Last week I mentioned that I was writing a book for my college students on self-discovery. Thank you for your responses to the two questions I asked you to consider:
- How has gaining more self-awareness helped you to achieve success in your life?
- What activities and experiences have been most important to help you become more self-aware?
The responses I received have been extremely helpful. Please, if you have not done so, feel free to respond to the questions.
Here are 10 steps which I think are crucial to developing self-awareness. Over the next several weeks I will be elaborating on each of these.
Step 1: Learn to know and to appreciate your strengths.
Step 2: Focus on what really interests you and about what you are passionate.
Step 3: Find people who can give you honest feedback about who you are and how you are perceived by others.
Step 4: Take self-assessments to better understand your personality style and motivations.
Step 5: Recognize ways that your thinking and beliefs can impose self-limitations on you.
Step 6: Learn how you fit into the path blazed by your ancestors and family. Realize your story is a continuation of theirs’.
Step 7: Discover how the culture you grew up in and live in now, affects how you are as a person.
Step 8: Realize that to become truly self-aware you must take risks and be willing to learn from them.
Step 9: Reflect on the big questions:
- Why are you here on earth?
- What is your purpose in life?
- In what ways is it important for you to make a difference?
Step 10: Reflect on what “well-being” means for you: what is the right balance between career, social well-being, family well-being, financial success, physical and mental well-being.
I would appreciate your comments and feedback.
