Lesson 2: UDERSTANDING THE SELF

Assignment#2
Answer the following questions with clarity and honesty:
• When am I at my best?
• What kind of person do I want to be today?
• What situations make me feel terrible, and what do they have in common?

MOTIVATION
“Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your
successes. It enables you to keep growing.” – Lawrence Bossidy

ENGAGEMENT

1. What does your ideal “you” look like?

DISCUSSION
Self-Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths,
weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self-Awareness allows you to
understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them
in the moment.
A simple quick assessment of self-awareness might be: Basic – Aware of your thoughts while you
have them. Medium – Aware of the thoughts and emotions you have about your thoughts in the
moment. High – Able to put attention on your emotions, and physical state in a way to relax and
thereby change your thought process in the moment. Maybe you are at high level of self-
awareness in a relaxed state, but in a stressed state you might shift to a medium or basic level of
self-awareness. Even where we are on the spectrum changes depending on other factors during
the day.
Why Develop Self Awareness?
As you develop self-awareness you are able to make changes in the thoughts and interpretations
you make in your mind. Changing the interpretations in your mind allows you to change your
emotions. Self-awareness is one of the attributes of Emotional Intelligence and an important
factor in achieving success. Studies have shown a high degree of self-awareness in successful
CEO’s. Self-awareness is the first step in creating what you want and mastering your life. Where
you focus your attention, your emotions, reactions, personality and behavior determine where you
go in life. Having self-awareness allows you to see where your thoughts and emotions are taking
you. It also allows you to take control of your emotions, behavior, and personality so you can
make changes you want. Until you are aware in the moment of your thoughts, emotions, words,
and behavior, you will have difficulty making changes in the direction of your life.
Key Areas for Self-Awareness
Human beings are complex and diverse. To become more self-aware, we should develop an
understanding of ourselves in many areas. Key areas for self-awareness include our personality
traits, personal values, habits, emotions, and the psychological needs that drive our behaviors.
Personality. We don't normally change our personalities, values and needs based on what we
learn about ourselves. But, an understanding of our personalities can help us find situations in
which we will thrive, and help us avoid situations in which we will experience too much
stress. Awareness of your personality helps you analyze such a decision.
Values. Value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of
determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the significance
of different actions. person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is
important in life.
Habits. Our habits are the behaviors that we repeat routinely and often automatically. Although
we would like to possess the habits that help us interact effectively with and manage others, we
can probably all identify at least one of our habits that decreases our effectiveness.
Needs. Maslow and other scholars have identified a variety of psychological needs that drive our
behaviors such as needs for esteem, affection, belongingness, achievement, self-actualization,
power and control. One of the advantages of knowing which needs exert the strongest influence
on our own behaviors is the ability to understand how they affect our interpersonal relationships
Emotions. Understanding your own feelings, what causes them, and how they impact your
thoughts and actions is emotional self-awareness. Similarly, a person with high emotional self-
awareness understands the internal process associated with emotional experiences and,
therefore, has greater control over them.
Teaching Self-Awareness

Learning to be self-aware isn’t easy, even for adults, which can make teaching self-awareness to
students daunting.

Some teachers might also wonder when redirecting students, is this self-awareness or self-efficacy?
Teaching self-efficacy is, in a way, part of teaching self-awareness in the classroom.

To be self-aware, you must be able to:

1. Identify your emotions. Your students need to be able to identify their feelings. Learning
the difference between frustration and anger will help students navigate their emotions.
By recognizing the link between their feelings, thoughts, and actions, they can then
address these feelings and react to them appropriately.

2. See yourself honestly. Teaching your students to look at themselves honestly can help
them respond to compliments, feedback, and criticism openly and earnestly. This sense of
self will teach them to see and acknowledge both the positive and negative things in their
nature.

3. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Your students’ ability to see themselves,
acknowledge their shortcomings, and embrace their strengths is a great confidence
booster. Knowing that it’s okay to admit they’re wrong or don’t understand something sets
them up for growth. Acknowledging aptitude also builds confidence.
4. Work toward growth. All of these skills lead students to self-efficacy. They understand
that self-work and growth are positive activities that result in healthy, happy people with a
drive to achieve.