Part 3 of 5 for the October edition of "Converging over Coffee"
I’m aware that even though it comes up often during conversations, I can’t really tell if most people have the same experience with self awareness as I have. I guess the self awareness journey is quite personal. For me, my initial understanding of what it is and my evolving (not final) appreciation of what it really means were quite different. A little tricky to articulate but I will give it a shot.
While it started with a curiosity about things like personality, emotional intelligence, and strengths finding… over time, I realize that the essence was in clarifying the relationship between each of these things about myself and the environment, specifically each of the ecosystems I find myself in on the personal as well as professional front.
Self awareness is about understanding strengths as well as perspectives, for both ourselves and these ecosystems. It takes an appreciation of the distinct roles between self and the ecosystem, but understanding that the ecosystem is also an extension of self. What does this boil down to? I think it means how we interact with the ecosystem means even more than what we bring to it.
In practice, self awareness is acknowledging and accepting the current version of self, but knowing that the current version can and will evolve. It isn’t insisting “well, this is just me” but allowing for “this is clearly me now, so let me see how I can grow it in my current environment”. Self awareness is not limiting but liberating.
Tap on your strengths confidently.
Access the ecosystem’s strengths openly.
