Self-awareness is being aware of your mood and your thoughts about your mood. It is classed as a personal competence, something that determines how we manage ourselves.
It comprises of:
- Emotional awareness: Recognising our emotions and the effects of those emotions.
- Accurate self-assessment: Knowing our strengths and our limits.
- Self-confidence: Having a strong sense of our self-worth and our capabilities.
How deeply do we understand what is going on when our mood is changing? Many of us are seemingly quite happy living our lives and reacting to things that are happening around us. Working on our self-awareness means taking the time to understand what we feel and why we feel it which can require some regular deep reflection to gain insight into our feelings and behaviours. For many this is not a comfortable experience.
Self-awareness is also being confident in ourselves and our abilities with an acknowledgment of our value.
Strong self-awareness is said to contribute to our overall well-being because it helps us make informed decisions and work with our strengths, we are more likely to understand our values and have a strong sense of self all of which can help us achieve more.
Self-Awareness Emotional Intelligence Indicator
1) Can you tell when your mood is changing?
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
2) Do you know when you are becoming defensive?
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
3) Can you tell when your emotions are affecting your performance?
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
4) How quickly do you realise you are starting to lose your temper?
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
5) How soon do you realise that your thoughts are turning negative?
Always Sometimes Rarely Never
Mark your answers:
Give yourself 4 points for every answer that is ‘Always’, 3 points for every ‘Sometimes’, 2 points for ‘Rarely’, and 1 for ‘Never’
What is your score out of 20?
- 17 or more – you shape up pretty well
- 13-16 – a little action is necessary
- 12-9 – Emotional Intelligence development is required
- 8 or less – some major work is necessary
Understanding emotional intelligence is the key to developing it.