Self-Awareness: The Gateway to your Growth
Claire Lidome, Leadership Mindset Strategist
Top Leadership Voice - Empowering Leaders to THRIVE over SURVIVE | Core Transformational Expert | Higher Wellbeing & Retention | Lead with Purpose Signature Program
Why it matters
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The gateway to your happiness lies in growth, and the path to growth can only be paved through self-awareness.
Self-awareness is the key to personal and leadership elevation.
"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are." - Carl Jung
However, the surprising truth is that while many believe they are self-aware, research led by Dr. Tasha Eurich reveals that only a mere 10 to 15% of those who think they are self-aware actually are.
Most people confuse being good at reading their environment with truly understanding how their environment perceives them. In fact, most people possess limited insight into how their leadership style is perceived by their colleagues.
To add to the complexity of this phenomenon, further research shows that the more knowledgeable you are in an area, the less likely you are to be open to being challenged. When an individual identifies themselves as a high-level expert, the very thought of being questioned can be perceived by said individual as being vulnerable, thus leaving no room to raise their level of self-awareness.
The same holds true for individuals in high-powered positions. High-level leaders not only find themselves with limited time for introspection, but they may also exhibit a reluctance to be receptive to feedback regarding how their leadership style might impact others. In fact, many individuals who ascend to higher ranks within an organization do so on the merit of their achievements. They may, therefore, be hesitant to scrutinize or question the very methods and practices that have led to the success they currently enjoy.
This closed-mindedness, although it serves to safeguard their perceived expertise and past successes, can unintentionally impede innovation, personal growth, and the opportunity to achieve even higher levels of leadership mastery.
"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." - Aristotle
When the gap between our deeply ingrained self-perception and how others perceive us grows, we open ourselves to some of the following types of challenges:
1-Impaired Decision-Making
When executives have a distorted self-perception, they may make decisions based on a flawed understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. This can lead to misguided choices that affect the organization's direction.
2-Leadership Erosion?
The credibility and effectiveness of leadership can be undermined when there is a significant disparity between self-perception and external perception. Team morale and trust may suffer, leading into more of a directive communication style to get the results desired.
3-Communication Breakdown
The ability to convey one's vision or intentions clearly, can become increasingly challenging. This can result in confusion among team members and stakeholders, impeding the flow of effective communication. The breakdown can lead to potential mistakes, missed deadlines, and the replacement of a once-fluid communication process with pressure and constriction.
A C-suite leader named John share: ?“ I had to learn that the hard way. I went through many years of my life not being very self-aware. People like my wife would say I have blind spots. And I’d say no, no I don’t have blind spots. Blind spots are things that others see about you that you don’t see about yourself. I wasn’t good at reading audiences and knowing how people are interacting and how they’re seeing me. I was seeing myself as I wanted to be seen, not as others saw me. I think that’s true of a lot of leaders.
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Bridging the Gap:
I could share with you many different actions to take, such as improving your communication, seeking feedback, cultivating empathy etc… But these skills are useless if you don’t start learning how to listen to your inner world. The inner world that makes you UNIQUE. What makes you authentically YOU? I invite you to dedicate time to uncovering the richness of this inner world because it is the unique value you bring to your leadership. "You are the only person on Earth who can use your ability." - Zig Ziglar
1-Committing to your Growth
You cannot expect to feel happier, to gain more confidence, to generate that piece of mind you so desire from the same place where you are feeling stuck.? It takes making a decision to priorities yourself, allowing yourself to take the steps to Grow. And, Growth takes commitment.
You are one decision away from changing your life.
2-Dedicating time for Self-Reflection
Everything around us is designed to keep us from going inward. Stop the noise, Stop seeking validation outside of yourself. Slow down.? Yes it’s counter intuitive, yet that’s the path. Make an intentional choice to slow down or LIFE will slow things down for you. Taking time for self-reflection will help you align yourself with more ease.
3-Creating a SAFE space to receive Feedback
Actively seeking feedback from trusted individuals in our lives can provide valuable insights into how others perceive us. Having a trusted community where you can ask for feedback in way that it is safe to hear can accelerate your growth exponentially.
4-Managing your Energy
Energy is arguably the single most crucial asset we all possess, yet most of us struggle to manage it, let alone harness it when we need it the most. Energy is the very essence of our being, coursing through our entire body. We feel its absence when we're drained, but it's the driving force that enables us to persevere, problem-solve, and conceive innovative ideas.
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Implementing these four steps is a great way to begin preparing yourself for greater self-awareness.
Take the 1st step in cultivating your self-awareness and join me for a transformative experience toward empowerment with a FREE 5-day meditation session, I will be offering to help you navigate your busy workday.
I will be releasing the details soon. Secure your spot and register here.
We invite you to:
Source:
-Dr. Tasha Eurich
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AuADHDer. Survivor. Advocate. Helping you move towards wholeness: Emotional, mental, physical & spiritual life enhancement. Works with Neurotypicals and Diverse. Individual/group/business.
1 年Thats exactly the point right? Only 10-15% of those who thought they were self aware are, and I bet that many of those asked were professionals who are practicing. Thing is Self Awareness is deceptively hard and because its now mainstream ( rightly) everyone is teaching it, including it in their programmes because they think "How hard can it be to teach a scan, meditate etc?' It's an art into itself. I have over 2k classroom hours in these studies and more than double in homework. ( Im not bragging just saying it's a lot more nuanced than people think) Consequently people just presume it's thing where you start to look inside, and thats it. There is a past, conditioning, learning, shame, life etc etc tied up with all of that. I've taught a therapist and a yoga teacher who thought they were self aware and realised they actually weren't to any great degree. Absolutely agree needed but its an art that takes a long time to totally be in real time...
Expert Scale Strategist | Founder of the GAB?? and Get Ahead in Business Method?? | I Scale Businesses to $5M+
1 年Today I just got coached on something I didn’t really see about myself and realized that even when we work ourselves we don’t have all the self awareness we think
Founder/CEO at Watch Her Prosper? | Author of Ask Ruchi?? small business finance column | Helping women business owners achieve total prosperity
1 年This sounds so good, and I am AMAZED by that stat!!!
Helping women entrepreneurs find clients on the internet using content & systems ?? socialmedialovecall.com
1 年?? I like how you explain the notion of "self-awareness" - it took me years to understand what it really means and how it's key to our development. ??