If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you know that building self-awareness is one of my absolute musts for tapping into your most powerful, confident self.
Without a deeper understanding of who you are, what makes you tick, and what doesn’t work for you, it’s extremely hard to navigate challenging situations effectively.
In my up-leveling journey so far, working on my self-awareness has been the #1 thing that has helped me tap into my true power and boost my confidence.
If you’re looking to improve your mental health, up-level your mindset, and totally transform your life, these tips are just what you’re looking for.
Build your self-awareness through journaling:
I’m an avid journal-er and creating a daily habit to understand my thoughts, feelings, blocks, and desires has really helped me understand myself. I highly recommend building a routine practice to develop those reflective skills.
Here are some prompts you can journal on to do that:
- What am I good at, what are my strengths, what sets my soul on fire?
- What motivates me? What do I find enjoyable and fun?
- What am I doing now that is along with those things I wrote down? What am I don’t that is not in line with those things?
- For the things I am doing now, why am I doing it? Who am I doing it for?
- How do I carry myself in the world?
- What do I most look forward to in my day, and why?
- Who am I surrounded by?
- How does my environment feel?
- How do others feel around me?
- What are the things I know I can do well?
- What do my friends, family, partner, co-workers often turn to me to ask for help with? (Write a sentence for each)
- What makes me a great friend? What makes me a great daughter/sister? What makes me a great employee?
- Where do I struggle in my relationships? What do I need to feel safe, supported, and loved?
- If my family, friends, loved ones, co-workers had to describe me they would say I am _______. (Write a sentence for each)
When you’re just starting out, try revisiting your answers to these questions every month to let them sink in and think through if they still align with how you’re living your day to day. As you get more self-awareness practice, you can visit them a few times a year.
Personally, I like to think through these every three to six months to have a check-in with myself on how things are going. It’s such a great way to truly understand who you are, what energizes you, and what you need to change to keep leveling-up.
Create a fun and mindful self-awareness routine for yourself throughout the year to have these kinds of conversations with yourself. For example, you can add this to your New Years resolutions, or think through these during your birthday month. I do both!
If you’re not a journal-er, don’t worry. You can meditate or just keep a small list in your notes app or on your notion board instead.
Build your self-awareness through feedback:
I’d like to start with a word of caution here. Do NOT take into account the people who are not your fans, are not looking out for your best interests, and are not a loving, supportive cheerleader in your life.
Trying to understand their opinions of you isn’t helpful—in fact its best to put up some healthy boundaries to tune that noise out.
Instead, look to your friends, mentors, peers, family, supportive bosses, and loved ones to make a list of what they say about you. The point of this is to have a solid picture of yourself as others see you. And, to validate the amazing things about yourself that you are now more confident in from doing the self-awareness journaling exercise.
You can fill out these prompts to help you clarify what you’ve heard from your cheerleaders:
- I am a ___________ daughter. My parents say I am really good at ___________.
- I am a ___________ sister/cousin. My family says that I am really good at ___________.
- I am a ___________ partner. My partner says that I am really good at ___________.
- I am a ___________ friend. My friends say that I am really good at ___________.
- I am a ___________ worker. My boss/co-workers say that I am really good at ___________.
If you don’t know what your cheerleaders would say about you…ask them! I keep a list of all the feedback and compliments I get in a folder on my desktop so that everything is right there if I ever need a little help remembering who I am and what I bring to the table in all parts of my life.
Stellar Tip: I especially recommend keeping a compliments folder for work, at a minimum! Anytime someone emails you with positive feedback or a congratulations, save that note in a specific folder either in your email app or on your desktop. This will come in handy when you’re preparing for performance check-ins, promotion discussions, and raise negotiations with your boss. It’s such a game-changer for helping you tell the story of your stellar work and impact that you’re making in your role, supported by concrete examples!
Don’t forget to do this important part!
The best part of building your self-awareness, and jotting it all down, is looking back at it when you need it!
Feeling stuck? Take out your journal or notes app and look through the things you’ve reflected on. Let past you remind you of how stellar you are. Get inspiration for what you need to adjust to enjoy more of your day-to-day.
Doubting yourself? Open that compliments folder to see all the amazing things people have recognized you for. Your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.
We all need reminders of who we are, what inspires us, what makes us feel powerful, and the value we bring to the table. Make sure that you are one of those people who can give yourself a boost.
Looking for more self-awareness ideas? Send me a note at [email protected] and lets chat about it!
Stay Stellar,
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