Why Self Awareness Can Increase Success

Increasing self awareness by knowing your strengths and weaknesses can increase success in several areas of your life including your personal and business communication. Most of us become aware of our strengths as we gain life and work experience but many times the weaknesses elude us. These are called blind spots. Claudia Shelton's definition; "Blind Spots are those personal habits that we can't see about ourselves that everybody else can see." I sat in on a final interview with a client after the perspective employee had just completed the DiSC Personality Assessment. I asked him if he felt the assessment was accurate. He replied, "Absolutely. Very accurate. I also read some things about myself that I generally dislike in other people. I came to realize that these characteristics are accurate also. I never knew". I also found out that he had taken personality assessments in the past but the employer did not share the results with him. How could this be? One of the greatest benefits of taking the assessment is to understand how we react to our environment and learn from it. "Your security is determined by your ability to define what it is you do that has value. The clearer you can be on what it is you do well and what provides value for someone else, the more security you have." ~ Dan Miller, 48 Days to the Work You Love Here are some benefits of self-awareness: Self-awareness helps you know and actively work in your strengths. This leads to authentic happiness in your work. Self-awareness helps you know what opportunities to accept and more importantly, say no to. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and being able to articulate them can help you gain trust and credibility with others. Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change. ~ Stephen Covey The happiest and most successful people I know have a keen understanding of themselves, the good and the bad. It gives you the freedom to be your genuine self. Have a great week!