see you stagnate and over time you'll crumble. If you're aware of what way you think and how you operate, this, in turn, will affect your outcomes, how you feel and eventually how you think. Very few people are aware of their actions, how they speak or even how they think.
Most people when asked are not happy with their current situation and will pretend or they may lack the self-awareness on how they can help themselves be even better.
I guess I've always been on a trip to better myself, the sport got me on the path of bettering myself. However in comparison to the way I think now to the time I was competing as an athlete I lacked so much awareness. I was lucky that sport helped give me some form of growth and competition. Without it I'd have been lost.
Many issues can be resolved by having a sound basis of self-awareness. If you can have an outside look at yourself and see how you're operating it can soon become very clear what the solutions are.
The more self-aware you are, the easier it is to influence yourself in the things you wish to excel at. In turn, this will make you happier and build your self-esteem, so a great habit to get into.
About a year ago I stumbled face first into the Stoics. I thought philosophy was a load of waffle. However after seeing what some of these guys where up to a few thousand years ago they were so far ahead of the curve it was crazy.
- Access how you've acted and thought that day (What did I do that I wish to keep, what do I want to do more of)
- How do your actions build the person you want to become.
- Who can you surround yourself with like-minded others?
- How emotional do you get in stressful situations? (this is a great assessment of your self-awareness, if you get rattled then it's definitely worth investigating how to build your self-awareness)