HOW LACKING SELF AWARENESS AFFECTS US

 Self-awareness is an under-rated trait that has, in recent times, become a popular topic in self-development and leadership forums.

Self-awareness is a basic attribute that enables us to observe our habits and behavior, and the beliefs, values, and emotions that trigger them. Self-awareness is fundamental to our ability to be happy and content, maintain relationships we cherish and respect, and perform will in professional environments. 

Lacking self-awareness affects us adversely. Lacking self-awareness can manifest as:

Not Identifying and understanding core beliefs, values, and emotions

Persons lacking self-awareness do not identify the emotions they express; most times they suppress emotional expression, for fear of being called out as weak. For young men, the archaic admonition, "Boys don't cry," could be a trigger. There are several situations where people get conditioned into suppressing their emotions. Becoming self aware gives us the ability to identify the emotion, and the reason behind it.

Lacking empathy

There are times we do not acknowledge other peoples' feelings. We cannot understand why they are expressing the emotion. This is a sign of lacking self-awareness.

Not being able to see others' perspectives

There are many instances in our professional and personal lives when we have arguments in the guise of discussions. Lacking self-awareness leads to not being able to see and understand the other person's perspective. The ability to understand another person's point of view get's us to a peaceful, logical conclusion, even if it, "Let us agree to disagree."

Avoiding responsibility - passing the buck

Accepting and responding to responsibility is an attribute of a self-aware person. If we avoid responsibility and follow up with blaming others for the failure, shows a lack of self-awareness.

Acting without thinking things through

Reacting spontaneously, rather than responding after thinking through on the situation, is a trait of a person lacking self-awareness. This behavior leads to arguments, unfinished tasks, staying incommunicado, and other similar situations.

Struggling with self-discipline and self-management

Lacking self-awareness leads to not being able to control our desires, not being able to prioritize important tasks, and not being able to sustain efforts to complete tasks and deliver on our promises. This results in a lack of trust.

Conclusion

Lacking self-awareness leads to many unpleasant situations. We all derive pleasure from the tasks we do and nurturing our professional and personal relationships.

Further reading: 10 Signs You Lack Self-Awareness by Carley Swanson-Garro.

SELF AWARENESS PSYCHOLOGY

 What is self-awareness?

Self awareness is the ability to sense and experience the traits and attributes that shape our behavior. This ability helps us in identifying our emotions, the triggers that invoke these emotions, and our responses. We will then be able to discern what works for us in all spheres of life, both personal and professional.

What is Self Awareness Psychology?

Psychology is the study of the mind, brain and behavior. Our "performance" in our professional and personal spheres of activity, is almost always determined by our behavior. Self awareness psychology is the study of our ability to become aware of what causes our behavior, and how we can change this behavior, for us to be more effective in our endeavours.

Why is self awareness psychology relevant today?

Human beings have progressed through many eras, the Industrial era started with humans expanding their knowledge of science and developing technologies that made lives easier and more convenient. The rise of technology provided a platform where human behaviour was molded to "templates," and I expected us to act and perform in certain limited ways - all this in the name of progress.

Over time, this notion has been gradually losing its relevance, and the notion of the human being as creator has been growing. This notion leans towards focusing on human emotions, and how these emotions, and their triggers shape the way human endeavour has been perceived, and its effectiveness.

Self awareness psychology focuses on how human beings can become more happy and content, while pursuing their dreams, purposes and  goals. Self awareness is now deemed to be an essential trait, when imbibed and developed, for human beings to grow and mature as learners, executors, and teachers. This is evident in many contributions by leaders and experts in the field of self awareness psychology. Read this article by Courtney E. Ackerman, MSc, "What Is Self-Awareness and Why Is It Important?"

Self awareness should not be confused with consciousness - a spiritual concept that is abstract, and involves being aware of our environment, surroundings, and our place in this universe.

Types of Self Awareness in Psychology?

Psychology of self awareness talks of two broad types of self awareness - the subjective and the objective. Subjective self awareness psychology is about how we are the origin of all our beliefs, perspectives, and behavior. Objective self awareness psychology is about how we set standards of behavior and performance and measure ourselves against these standards. This implies that we can change our beliefs and perspectives, so that our motivation and performance can be "better" than earlier, in personal and professional environments.

Human beings have strived to be productive for the sake of progress. Thought leaders of today emphasize the need for developing self awareness, and find it important for almost all ages - from teens up.

Further detailed reading is available at "Using Self-Awareness Theory and Skills in Psychology" by Kori D. Miller.

WHY WE NEED A LIFE SKILLS COACH?

Almost all of us strive to be better at what we do, and yet struggle with many aspects of our lives. We lose motivation, we procrastinate, we do not prioritize important tasks, and do not manage our time well. We often feel lethargic, or tired by the end of the day.

What if we could recognize the factors needed for us to do well in our relationships, our professions, become good leaders, and feel good about ourselves every day?

Over the past few years we have seen the rise of coaches, not in sports and athletics, but for improving professional performance, for finding work-life balance, and for finding inner peace. Most may have considered engaging a life skills coach, and have kept putting it off, with a feeling that we do not really need such advice. We may have even tried to get our lives more organized, thinking that we could do it on our own.

So, what is life skills coaching all about?

First, we need to recognize the need to change the way we are, and accept that we need help.  A coach will help assess our personality - the bundle of beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that make up who we are. Let’s examine what we need to know about why we think, say, and do the things we do. These are a set of attributes or traits:

• Self-awareness: The ability to answer the question, “Who am I?” This, without reciting the contents of our resume. A life skills coach can encourage us to become aware of our emotions, how we react or respond to various situations and circumstances, so that we become aware of areas that we can change. The coach would subject us to a personality test that provides insight into some of our traits. This can help with ascertaining what roles we can effectively play in our professional and personal lives.

• Perspective: The trait that opens our mind to other people’s points of view. Often, we get embroiled in heated discussions. In hindsight, these can be easily navigated, had we seen other people’s perspectives. We can expect better outcomes in meetings and discussions. A life skills coach acts as an observer - an outsider - who then helps with pointing out how we wear our “blinkers.”

• Core Values: Our values are what we imbibe over our growing years and are core to our behavior. We can enumerate these values - trust, integrity, respect for individuals and the law, focus on adding value to other people’s lives, among others. A life skills coach will provide us with the motivation to adopt values that help us be better persons.

  

• Sense of purpose: “Why did I get out of bed this morning?” A spontaneous answer is hard. A life skills coach will task us with exercises that help us define our purpose. The Japanese have a word that roughly translates to “purpose.” We need to have a purpose for different time frames - for a day, and for a lifetime. Without purpose, we cannot set goals and work towards living a full life.

• Curiosity: We often describe curiosity as a childish trait that gets children into trouble. However, a desire to learn about things we know little about - languages, technology, art, culture, music - keeps our mind engaged and removed from regrets of the past and worries of the future. Dr. William R. Klemm, Ph.D., wrote in Psychology Today, “Learning is nature’s way of creating the brain’s “hardware” and “software.”

• Grit and perseverance: These traits ensure that failure does not discourage a person. We need to have the mindset to look at failures as learning opportunities and get back up on our feet and continue in our quest to live our purpose and achieve our goals. A life skills coach will make us realize how we could have rebounded from the failures and thus learn to persevere with a never-give-in attitude. 

Conclusion: We may not develop these, and other traits that make us more effective human beings. However, a life skills coach can make us realize how we can be more effective, and contribute more meaningfully to our work, our relationships and our life.

Hello, World

 "Hello, World" is the most common phrase or "string" of characters used when students of computer programming write their first bit of code. It is ubiquitous in the programming world.

I'd like to borrow this phrase at the start of my journey into the world of digital marketing world.

The purpose of this blog, is to tell an interested audience of the lessons I have garnered through the few circumstances that I have gone through in my life.

What is your purpose?