Definition
of Self Awareness
Based
on Goleman (2017: 5) emotional self-awareness is the ability to understand your
own emotions and their effects on your performance. You know what you are feeling
and why and how it helps or hurts what you are trying to do. You sense how
others see you, and so align your self-image with a larger reality. You have an
accurate sense of your strengths and limitations, which gives you a realistic
self-confidence. It also gives you clarity on your values and sense of purpose,
so you can be more decisive when you set a course of action. As a leader, you
can be candid and authentic, speaking with conviction about your vision.
McGonical
(2012: 26) self-awareness is the ability to realize what we are doing as we do
it, and understand why weare doing it. With any luck, we can also predict what
we’re likely to do before we do it, giving usample opportunity to reconsider.
This level of self-awareness appears to be uniquely human. Sure,dolphins and
elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror, but there’s little evidence
that theysearch their souls for self-understanding
Self-awareness
is the building block of all the others.Without recognizing what you are feeling, you cannot proceed to the other competencies.
Self-awareness involves three skills: Emotional self-awareness, Accurate
self-assessmentself-confidence In a sense, these three skills can
also be said to build upon each other. You must first be aware of your
emotional state, and then you can assess it. By having a firm grasp on your
emotions and an understanding of how they manifest, you can feel more self-assure and in control, which of course will be a boost to your
self-confidence. We’ll look at these skills each in turn.
Kight
(2014:17) self-awareness is an honest understanding of your own values, desires,
thought patterns, motivations, goals and ambitions, emotional responses,
strengths and weaknesses, and effect on others. This awareness takes years to
fully develop, requires commitment, and is supplement by others’ feedback. Once
develop and practice regularly, self-awareness enables you to manage your
behavior, improve your interactions and relation-ships, and gain or increase
your influence.
