How To Improve Self-Awareness Skills: [14 Practical Ways]

If you’re looking for some strategies on how to improve self awareness skills, then you’ll love this article.

Developing a higher level of self-awareness can aid in comprehending one’s personality traits, values, and innermost aspirations. Moreover, gaining a deeper understanding of oneself can assist in shaping a fulfilling life and effectuating constructive modifications to overcome shortcomings.

An individual who is self-aware has enhanced emotional intelligence, which can prove advantageous in building interpersonal relationships. To improve your self-awareness, you can study your own thoughts and actions, cultivate emotional awareness, and seek feedback from others.

How To Improve Self-Awareness Skills:

1. To gain clarity on what matters most in your life, create a list of the things that hold the most value to you, such as your family or career.

From this list, choose 5 to 10 items that are most significant and prioritize them in order of importance, with your top priority as number 1. This exercise can help you recognize and focus on the things that truly matter to you.

As an example, your list may consist of 1) Your significant other, 2) Your close friends, 3) Your family, 4) Contributing to your community, and 5) Expressing yourself creatively.

2. Creating a list of personal goals can help you identify what you truly desire in life.

Envision your ideal life and the activities you would be engaged in, then list the goals that would enable you to attain that vision. To establish priorities, rank these goals in order of importance, so you know which ones are most significant to your life’s ambitions.

As an example, suppose your dream life involves residing near the beach and working with animals. Your goals might include relocating to a coastal city, securing employment at a veterinary clinic, and volunteering for an animal welfare organization.

3. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses can enhance your self-awareness and enable you to lead a more fulfilling life.

Assessing your knowledge, skills, and personal traits can help you uncover your strengths. Additionally, reflecting on three to five instances when you felt most successful in life can reveal your natural aptitudes.

Conversely, identifying areas where you want to improve can expose your weaknesses. It’s essential to focus on areas where you can grow and develop. For instance, if you experience difficulty with public speaking, this may be a weakness that you can work on.

4. To gain insights into your personality traits, learning style, and strengths, consider taking online psychometric tests.

Conduct an online search for various personality tests that can provide you with valuable information about yourself. To obtain a comprehensive understanding, it’s beneficial to take multiple tests.

Keep a record of your test results so that you can reflect on them later. For instance, you could take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (1) test to better comprehend your personality. Additionally, you might complete quizzes to assess your verbal and numerical reasoning abilities.

SEE ALSO: How To Not Be Gullible And Naive: 19 Highly Effective Tips

5. Maintaining a journal is an effective way to comprehend your thoughts and emotions better.

Allocate time every day to write in your journal, even if it’s only a few lines. Write about your experiences and how you feel. Subsequently, review your entries to engage in self-reflection.

To maximize the benefits of journaling, set a specific time to revisit your previous entries. For example, you could read the previous month’s entries during the first weekend of the month. It’s crucial to aim for daily writing, even if you only have time for a brief list or incomplete sentences.

6. Part of being self-aware involves comprehending your emotions.

Acknowledge your feelings and allow yourself to experience them, as this will enable your emotions to pass. Suppressing or fighting your emotions can cause them to intensify and prolong the healing process.

Be truthful with yourself about how you feel and allocate time to address your emotions. For example, if you feel sad after being passed over for a promotion, don’t resist the emotion. Instead, accept it and say to yourself, “I’m feeling sad right now because I was expecting to get the job. It’s normal to feel this way.”

7. To avoid burnout, it’s important to incorporate stress-relieving activities into your routine.

Stress can be detrimental to your mental and physical health, so it’s essential to manage it effectively. Identify activities that help you relieve stress and make time for them in your daily routine.

Experiment with different stress-relieving activities, such as taking a walk, practicing yoga, or meditating, to find what works best for you. Some other examples of stress-relieving activities include spending time in nature, listening to music, or practicing deep breathing exercises.

8. To better understand yourself, it’s important to recognize what causes strong emotional reactions.

Think back to past situations where you’ve had a particularly intense response, and consider what may have triggered it. Understanding your emotional triggers can help you regulate your reactions in the future.

For instance, if you became upset when your friend yelled at a dog, you might realize that seeing animals mistreated is an emotional trigger for you. To manage your response, you could take a moment to pause and collect your thoughts before addressing the situation.

9. To cultivate mindfulness, it’s important to be present in the moment and avoid distractions caused by worrying about past or future events.

You can practice mindfulness by engaging your senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Here are some examples of how to do so:

  • Sight: Observe and describe your surroundings, or focus on a particular color.
  • Sound: Pay attention to the sounds in your environment, or listen to music.
  • Smell: Identify different smells in your surroundings or use essential oils.
  • Touch: Touch and feel different textures, or touch your skin.
  • Taste: Notice different tastes, such as those in the air or by chewing gum.

SEE ALSO: How To Become a Well Rounded Person In 17 Foolproof Ways

10. To achieve a clearer mind, it is recommended to meditate daily for a minimum of 10 minutes.

This practice helps you to calm your thoughts, allowing for better cognitive function, and also aids in emotional regulation. To meditate, start by finding a comfortable seated position and closing your eyes.

Then, concentrate on your breathing. If you find your thoughts drifting, gently bring your attention back to your breath. You can find helpful guided meditations on various websites or apps such as Calm, Headspace (2), or Insight Timer.

11. To gain valuable insight into how you are perceived by others, it can be helpful to ask people whose opinions you trust for feedback.

Think about individuals in your life who are likely to provide you with honest and constructive evaluations. Ask them to share their thoughts on your strengths, areas for improvement, and overall perception of you. Once you have collected their feedback, take time to reflect on it and use it as a tool for self-awareness and personal growth.

For example, you could reach out to five of your closest friends and family members via email and ask them to answer a few questions. These questions could include: 1) Can you provide 10 words that you feel describe me? 2) What do you consider to be my top 5 strengths? 3) In what ways do you think I could improve myself?

12. Observe the body language of those around you to gain insight into how they react to you.

Pay attention to whether people are comfortable and approach you easily, or if they keep their distance or seem guarded. By noticing patterns in how people behave around you, you can begin to understand how they perceive you.

People who are open and receptive tend to face you, keep their arms open or at their sides, and avoid crossing their legs when seated. Conversely, individuals with closed or defensive body language may turn away from you, cross their arms across their chest, or cross their legs while sitting.

Remember that people’s behavior around you can also be influenced by their personality and comfort level. Don’t assume that someone who appears nervous or closed off is necessarily reacting negatively to you; they may simply be uncomfortable in social situations.

13. Take the time to assess feedback that you receive in your workplace or academic setting.

It’s likely that you get reviews or critiques of your work or progress on a regular basis. Take the time to read and understand this feedback, and talk to your supervisors or instructors to learn more.

Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and take action to improve your performance. In case there’s no regular review or feedback mechanism, ask your superiors or teachers to provide you with feedback at a set frequency, like monthly or quarterly.

14. You can gain insight into how others perceive you by asking a friend to record you in various situations.

You can then observe your facial expressions and gestures to learn more about your mannerisms. For example, your friend can film you while you’re having a conversation or giving a presentation.

You can also ask them to capture you during different activities to evaluate yourself in various scenarios. It’s essential to record yourself at different times and watch the videos later to gain a more comprehensive understanding of yourself.

To improve self-awareness skills, there are several steps one can take. Firstly, identify and reflect on emotional triggers that cause certain reactions. Secondly, practice mindfulness to focus on the present moment and engage the five senses. Thirdly, meditate for at least 10 minutes a day to calm the mind and control emotions. Fourthly, seek feedback from people whose opinions are valued and pay attention to how others react to you. Fifthly, review feedback received at work or school. Lastly, get a friend to film you during different activities to analyze and improve body language and mannerisms.

Thank you for reading this article about how to improve self awareness skills and I really hope that you take action my advice.

I wish you good luck and I hope its contents have been a good help to you.

Przemkas Mosky
Przemkas Mosky started Perfect 24 Hours in 2017. He is a Personal Productivity Specialist, blogger and entrepreneur. He also works as a coach assisting people to increase their motivation, social skills or leadership abilities. Read more here