
When you look at me, what do you see?
You may be able to list a number of traits, observations, perspectives and interpretations of my beliefs and behaviour based on your experience and interaction with me. In turn, I may agree, disagree or debate some of the points you have listed.
It has taken me years to truly get to grips with my own self-awareness. Truly knowing myself, accepting who I am, understanding my needs, my thoughts, my feelings and my behaviour. Being able to think about how I thinkโฆ. i.e. metacognition - the human brain being able to monitor its own cognition in order to shape and control future behaviour.
Research done during 2014 by Tasha Eurich, PhD, an organizational psychologist, with 5000 participants, revealed that most people deemed themselves to be self-aware. ๐ง๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐๐, ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ญ๐ฌ โ ๐ญ๐ฑ% ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐.
There were times during my corporate career when I was labelled โintrovertedโ, โa dreamerโ, and my favourite one: โunable to move on from the pastโ.
During my own Personal Development Journey, I experienced such joy when I decided to do the CliftonStrengths Assessment and the results confirmed that I do actually thrive in the moment, I โrespond willingly to the demands of the momentโ. I welcome unpredictable situations, pressure andโฆ. even unforeseen detours. I had no desire to be stuck in the past โ unpredictability is not something I avoid in my life. I love adventure, I am adaptable!
As for me being labelled โintrovertedโ and a โdreamerโ โ these labels pointed to some of my amazing talents, however, because of these labels people responded to me in alignment with these labels โ many of my talents were underestimated, misunderstood and avoided.
Should I have known and understood my talents better, should my self-awareness have been elevated, I wouldโve been able to manage situations differently, resolve problems more effectively, understood myself and others better. ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐น๐, ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑโ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐บ๐ฒ. ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐บ๐๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ป๐ถ๐พ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด who did not have to wear a label someone else assigned to me. I would have understood myself better and I wouldโve crawled out of the box I was placed into and I wouldโve shown the world who I truly am.
The beauty of our talents lies in the dynamics between them. ๐๐ป๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ-๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐น๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ผ๐๐๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐๐น๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ!
#strengths #talents #cliftonstrengths #selfawareness #otherawareness