Higher Self-Awareness equates to higher levels of success!

In a study undertaken by Green Peak Partners and Cornell University, 72 executives at public and private companies ranging from $50 million in revenue to $5 billion in revenue were studied. Here’s what the study found:

“The executives most likely to deliver good bottom line results are actually self-aware leaders who are especially good at working with individuals and in teams.” The study went on to say, “A high self-awareness score was the strongest predictor of overall success.”

In psychology, Self-awareness is defined as a personality trait, the foundation of Emotional Intelligence, which is measured by the degree to which an individual understands themself, including being able to monitor their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, being knowledgeable about their own feelings, motives, strengths and weakness, and patterns of actions and reactions.

How self-aware you are? 

A nearly five-year meta-research conducted by Eurich Group discovered that although 95% of people think they’re self-aware, only 10 to 15% actually are. 

At the office or in life, we don’t have to look far to find unaware people, who, despite past successes, solid qualifications, or irrefutable intelligence and heart-felt great intentions, display a complete lack of insight into how they are coming across.

Some consistent behaviours displayed by un-self-aware individuals include:

• They won’t listen to, or accept critical feedback.

• They cannot empathize with, or take the perspective of, others.

• They say things they don't really mean.

• They have difficulty “reading a room” and tailoring their message to their audience.

• They possess an inflated opinion of their contributions and performance.

• They are hurtful to others without realizing it.

• They micromanage the team without realizing the damages made.

• They take credit for successes and blame others for failures, their mantra is "it is NOT my fault".

Don't get me wrong, working with the un-self-aware individuals can be frustrating and costing, they are NOT badass. 

The biggest difference between the Un-Self-Aware and the Aware-and-Don’t-Care-about-it people are their intentions: the un-aware ones genuinely want to be collaborative and effective, but don’t know they’re falling short.

Well, no need to feel doom and gloom if you are related to some of the behaviours mentioned above, you can DEVELOP it! 

Although developing self-awareness requires higher-level cognitive processing. Here are a couple of things you can do it on your own to practice your muscle of self-awareness: 

1. Try to take a walk in nature, learn to be aware of your physical body, paying attention to the sync of your breath and walking, your steps, and then observe how it feels as you move rhythmically with the pace of your steps; 

2.  Try to write down your thoughts, feelings... learn to be aware of your mental process, understand your mental habits, the patterns in which your mind process information, it shows how your thinking shapes your life. 

3. Try to meditate, learn to be aware of your emotions, emotions are simply the “energy in motion”, practice the emotional skills of steering your life without getting hijacked by emotional storms.