8 ways self-awareness is linked to your success…

Are you self-aware of your unique accomplishments, your talents and your core values and are you aligning yourself with them?

Only then can you truly operate in your highest energy zone but how do you discover what this is?

There are so many buzzwords out there right now – ‘reach out’, ‘bounce back’, ‘pivot’, ‘transform’ but do they sit comfortably with you? Is it the right time to move forward, do we even need to move forward, are we self-aware of where we are in our lives right now. Are we in the appropriate mindset, do we have the capacity and ability to move forward at the moment? What are we even trying to move towards….?

It occurred to me that this could be compared to a business contract and that ‘self-awareness’ is actually a contract with ourselves covering 5 underlying fundamentals:

• offer (creativity, ideas and goals)
• acceptance (realisation that this is possible)
• consideration (forming the action plan of journeying step by step)
• mutuality of obligation (accountability)
• competency and capacity (putting yourself in the correct environment to commit to daily, weekly, monthly actions and managing time and skills)

To have a vision, an end goal, an objective is inspiring but how do we get there, is it realistic, does it reflect who we are, do we even know what we really want?

So when we think about the vision board / goals (not just business related but also personal) there seem to be a number of steps and processes to work through to realise this potential:

1. Our identity:

• Who are we  – we may be a Mother / Father, partner, sibling but we are also individuals with feelings, ambitions, unique skills that need to be realised and utilised.
• What are our core beliefs and values and have these changed since we were children, how did we feel about them then, what did we enjoy and spend so much time being absorbed in?
• What company did we feel comfortable in, who cheered us on from the side lines and what scenarios made us uneasy, were you ever told “that’s impossible, you can’t do that, don’t be ridiculous!”
• What is really important to us? Is it business, work, is it how best to sustain ourselves and our family & and be happy and comfortable?

This for many is the biggest of the learning curves and understandings and the journey is continuous.

and then…

2. Where are we going, what are our visions for the future, our goals, again not necessarily business related and they don’t have to be huge?

• Break them down into areas of your life be it family, individual to us, work related
• Where do we see ourselves in 1 year from now and then in 5 years from now?
• Is there a particular someone like to work with on this?

You may not even have given this any consideration and that is absolutely fine.

3. A sense of perspective:

• Is this vision realistic for us? It might not be right now but is it something we can work towards bit by bit using baby steps.
• Do we feel comfortable and capable of this, do we need to explore a particular skillset or nuance?
• Do we have the capacity and does it fit into our daily lives or will we need to readjust our priorities and commitments?
• Are we aware of what messages we’re giving ourselves and what messages might we be absorbing from others (positive and negative)
• Do we have champions in our lives or from previous times that can help us? Can you avoid scenarios that might make you uncomfortable?

Leading to…

4. What is holding us back?

5. Do we have the commitment and accountability to make this happen?

6.How will we do this and move forward?

• Do we have the focus, clarity to get on with this  – this is a huge topic in itself to master.
• Do we have the energy levels to sustain this, are we looking after ourselves in terms of health & wellbeing?
• Can we visualise the end goal, how about doing a vision board workshop
• Can we map our journey into small, achievable steps?

7. Are we putting ourselves in the right working and personal environments to enable the actions required, do we need to be more flexible and change spaces for various tasks. Flexible workspaces can be great for this and give you the variety of infrastructure, creativity, concentration and contacts to make things happen! Find the right flexible working environment for you here

8. Continual learning / CPD / checking in with ourselves and our visions – are they still relevant?

-As humans our lives don’t stand still, things happen and we have to adapt, flex, evolve with them. We need to constantly check-in with ourselves, our health, commitments and establish do we need to tweak anything, flex or innovate a part of our goals.

Here are some more benefits of being self-aware

Above all we must never self-sabotage ourselves, doubt ourselves we are complex creatures of billions of cells. There is not one of us is the same as another and no one day or week is the same as another.

We can have great, productive weeks and then some weeks we feel we’ve fallen behind, that’s perfectly normal. Be have to be gentle and kind to ourselves. That goal may seem huge and very distant but just take those manageable baby steps.

Let’s reward ourselves and give ourselves recognition for each and every step we take.

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