If you had to introduce yourself right now, what would you say?
Take 2 mins, think about it. What did you come up with?
“Hi, my name is…. I work as a team lead in xyz…. Work generally keeps me busy Mon-Fri..On weekends I like to chill and sleep.”
Or maybe, “Hey, my name is…. I am a digital marketer, working for 10 years now.
I have always faced this problem. I use the same 3-4 basic pointers, no matter where I have to introduce myself. Dating Apps, Office Introductions, Team Meets, New Friends, Gym Class or even during online seminars.
We don’t know much about ourselves. So, when someone asks us about our values, beliefs, emotions etc we have no answers. And that is the prime reason we face sadness, discontentment, anxiety, confusion, doubt and lack of confidence. It’s also why we blame ourselves when something bad happens and start behaving like a victim.
“Why does this always happen to me? What can I do about this? It’s pointless, there’s not much I can do.”
Those who are confident know all about their strengths and weakness. They know how to turnaround the situation and move forward.
Q. So, what is this Self Awareness?
A. It has two parts to it.
First one is Internal Self Awareness. It means getting in touch with your emotions and thoughts and aspirations.
Example
- Knowing that you need change your field of work because you’d rather have peaceful sleep with lesser salary than high salary with high stress.
- Knowing that you need to take a bath at the end of the night in order to be present with your family the next day.
- It is knowing your own strengths and weaknesses.
- It is being able to control temptation.
The 2nd part is External Self Awareness, which means knowing how your behaviour impacts those around you. External self-awareness is understanding how others see us because of our actions.
Example
- Your action of showing up late disturbs your team’s entire schedule.
- You checking your emails on a holiday, spoils the vacation for your family
- Your tone affects the person on the other side of the call.
This sense of personal awareness is the key for any individual to act powerfully and take tough decisions. Self-awareness empowers individuals to tap into knowledge about themselves and make necessary changes when needed. Those who are not aware of what they are feeling, find themselves stuck in a rut.
Here are 4 ways you can try to increase levels of Self Awareness:
1. Write one paragraph introducing yourselves without using mentioning work history and qualifications.
2. In difficult situations, ask yourself What instead of Why?
– What can I do to feel better? Instead of
– Why do I feel like this?
– What can I do to improve this scenario? Instead of
– Why did this happen to me?
– What can I do to move forward? Instead of
– Why am I stuck here?
3. Pick out 5 people from 5 different groups of people. 1 BFF, 1 Sibling, 1 Junior and 1 Senior and 1 acquaintance you know from some activity/class you have taken. Ask them to give you feedback and list what your qualities are.
4. Hire a Coach as they can assist you to get in touch with internal information and then make necessary changes to support you in becoming a better version of you.