In entrepreneurship, satisfaction, efficiency, or anything that has to do with personal development, self-awareness is currently one of the sexiest terms.
Nearly every entrepreneur or thought leader claims that one of the keys to personal success is self-awareness. Although that might be valid, it's not a new idea by any way.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher who lived between 384 and 322 BC, once said:
"The beginning of all knowledge is to know yourself."
Self-awareness (or knowing yourself) is critical. We get it. But I've found that it's one of the toughest things you can master in life, too.
It was best put by Benjamin Franklin:
"There are three really hard things: steel, a diamond, and understanding yourself."
Sadly, there's no such thing as a universal self-awareness response. Everybody is different, and you are the only one that can teach you self-awareness.
Becoming Self-Aware More
We know it is necessary to have self-awareness, but how do you grow it? And, what use is there?
One school of thinking goes like this: Just live long enough and do a lot of things, and you're going to know yourself eventually.
All right, but what if it takes 60 years to do that? I don't feel impatient and I don't have trouble waiting. But for me, that approach is far too passive.
And I think that by analyzing yourself consciously, you will accelerate the process of gaining self-awareness.
Let me tell you how I got a better understanding of myself and how I use it in my everyday life.
I began by replying to these 20 questions:
What good am I at?
What am I that-so-so at?
What am I horrible at?
What's making me tired?
What is the most significant thing in my life?
In my life, who are the most important people?
How much sleep am I going to need?
And what's stressing me out?
What's me relaxing?
What's my definition of achievement?
What sort of employee am I?
How do you want me to be seen by others?
What's making me sad?
What gives me happiness?
What makes me furious?
What kind of person do I want to be?
What kind of friend would I like to be?
And what do I think about myself?
In life, what things do I value?
What causes me to fear?
I will answer these questions with the first answer that pops up in your mind if you want to try this process. These are just practical questions, as you can see.
Please don't start a debate about how these issues should be interpreted. If you do that, we'll still be there 8 years from now.
The reality is that these questions are viewed differently by everyone. And the argument is exactly that. It is for a cause called self-awareness.They're for you.
For example: In life, what things do I value? My response to that is time, family, well-being. What was your reply? You see, no answers are correct or wrong.
I'm also a realistic person and don't like woo-woo questions like: "Who am I?" What meaning does life have? You are what you do over and over again and you decide what value you are giving to life.
What now? What? How can I enhance my understanding of myself?
Well, it's not that necessary to have your initial answers to these questions. The right answers are difficult to offer yourself, so don't worry about making it right.
"Questions that are especially challenging, such as:" What am I bad at? What's more important is to practice those questions with your thought muscle, just give an answer (don't tell "I don't know").
The most critical part is now: use this knowledge to enhance your life.
Via logic, you do so. It was named 'logos' (different from the Stoic concept of logos) by Aristotle.
Self-awareness, to me, is (1) the ability to translate your thoughts into words and (2) give meaning to them.
You are trying to figure out for yourself which things are helpful and which things are negative.
And what then? What? Double down on the beneficial stuff and (as far as possible) start removing the harmful stuff.
Do more stuff that makes you smile.
Do more stuff you're good at.
Stop stuff that gets you unhappy.
Stop stuff you're terrible at.
It's that.
That's knowledge of self. One thing: Don't actually take this method.
Relationships can make you both happy and sad, for instance. That doesn't mean you can totally avoid relationships.
But avoid the things that make your experiences terrible, such as selfishness, lies, lack of empathy, etc.
But how do you do logos / reasoning practice? Some ideas are listed here:
Only read philosophy.
I recommend reading The Story Of Philosophy by Will Durant if you don't know where to start. In discussions with individuals, become impartial.
Just don't try to make a point. Try to reason from multiple points of view at all times. Journal, and follow your ideas in.
Tell yourself still why? John made me nuts, for instance. About why? That's because he lied. About why? And he had no intention to offend me. About why? And he's interested in me. Conclusion: John is a fool who should understand that it's not useful to lie. Talk.
Talk. Talk. With mates, coworkers, coaches, mentors. You learn new stuff about yourself only by vocalizing your thoughts. Particularly when you speak to individuals who are asking questions that make you think. There you're going.
That's my self-awareness process. Introspection is hard because you have to be frank with yourself. And most of us prefer lying, because the reality is terrifying.
But after I have actively practiced self-awareness, my life has changed massively. Knowing yourself makes it easy to live.
Is this exact procedure going to work for you? I don't know, but what I do know is that it could be the beginning. And that's all you need to become more conscious of yourself.
