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successful people in
business and in other facets of their lives have many qualities. All of
the qualities they possess, such as diligence, dedication, attention to
detail, and many others mesh together to make an individual with a lot
of potential.
The most common characteristic that successful people 1
have is self-awareness. Self-awareness is having insight of one’s
inner-most characteristics, such as beliefs, emotions, strengths, and
weaknesses. Individuals who are self-aware not only have the ability
perceive their own thoughts and feelings, but have the ability to “read”
others and the way they are recognized and perceived by them.
In the business world, self-awareness is even more crucial. Gary Vaynerchuk2,
American serial entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author,
believes that self-awareness is your most important attribute. He
advised entrepreneurs to “Accept your shortcomings, and strive to become more conscious of who you really are.”
Self-awareness is about “Knowing Thyself”. Here are some ways you can boost your self-awareness for future success!
Meditate to focus on your innermost mind
Taking
a short period of time for yourself to connect with your mind can work
wonders for your mental health and to improve your self-awareness 3.
Meditation gives you the opportunity to think of nothing and focus on
your innermost mind and body. Practicing meditation daily increases your
self-awareness by connecting your physical being with your mental being
and helps you better understand your own personality.
Don’t ignore your mental chatter
Meditation and mindfulness seem to go hand in hand. According to Tim Ferriss 4,
who had interviewed over 200 successful people including Tony Robbins,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Foxx, Peter Thiel, and Maria Popova,
concluded that around 80% of them had “some form of guided mindfulness practice ” 5.
Being
mindful takes practice, but before you know it, you realize you are
doing it every second of every day. We all have that inner voice in our
minds, and when we get very busy and even stressed, that mental
“chatter” sometimes gets ignored. With mindfulness, you adjust your
thinking to include listening to the mental voice in your mind.
Mindfulness not only makes you more self-aware; it also helps you
identify and embrace your all-knowing intuition.
Always stay focused, even if it’s just a small thing
You can increase your self-awareness by remaining focused 6
on the task at hand, while speaking with others, and all throughout
your day. In order to keep your focus, it is important to eat well,
drink plenty of water, exercise a bit each day, and get plenty of rest.
The ability to remain focused for long periods of time will help you be
prosperous in your daily endeavors. The mind depends on you to nourish
it, and if nourished it will work for you to help your success each day
and in the long term.
Embrace your emotions. You don’t have to be happy all the time
This
is very important for self-awareness and for your overall success.
Oftentimes, our emotions can get the best of us. It is very easy to
speak out before thinking, to give a non-verbal expression too quickly,
or to have another type of negative reaction before letting something
process.
Success is what you make of it, and in
order to always be on your toes and exhibit professionalism, be aware of
your triggers. Self-awareness allows you know understand your innermost
being, and to know how to keep your emotions in check when something is
about to occur. Learning to trust your emotions will help you succeed
in all areas of your life.
Boosting self-awareness
happens with a little practice and patience. Before you know it, you
will know yourself more than anyone, and you will be more cognizant of
others toward you. This characteristic will help you go farther in your
professional life than you have ever imagined.
Knowing
yourself is important, but being you is even more important. After all,
what is the point of knowing yourself but you still try to live someone
else’s life?
Finally, let us be reminded by Steve Jobs once again: “Your
time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be
trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s
thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own
inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart
and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.“
