BS ENTREPRENEURSHIP 1 - 1

SELF AWARENESS
 What is Self Awareness?

Self Awareness is having a clear

perception of your personality,
including strengths, weaknesses,
thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and
emotions.
Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how
they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them
in the moment.

SELF-AWARENESS IS ABOUT BEING HONEST WITH YOURSELF

Self-awareness is a vital first step in taking control of your life,
creating what you want, and mastering your future. Where you
choose to focus your energy, emotions, personality, and
reactions determines where you will end up in life.
When you are self-aware, you can see where your
thoughts and emotions are guiding you. It also allows you
to take control of your actions so you can make the necessary
changes to get the outcomes you desire.
 Why does self-awareness matter?
Self-awareness is really just about being aware and confident of who
you are. It can relate to knowing your own values, beliefs, personal
preferences and tendencies.
You know how famous people always say, ‘Stay true to yourself’? This is
really important advice, but it’s not easy to stay true to yourself if you
don’t know who you are. By becoming self-aware and understanding
your strengths and limitations, you open up opportunities that just aren’t
available otherwise. You’re also able to have more honest and genuine
relationships because the people that you’re attracted to will be attracted
to you for who you actually are.

This can help if:

 You want to know more about yourself.
 You want to develop good self-esteem.
 You don’t understand other people’s reactions to stuff that you’re doing.
 How can self-awareness be
important in different fields?
 LEADERSHIP
You can’t be an effective leader without being
able to answer the "what is self-awareness?"
question.

It provides the necessary base for having strong character, creating the

ability to lead with purpose, trust, authenticity, and openness. Self-

awareness explains our successes and our failures while giving us a clear

understanding of who we are and what we need most from other people to

have a successful team. It also gives leaders the opportunity to identify any

gaps that they might have in their management skills, and reveals the areas

in which they are effective and where they might need additional work.

Knowing these things can help leaders make discerning decisions and

increase their effectiveness in positively motivating their employees.

 Social Work

As a social worker, having self-awareness is an important part

of preparing to encounter clients in their specific situations.
Much of the process of becoming an effective social worker is
made up of becoming self-aware. This can happen with
encounters with professors, classmates, and clients that work to
continuously challenge us to be aware of our feelings.
While this is not an easy thing to do, it is a
worthwhile achievement.
Social workers have to be aware of their
own biases when they are dealing with
clients so they can make sure they are
treating every client equally.
 Counseling

Self-awareness interplays with the therapeutic process of

counseling. When one is able to gain a greater
understanding of themselves through the input of a
therapist, it leads to self-discovery.
Counseling is a journey of self-discovery, as one observes
their own thought patterns and how they affect their mood
and behavior. Observing one’s own thoughts and feelings
builds self-knowledge, and doing this with a counselor
provides an objective opinion during the observation.
 Education
Self-awareness plays a large role in education because it helps
students become focused on what they need to learn. The ability of
students to think about their thinking increases with age. When
teachers work with students to teach them to reflect, monitor, and
evaluate themselves, students are able to become more self-reliant,
productive, and flexible.
Students improve their ability to weigh their
choices and think about their options,
especially when the correct answer is not
obvious. When students have a hard time
understanding a concept or idea, they use
reflective strategies to acknowledge their
difficulties and try to fix them. This also
gives students tools to self-reflect and grow
in their emotional and social lives.
 NURSING

Self-awareness is used as a therapeutic tool for

nurse-client relationships. A nurse who is self-
aware can provide a therapeutic environment to
care for their patient. Because of this, it is
recommended that nursing schools should teach
students about development and self-
understanding.
It would also be beneficial for professional nurses
to be able to get help and guidance to continue
the growth process throughout their careers.
 How to develop and
increase self-awareness
 1. Look at yourself objectively
Trying to see yourself as you really are can be a very difficult process, but
if you make the right efforts, getting to know your real self can be
extremely rewarding. When you are able to see yourself objectively, you
can learn how to accept yourself and find ways to improve yourself in the
future.

So, what is an easy way to get started with this?

 Try to identify your current understanding by writing out your
perceptions. This may be things that you think you are good at doing, or
that you need to improve.
 Think about things you are proud of, or any accomplishments that really
stand out throughout your life.
 Think about your childhood and what made you happy back then. What
has changed and what has remained the same? What are the reasons for
the changes?
 Encourage others to be honest with you about how they feel about you,
and take what they say to heart.

In the end, you will come out with a fresh new perspective on yourself and
your life.
 2. Keep a journal.
 You can write about anything in your journal, even if it is not related to your
goals. Recording your thoughts on paper helps to relieve your mind of
those ideas, and clears it up to make space for new information and ideas.
 Take some time each night to write in your journal about your thoughts and
feelings, and your successes and failures for the day. This will help you
grow and move forward in your achievements.
 As you self-reflect, take some time to think about how you are a leader, and
how people working under you likely view you. Think about what you do to
help other people, and if you could possibly do more. What are your
values, and what is most important to you right now?
 Recording your thoughts on paper helps to relieve your mind and clears it
up to make space for new information and ideas.
 All of these self-reflection questions will help you get a better idea of who
you are and what you want out of life right now.
 3. Write down your goals, plans, and
priorities.
Plan out your goals in a worksheet so they turn from ideas
into a step-by-step process. Break down your larger goal
into mini-goals so it seems less overwhelming, and
tackle it head on.
 4. Perform daily self-reflection.
In order to have self-awareness, you must do self-reflection. This requires
setting aside some time, hopefully every day, to honestly look at yourself as
a person and a leader. Committing to this practice can help you improve.
In our demanding business world, daily self-reflection is easier said than
done. There is always pressure to do more with less, and an endless flow of
information through our portable technology.

Because it takes time to self-reflect, start by

setting aside just 15 minutes each day. Self-reflection
is most effective when you use a journal and write
down your thoughts. It’s also best to find a quiet place
to think.
 5. Practice meditation and
other mindfulness habits
Meditation is the practice of improving your mindful awareness. Most types of
meditation focus on the breath, but not all meditation has to be formal. You
can also find greater clarity from regular moments of reflection.

During your meditations, you may stop to think about some specific
questions.
What is your goal?
What are you doing that is working?
What are you doing that is acting as a hindrance to your success?
How can you change your process to improve it?

Practicing meditation and other mindfulness habits helps you find greater
clarity and self-awareness.
One of the most frequent forms of meditation you may practice comes from
carrying out everyday tasks that give you a sense of therapeutic serenity, such
as washing dishes, going for a run, and going to church.
6. Take personality and psychometric tests

Take these personality and psychometric tests to help understand

what traits you have. Some popular tests that are aimed at
increasing self-awareness include the Myers-Briggs test and
the Predictive Index.

There are no right or wrong answers to these tests. Instead, they

compel respondents to think about a set of traits or characteristics
that closely describe them relative to other people.
 7. Ask trusted friends to describe you
How are we supposed to know what other people think of us? We have to
listen to the feedback of our peers and mentors, and let them play the role of
an honest mirror. Tell your friends when you are looking for open, honest,
critical, and objective perspectives. Allow your friends to feel safe while they
are giving you an informal yet honest view.
Make sure your friends know that they are doing this to help you, not to hurt
you. Also, feel free to ask questions of your friends about topics they bring up
if you feel like you need some more clarity to completely understand.
You can also ask friends to bring it to your attention when you are doing
something that you know you want to change. For example, if you know you
tend to "one-up" people when they are telling stories, have your friends
discreetly let you know that is happening so you can learn to stop.
Ask trusted friends to describe you.
Allow your friends to feel safe while they
are giving you an informal yet honest view.
 8. Ask for feedback at work.
In addition to consulting friends and family, use a more formal process at
work to get some feedback. If your company does not provide a structured
way to do this, try to implement one. Provided it is constructive and well
done, having an option for formalized feedback allows us to self-reflect on
our own strengths and weaknesses.

To have an effective formal feedback system at work, you need a proper

process and an effective manager. Once the feedback process is finished, it
is important to reflect on it by writing down your main takeaways. Write down
any surprising strengths and weaknesses that you did not realize you had
before.

It will take quite some time to increase your self-awareness and get to know
yourself better. It can even take years and input from many people around
you. Building the necessary habits to help you become more self-aware can
positively impact other aspects of your life, especially your interpersonal and
intrapersonal relationships.
ASK YOURSELF NOW

AND DISCOVER YOUR TRUE SELF