6 WAYS TO IMPROVE SELF-AWARENESS
Self-awareness is having conscious knowledge of our thoughts and emotions. Those who are self-aware tend to act consciously rather than passively, meaning they make better decisions, have higher levels of psychological health, and have a more positive outlook on life.
So the fundamental question has to be: how do we help develop it?
ASK FOR FEEDBACK
One way in which we can improve self-awareness is through asking for feedback. Feedback is most useful when it is given by those who understand us and will be honest. It is important to be told what we need to hear, rather than what we want to hear.
RECOGNISE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Self-awareness can be improved through recognition of our strengths and weaknesses. Having awareness means that we can work on our weakness and seek help if it is needed to make the necessary improvements.
BETTER SELF-REFLECTION
Carrying out 15 minutes of daily self-reflection is a good way to enhance self-awareness, as it allows us to understand ourselves on a deeper level.
MONITOR SELF-TALK
Monitoring self-talk can improve self-awareness, as it makes our thoughts and emotions more obvious. Self-talk needs to be helpful, with wins being celebrated and failures not being excessively dwelt on. Saying ‘Stop’ after a negative thought can also act as a platform to halt a train of thought and follow it with more positive and helpful self-talk.
PRACTICE SAYING ‘NO’
The ability to say no to ourselves to put off short-term gratification in favour of long-term gain is an important life-skill, and practicing this can improve self-awareness. To master this skill, we should set ourselves goals for the number of temptations we will resist each day and increase this number as we improve.
QUESTION DECISIONS
Before acting on a decision, we should come up with three good reasons as to why we should pursue it. Stopping to ask yourself ‘why’ improves our self-awareness as it allows us to better understand the motives behind our decisions and explore them further, meaning that we can be confident that the decisions we make are good ones.
FINAL THOUGHT
The development of self-awareness does not happen overnight and can be difficult, as we are ‘not there’ to observe ourselves. Often, we operate automatically; unconscious of our thoughts and feelings. However, through receiving honest feedback, enhancing our understanding of our strengths and weaknesses and monitoring our thoughts and emotions, we can work towards becoming more self-aware.