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 think…. 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. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟬 – 𝟭𝟱% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

There were times during my corporate career when I was labelled “introverted”, “a dreamer”, and my favourite one: “unable to move on from the past”.

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 “respond willingly to the demands of the moment”. I welcome unpredictable situations, pressure and…. even unforeseen detours. I had no desire to be stuck in the past – unpredictability is not something I avoid in my life. I love adventure, I am adaptable!

As for me being labelled “introverted” and a “dreamer” – these labels pointed to some of my amazing talents, however, because of these labels people responded to me in alignment with these labels – 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 would’ve been able to manage situations differently, resolve problems more effectively, understood myself and others better. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗲. 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 who did not have to wear a label someone else assigned to me. I would have understood myself better and I would’ve crawled out of the box I was placed into and I would’ve shown the world who I truly am.

The beauty of our talents lies in the dynamics between them. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿-𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲!

#strengths #talents #cliftonstrengths #selfawareness #otherawareness