How to Greatly Increase Your Awareness

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Jason Hoover, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.

Just a few years ago I entered into a downward spiral in my career which quickly crashed into my life and and wreaked my health. I was at a company that was failing but the worst part is that I was in a career that was sucking the joy and passion right out of me. By the time I started to hit bottom is when I finally started becoming intentional with my life and getting clear with what I wanted to do. That’s when I learned how powerful living in a state of awareness can be.

Many things happened during that time in both my professional and personal life. But through conscious efforts to understand who I was, what I wanted, where I was, and where I wanted to be, it was only then that I began to make positive progress. Because of that awareness, I am finally living and doing what I was designed for and my life has never been sweeter!

BRUTAL HONESTY FOR CLEAR AWARENESS
Having a clear awareness sounds simple enough but it actually can be a little tricky. That’s because we are simply not always honest with ourselves. Sometimes we mask or overlook our faults. Then other times we go to the opposite side of the spectrum and exaggerate our failures.

Another major factor is that we are so accustomed to who we have become and with all that is around us. Due to this, we fail to see some of the negative effects on our life by the environment we have created. Both at work and at home.

This is why clear awareness is tricky. You have to be brutally honest with yourself. Because full awareness is the beginning of positive change.

SWOT IT OUT
Being a business guy, when I decided to become more aware of myself, it was natural for me to perform a SWOT analysis. I figured we do this for our businesses all the time and really, it’s a beautiful way to gain a legitimate awareness of who we are as well. Because let’s face it, in reality we are all solopreneurs as we trade our services for something we need and want, right?

So what I encourage you to do is take some time in the next couple of hours to do a SWOT analysis of yourself. Use the questions below to help you get started. But be HONEST and be as detailed as you can. The more detailed your SWOT, the more awareness you’ll gain.

STRENGTHS
Questions: What are the things that you are particularly great at doing? What do you love doing the most?
Examples: Leadership, Communication

WEAKNESSES
Questions: What are the things that you tend to struggle to do? What do you love doing the least?
Examples: Accounting, Budgeting

OPPORTUNITIES
Questions: What areas are you decent in that you can work on? What are you capable of doing more of that helps your team?
Examples: Employee engagement, Networking

THREATS
Questions: What are possibilities that can cause you to fail? What are the issues that can become detrimental to your success?
Examples: Self doubt, High anxiety

ENVIRONMENTAL PERSUASION
Outside of who you are, another major factor in your life is the environment in which you live and work. It’s imperative to identify who you are but just as important is knowing your environmental persuasions. Because every environment is either draining or enriching your life.

Your environment motivates you in a direction but it may not always be in a positive one. The question is if that direction is where you want to go.

It’s important that you create an environment that is conducive to positive growth. Just as different plants require different soil, light, and temperatures to grow to their max potential, so do you need to have the right environment as well if you wish to build a life of great significance.