Highly 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 Vaynerchuk[2], 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.“
Reference
| [1] | ^ | Lifehack: 10 Things Successful People Do Differently |
| [2] | ^ | Gary Vaynerchuk: Self-Awareness: Know Yourself: Gary Vaynerchuk |
| [3] | ^ | Investigate: 10 Ways To Improve Your Self Awareness and Know Thyself |
| [4] | ^ | The Tim Ferriss Show: The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour: Meditation, Mindset, and Mastery |
| [5] | ^ | Fortune: Why Tim Ferriss Believes Meditation Is the Key to Success |
| [6] | ^ | Lifehack: 7 Strategies To Stay Super Focused |
The post The Common Quality Successful People Have: High Self Awareness appeared first on Lifehack.
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