Is Self Awareness An Important Trait To Have? Know All About It Here!

Is Self Awareness An Important Trait To Have? Know All About It Here!

Do you want to be happier from within, be a better decision-maker in life, and be an effective leader in the workplace? Then self awareness is one of the most crucial traits you need to develop. It will help you become the best version of yourself and the best leader. It helps in managing your emotions better, aligning your behaviour with values and understanding your self worth.

It has a positive correlation with your overall happiness. So, if you want to know about self awareness, its types, importance and benefits, continue reading this blog!

What Is Self Awareness?

Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund were the first psychologists to define the meaning of self awareness. Your ability to focus on yourself to understand how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or do not align with your standards is your self awareness. You are highly self aware if you can:

  • Evaluate yourself objectively 
  • Manage your emotions
  • Align your behaviour with your core values
  • Assess how others perceive you accurately 

A highly self aware individual can interpret their feelings, thoughts and actions objectively. It is a rare skill because you can end up spiralling into emotion-driven interpretations of your circumstances. 

Types of Self Awareness

There are two types of self awareness:

  • Public self awareness
  • Private self awareness
  • Public Self Awareness 

    Public self awareness is being aware of how you appear to others. It makes sure you behave in socially acceptable ways and adhere to social norms. This type of awareness has many benefits, but it can make you too self conscious. If you have a high level of public awareness, you are more likely to spend too much time worrying about what others think of you. 


    Private Self Awareness

    Private self awareness is being able to notice and reflect on your internal state. This awareness makes you introspective and ensures you approach your feelings and reactions with curiosity. For example, knowing that you are tensed due to an important presentation is an example of private self awareness.

    Importance of Self Awareness

    Self awareness is crucial as it helps you in your personal and professional life. It reduces your weaknesses and enhances your strengths. It helps you set attainable goals and create strategies to achieve those goals. It helps you gauge how much you know yourself and what more you need to understand your traits, skills and behaviour. It will also help you understand what affects your beliefs too. This leads you to achieve higher satisfaction in life eventually.

    Benefits of Self Awareness

    The benefits of being self aware are:

    • It ensures you are empathetic toward others. Being self aware makes you more empathetic. It helps you build better and long-term relationships.
    • It improves your critical thinking skills. When you are self aware, you reflect on yourself and your actions. It helps you conduct an in-depth analysis and thus improves your critical thinking skills.
    • It improves your leadership skills. Self awareness in leadership is all about understanding how your habits, traits and personality affect your interaction with those around you. It gives you the control you need to improve your leadership capabilities.
    • It provides you with more self control. Being self aware enables you to understand your emotions and not react to them. It helps you remain calm during any situation. You tend to demonstrate more self control instead of getting angry.
    • It increases your creativity Being self aware helps you find creative solutions to personal or workplace problems.
    • It makes you more adaptable. It helps you become adaptable because it helps you implement changes in your behaviour and traits.
    • It ensures you have high self esteem. When you are self aware, you learn from your failures, and this increases your confidence.

    The Bottom Line

    The road to being self aware is a journey in itself. It gives you the power to think clearly, frees you from biases, and makes you a better decision-maker. If you are new to this journey of self awareness, make sure you check out the self awareness journal we curated!
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