Why Self-Awareness and Reflection Are Crucial And How These Worksheets Can Help You
When was the last time you took the time to really reflect how you spend your time and energy? What makes you happy? What makes you upset? What makes you feel emotionally safe to show up as fully as who you are? These questions, though may look simple, require us to take a deeper look into ourselves and take the time to really ask who we are as a person.
We all want to be understood, appreciated, and valued for who we are, but how often do we take the time to reflect, learn about ourselves, and share with others how we like to be engaged?
I found that misunderstandings are often rooted in the assumptions we carry about one another. Your managers should give you guidance on how you could succeed in this project. Your supervisors should know what you want and why in your career. Honestly,you should probably also say that your life partner (friend or family) should know why you want something or know how you feel about it.
Consider These Questions:
- We assume others will see and understand us but how can they know what we don’t know and express?
- Why do we assume they are the one in control of that result (despite their role)?
- What if you rethought what it meant to seek career growth on your own beyond your manager?
- What if you rethought how you find validation at work beyond compliments from my colleagues?
- What if you seek joy of learning outside of work if your workplace is not giving you enough space organically to learn something new? What if you seek joy of learning outside of work if your workplace is not giving you enough space organically to learn something new?
- What if we are the protagonist in what we want by first truly understanding what we want, expressing it, and seeking it.
To do all of that, we must first understand what we want, be aware, and be able to express it.
95 percent of people think they’re self-aware, but only 10 to 15 percent actually are, according to research by organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich. Working with colleagues who aren’t self-aware can cut a team’s success in half and, according to Eurich’s research, lead to increased stress and decreased motivation.
And as leaders, we need to understand our colleagues’ answers to these questions as well. After all, CEOs who exhibit emotionally intelligent traits like self-awareness, that is the ability to understand their strengths/weaknesses and act upon them are found to hold their positions longer.
The Challenges & Key To Self Awareness
As I coach leaders and companies, I realize part of the challenge in rethinking about anything is it takes a lot of practice, courage, vulnerability and patience. We have to take the time to pause, listen, understand, and wonder. And when we learn more about ourselves we may be surprised, delighted, and even shocked – “I didn’t know that’s how I did it or thought about it!”
Still, it’s so key to take the time to dive deep into understanding who we are with an open-mind to really understand how we think, how we feel, and how we like to work. Without the intentional open understanding of ourselves, how can we express with others how we’d like to work or how we could understand others how they would like to work?
Our Rethink Creativity Worksheets
This is why we created these worksheets for you. To help you make that first step of rethinking feel easier and enjoyable. As you rethink everything and anything from yourself, team development, culture, and more, I encourage exploring what questions you enjoy and why.
My favorite questions are the ones on the last page where I get to map out who I spend the most time with and where I spend the most time. It gives me clarity into why I felt stressed or why I felt so loved and appreciated. When I spend time doing more things that I don’t enjoy, or don’t align with my strengths, it makes sense why I felt so undervalued and discouraged no matter how hard I worked. When I spend time with people who get me, but also who think and look differently than me, I bubble with excitement to reimagine even more possibilities of all the ways I could learn, think and see because of the diversity around me.
Visualizing these feelings and writing my thoughts out loud gives me a tangible starting point for me to say – I wonder what I can learn, and what I can do more, knowing where I am today? The questions in these worksheets are designed to help you get your thoughts on “paper” so that it helps you determine what decisions you want to take next as a result of knowing where you are and what you want.
How can you rethink what you want unless you know where you are today and where you want to go? It’s essential.
And this is a journey. Developing self awareness is like training a muscle. In-fact, self-awareness is a huge component of your EQ – like your IQ but concerns emotional intelligence. Your EQ has the capacity to grow over time. This is why it’s important to go through these exercises not just one time, but as often as you’d like. evisit the worksheets with your teams to learn more about each other. Use it for reflection, to find clarity, and to understand others. Use it to realize we are always learning and growing.
Where do you start? Start with curiosity. Be curious about your daily routines and identify where you can “rethink.” Download our 100% Free Rethink Creativity Worksheets now to get started:
Curious to hear your thoughts. If you have any questions or any other suggestions reach out to me at info@innovatorsbox.com. Can’t wait to hear your journey to rethinking.
Visit our InnovatorsBox Free resource page for more free resources.
About the Author
Monica H. Kang
Monica H. Kang, Founder, and CEO of InnovatorsBox® and Author of Rethink Creativity is transforming today’s workforce through the power of creativity. She helps companies rethink culture, leadership, and team development by making creativity practical and relatable regardless of industry or job title. She has worked with clients worldwide including Fortune 500 companies, higher education, government, and nonprofits. Monica’s work has been recognized by The White House, Ashoka Changemakers, National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), and Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Prior to InnovatorsBox®, Monica was a nuclear nonproliferation policy expert. She holds an M.A. from SAIS Johns Hopkins University in Strategic Studies and International Economics and a B.A. from Boston University.
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