You spend all day and night with yourself, but how well do you actually know yourself? Most of my clients come to me saying things like, "I don't even know who I am" or "I don't even know what I like, what makes me happy".
If you’ve never taken the time to get to know yourself, you are in for one great adventure.
Self-awareness is important because you can use the information to better your life and minimize the amount of agony you cause yourself in the future. Getting to know yourself can be a little scary, but it helps to have an accurate opinion of yourself.
Get to know yourself by examining yourself and your life:
1. WRITE IT DOWN!!!! Keep a journal. Recording your life and thoughts each day can provide a lot of insight into your psyche. List the high and low points of your day and your feelings around them. You’ll also find that life develops in new ways all the time! It's really fun to look back and see how far you've come on days you need some encouragement.
2. Evaluate your successes and your failures. This can be great material for your journal.
Your successes and failures tell you a lot about yourself.
● Why were you successful? How did those successes make you feel? What did you do after a success?
● Do the same with your failures. Are you a quitter? Why do you quit? Do you fail to set goals? Understanding your failures is powerful. You can learn from your mistakes and shortcomings and use the information to become more capable and powerful.
● The low and high points of your life are very educational and enlightening.
3. Examine your likes and dislikes. Do you like team sports or individual sports? Do you like skydiving or playing poker? What types of people do you like and dislike? The activities and people you enjoy or avoid can give you a peek into your psyche.
4. List your values. If you’ve never thought about it, you might not have a firm grasp on your values. What’s important to you? List all the values that appeal to you and examine whether or not you live your life according to those values. Put your values in order from most important to least.
5. Ask a friend for an honest opinion. Your friends know you better than you think. Ask a close friend to describe you honestly. Ask them to list your strengths and weaknesses. Ask them what they think are your best and worst traits. Encourage them to be honest.
6. Take a few personality tests. There are dozens of personality tests available that you can take for free or a minimal amount of money. These can be found online and in bookstores. There are tests for introversion/extroversion, creativity, and even career recommendations.
● Pick one that sounds interesting to you and get started!
7. How do you prefer to spend your time? How do you like to spend your free time? Do you prefer to be alone or in a crowd? Do you like to stay home or go out? What are your hobbies?
8. What do you avoid? Do you avoid daredevil situations? Snobby people? Loud music? Cultural activities? What are the things you can’t stand to have in your life? Why?
Self-awareness can help you to build an enjoyable and meaningful life. It can help you to learn how to motivate yourself and build new habits.
It’s difficult to have a meaningful level of emotional intelligence without self-awareness. You’ll always be a mystery to yourself unless you develop a high level self-awareness.
You’ll have more control over yourself, your life, and your results if you’re more self-aware. Take this important step in your self-development.