What Is Self-Awareness?
At its most basic, self-awareness is understanding your own personality, your strengths and weaknesses. While taking stock of ourselves may seem like a simple task, researchers have found that only a small percentage of people actually achieve self-awareness. Truly understanding your own values, interests and aptitudes takes work, and a person who is self-aware has deeply examined the question of “Who am I?”
Using Self-Awareness to Advance Your Career
When you’re considering a career (or a career advancement or change), taking an inventory of your personality, behaviors, beliefs and abilities is an excellent investment of your time. It gives you a compass to help determine the best path forward. People often are drawn to careers where they think they can earn large salaries but money isn’t the only thing that matters. If a job doesn’t align with your values and personality, you’re likely to leave it at the first opportunity—or to be very unhappy. Alternatively, when you pursue a career that matches your strong points, you increase your odds for success and advancement.
Knowing Yourself and Setting Goals
Before deciding on a career path, it’s critical to work on self-awareness prior to goal setting. Spend some time writing down answers to questions, such as:
- What am I good at?
- What am I interested in?
- What kinds of work would I want/not want to do?
- Am I more communicative or thoughtful?
- How would I describe my personality?
- How might someone different from me describe my personality?
- What values are important to me?
- How does my natural style impact others?
Once you’ve defined the beliefs, behaviors and interests that contribute to who you are, then you can create much more effective career goals that speak to what really matters to you. As you move forward in your career, periodically take the time to re-examine your feelings and actions. You may find that your interests and beliefs have changed.
Working with a qualified career coach is one of the best ways to learn effective techniques for developing self-awareness and using that knowledge to create a fulfilling career. At Crosworks, our career counselors offer an array of tools and techniques to help you with every facet of your career journey. Contact us today for information on our career coaching services.