What Does Self-Awareness Have to Do with Being Successful?

What Does Self-Awareness Have to Do with Being Successful?

Vartika Kashyap 17/10/2018 5

We all have habits - some good, some bad. And, some really annoying ones. The problem is not with having those good, bad or annoying habits. The problem is not realizing when these habits become the cause of our downfall. And, we are not even aware of them.

Want to become a better manager? Stop using emails for managing your team and switch to a ProofHub.

Before going any further, I’d like to share a small example:

“There was this one writer in our team, Riya, who started as a trainee. She was good at work. But whenever someone called her for giving feedback her first response was “But, I didn’t know about that”, “But, it’s not my fault” and so on. She was never ready to accept feedback, not even constructive one, forget about negative. So, when her training period was over, we decided not to continue with her beyond that. And, like always her response was “But, it’s not fair. I’m just a trainee. You guys expect too much.”

A couple of months back I read an article about self-awareness. It helped me figure out why Riya reacted like that whenever someone shared feedback with her. It was because she was not aware about her behavior. Her response was a reflex, which she had developed over the years and could not control.”

My motive behind sharing this example is to bring to your notice the importance of self awareness. How important it is to be aware of our habits, our responses so that we can know how we react in such scenario.

How to Become Self-Aware?

But, the question is how to become self aware? Is there a training you can undergo to become self-aware? During the past couple of months I’ve done extensive research on this topic. I have found out some ways that can help avoid such situations. So, I would like to share them with you here -

Start Paying Attention

The biggest problem with us, humans, is that we seldom pay attention to things. Studies show that human mind wanders more than 50% of the time. When we are not paying attention to a certain situation, our reflexes take over. That’s how we respond to a situation. And, this can be the reason behind some of the biggest mistake we make in our life.

Listen, Before you Speak

Active listening is a rare habit. As a person working in a team this can be your biggest strength. Decisions, comments and statements, when made in haste are often regrettable. And, the worst part is you cannot change it once made. So, wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t make them in the first place?

That’s where active listening becomes a true virtue for a professional. If you practice active listening, you can realize the impact of remarks you are going to make. So, you can avoid any uncomfortable circumstance from arising.

Stop, Think and then Act

Life is all about making new starts. But, amid all these starts in life we must not forget about stopping. Sometimes it becomes important to stop and realize what we are doing. When you stop, you are giving yourself some time to think before reacting to a situation. And, that’s how you can start to become more self aware.

Meditate

Breaking a habit is bad. We acquire some reflex actions as a result of our encounters with certain situations in life. To change them, you need to develop control over your mind. And, the best way to do so is to practice meditation. It brings your mind to a state of peace. A peaceful mind is powerful than the strongest weapon you can ever think of.

When your mind's at peace, you can control the way you react to a situation. That’s the whole concept of self-awareness.

By being aware of your mental state you can control your reactions to awkward situations. You can stop yourself from making the wrong decisions. Becoming self aware can help you to be successful in personal as well as professional life. When you are making less mistakes and taking less wrong decisions, you are moving towards the path of success. And, that's how you start the journey to success.

I’m hopeful that after reading this article you would have thought about being self-aware. Trust me, if you try the tricks mentioned in the post, you can expect to see an immense positive change in your life. And, if you do, then be sure to share the experience. I’d love to hear it out.

Share this article

Leave your comments

Post comment as a guest

0
terms and condition.
  • Chris Boyd

    Successful leaders know where their natural inclinations lie and use this knowledge to boost those inclinations or compensate for them.

  • Sean Pearson

    Organisations with strong financial performance tend to have employees with higher levels of self-awareness than poorly performing organisations.

  • Joshua Miles

    Understanding yourself is paramount.

  • Diane Sheridan

    Our inclinations influence who we are, but we are responsible for who we continually become.

  • Nick Wragg

    Stay curious, and don’t stop seeking to understand yourself.

Share this article

Vartika Kashyap

Digital Expert

Vartika is the Chief Marketing Officer at ProofHub. She has 6 Years experience in online digital marketing, brand optimization and SEO along with social media marketing and email marketing strategies. Vartika holds an MBA in Finance (Banking) & Marketing from the IBS Hyderabad.  

   
Save
Cookies user prefences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Read more
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline