By Mike Van Pelt, ONE Way Coach
Men, where do you go when you’ve been challenged?
Do you curl up into a little ball and roll around on the floor or do you rise up? Do you get angry and frustrated, or do you let thing’s role off your back? Are you always looking over your shoulder to see what’s coming next or do you play it cool?
It can be excruciating painful to live looking over your shoulder and that voice you hear whispering probably doesn’t have your best intentions in mind either.
An important aspect of knowing what to do when you have been challenged is, to know yourself or being self-aware.
Having self-awareness doesn’t solve your challenges in life, but it gives you an accurate starting point and allows you to develop a game plan for solutions.
Self-awareness takes time to develop, but the benefits are well worth the effort.
Having self-awareness means that you have knowledge of yourself. You understand your habits, likes, dislikes, the way you view the world, and your needs. You know what you want in life and have an understanding of your emotional responses. Socrates’ famous quote “know thyself” is a directive to develop self-awareness.
One way of becoming more powerfully aware of yourself is taking the time to journal and record your life by writing down meaningful things that happened to you throughout the day. Include your challenges and what you think caused them.
Ask yourself the hard questions:
What did I do well?
What did I do poorly?
What changes do I need to make? How will I make those changes?
Are you around people or environments that are toxic and may affect your attitude? If so, understand how your current relationships, workplace, or the places you frequent are affecting how you feel.
Self-awareness is one of the most important things you can possess. The key to enhancing your life is grounded in self-awareness. Self-awareness is important to setting goals and creating a life of success and satisfaction.
Without self-awareness, you’re doomed to repeat your mistakes for the rest of your life.
Most of us are pretty good at figuring out what makes a friend or family member tick. It’s much more challenging to develop the same understanding of yourself.
But hey, don’t you think it would be a lot more fun to take the time to understand yourself than curl up in a little ball or listen to that voice on your shoulder. Take some sage man advice and get to know yourself, you’ll appreciate it and everyone around you will as well!