The importance of Self-awareness....

Being able to manage our behaviour is critical to developing constructive relationships and to the quality of life we lead. To do this effectively we need to have a clear understanding of what makes us tick as a person.

However, many of us don't understand ourselves because we often don't know the things we do, say or think and the effect this has on others. When asked we are usually able to tell someone a lot about our parents, our siblings, and even possibly our friends. Yet when it comes to talking about ourselves, we are often unsure and uncomfortable about what to say and feel embarrassed about describing who we are.

There will be many occasions when we will be in a situation that offers us the opportunity to present ourselves in a positive manner that can add value to both the people we are interacting with as well as ourselves. This can be achieved when we have a clear understanding of who we are as well as what we stand for in our everyday transactions.

To be self-aware requires us to obtain feedback from a range of sources to enable us to understand the impact we have on others. This can be obtained by asking members of our family, friends or other associates to tell us how they would describe our behaviour when we interact with them.

An alternative source of feedback is to answer some of the many behavioural and psychometric questionnaires that are available to help you obtain a sense of who you are by relating the characteristics of your behaviour to a model or framework.