Self-awareness is the ability to recognize or focus on your thoughts, personality, actions, emotions, or behaviors. In simple terms, you are aware of everything that you do. It is easier to recognize strengths and weaknesses and which aspect of yourself needs improvement if you have a better understanding of yourself.
For example, you’re aware that you don’t handle arguments well because you may say words that may hurt other people. If you’re aware of this action, the next time you get into an argument, you’ll know when to step back to avoid saying stuff you’ll regret later. Self-awareness also helps you ponder why you couldn’t handle yourself well in arguments and what you can do to change this.
No one knows you better than yourself, and you need self-awareness for this. If you’re not aware of what makes you mad or happy or can’t admit your weaknesses and ask yourself “how to increase my self-awareness,” here are eight life hacks you can try to build self-awareness.
1. Start a Self-Awareness Journal to Get to Know Yourself
Start your journey to building your self-awareness through journaling. Identify and understand your current perceptions and do this objectively. What you should write in your journal reflects your own thoughts.
As you try to become more self-aware, your journal can help you improve in the future. The more you build your self-awareness, the easier it is to boost your self-esteem. Also, higher self-esteem will make you appreciate self-care more.
You can start your self-awareness journal by writing your strengths and weaknesses, thoughts, feelings, accomplishments, or failures. This is a good starting point. The subsequent tips will help you become more self-aware.
2. Think of What Bothers You About Other People
Continue writing this in your journal and ask yourself what disturbs you about other people. This includes what annoys you about other people’s actions, what irritates you about a co-worker, or what you dislike about other people.
Try self-reflection in your journal to target every aspect of self-awareness in your life. Why does the loud laugh of your co-worker annoy you? Why do you have odd feelings when you see this friend?
Social relationships are important, and you can’t avoid these people your whole life. Therefore, we must find answers by asking questions. The answers can make us more willing to change our responses to what normally annoys us, bringing us to a higher level of self-awareness.
3. Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses
One of the most important tips to increase self-awareness is identifying your strengths and weaknesses. This may be related to your work, school, home, sports, skills, and everyday life.
Your awareness of your strengths gives you the advantage of knowing what steps to take in the future. For example, if you know you’re good at public speaking, you can try a career in news and broadcasting.
However, if you have the self-awareness that public speaking is your weakness, try to ask yourself how you can change this. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll avoid public speaking your whole life. All you have to do is to improve your self-awareness and try to conquer your weakness.
4. Ask the Opinion of Your Family or Close Friends
It takes courage to ask for feedback from family and close friends on what they think about you. When you ask other people’s opinions of you, this opens your mind to things you’re not aware of about yourself. Remember to tell them that you’re gathering their feedback to increase self-awareness.
Let them know that you need open and honest feedback to improve your self-awareness. As for you, open yourself to what they have to say.
Don’t harbor hard feelings. Think about this as a step closer to becoming more self-aware. Write down what they said and ponder on them during your self-reflection.
5. Be Open-Minded
One of the best ways to improve self-awareness is to keep an open mind. Be open-minded to change, accept your weaknesses, and make room for improvements. Be open-minded about others’ points of view and learn to accept your mistakes.
Self-awareness also includes changing your mindset to help yourself get out of frustrating events or feelings of helplessness. If you want to live a happy and simple life, this is what you need to do.
6. Incorporate Meditation, Mindfulness, and Self-Reflection into Your Daily Routine
Another step to improve your self-awareness is by practicing meditation and mindfulness. To meditate, close your eyes, practice deep breathing exercises, and isolate yourself from any disturbance.
In this deep state of relaxation, try practicing mindfulness by focusing on your thoughts to understand better what you’re trying to achieve in your self-awareness journey. During your self-reflection, ask yourself these questions:
- What are your goals?
- How can you reach your full potential to be successful?
- How can you control your emotions?
- How can you improve in one aspect of your life?
- How can you change for the better?
- How can you cope with your fears?
- How can you avoid committing the same mistakes?
- How can you improve your decision-making?
- How can you open yourself to better opportunities?
- How can you be more aware of your actions every day?
- How can you increase your emotional intelligence?
7. Practice Self-Discipline
Practice self-discipline as you develop your self-awareness skills. By practicing self-discipline, you can change your ways, control your impulses, and improve your emotional intelligence. Self-discipline is what successful people have in common, as this is essential in learning and enhancing performance in every aspect of life.
With self-discipline, you can maintain self-awareness in the long run. You won’t find it challenging to be self-aware anymore, as it comes naturally. The result of self-awareness combined with self-discipline is successfully reaching your life goals and forming positive habits.
8. Seek Counseling
Probably one of the proven effective ways to build your self-awareness is by seeking counseling. The counselor guides you when you observe your thoughts, decisions, and feelings, thereby helping you increase your self-awareness. Consider your therapist as an objective observer as you try to improve your self-awareness.
If you’re ready to become more self-aware, schedule an appointment now through the telehealth counseling of Kentucky Counseling Services. From the comfort of your home, you can talk to a mental health professional to help you increase your self-awareness.
3 thoughts on “8 Life Hacks to Build Your Self-Awareness”