#94 Self-Awareness as a Cornerstone for Wellbeing with Susana Serrano-Davey CFO Mentor at GrowCFO

Self-awareness is key for well-being. When you know yourself well, you can make better decisions and thrive in all areas of your life – including your career. As a finance leader, it’s important to be self-aware so that you can set realistic goals and healthily manage stress. In this episode, Susana Serrano-Davey, our very own Executive Coach & Mentor at GrowCFO joins Kevin Appleby once again to discuss the importance of self-awareness as a cornerstone for wellbeing. We discuss the importance of self-awareness and how it can help you achieve success both professionally and personally. Susana gives some great advice on some practical things you can do to be more self-aware Self-awareness is the ability to see yourself clearly and understand your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. It’s an important part of well-being because it allows you to make healthy choices, set realistic goals, and healthily manage stress. When you’re self-aware, you’re more likely to achieve your goals and be successful in all areas of your life. There are many benefits of self-awareness, but here are a few key ones: When you’re self-aware, you can make better decisions. You know your strengths and weaknesses, so you can make choices that are in line with your values and goals. When you’re self-aware, you’re more resilient. You know your triggers and how to manage them, so you’re less likely to be derailed by setbacks. When you’re self-aware, you have a better understanding of other people. You can see things from their perspective and build relationships that are based on trust and mutual respect. Self-awareness is an important part of well-being, and it’s something that you can work on every day. Susana gives us some practical strategies: Get feedback, how do people perceive you? Understand your feelings, and why you feel a certain way Learn more about your personality Make sure you meet your own needs before others Listen to the full episode to find out more. Links Mentoring at GrowCFO with Susana Serrano-Davey Susana Serrano-Davey on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Episode 93 with Leanne Spencer on Well-being Episode 74 Personality types with Merrick Rosenberg Episode 71 Strengthsfinder with Jim Brophy 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam on Amazon UK and Amazon US Timestamps 00:41 The previous episode with Leanne Spencer about well-being and beating burnout 01:15 No point in achieving your goals and being unhappy 03:37 You really need to know more about yourself 05:22 How others perceive us 10:03 Getting feedback from others 13:45 Becoming aware of your personality type 16:47 Using personality profiling tests (we referenced DISC and Strengthsfinder tests covered in previous episodes with Merrick Rosenberg and Jim Brophy) 19:16 Connect with your feelings 21:43 The link between a crisis and becoming depressed 23:04 Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) 24:34 Understand your needs 28:04 Dealing with recurring issues and problems 30:33 Making time and space for yourself 34:01 Susana’s book