It was breathtaking. But how do they do it?
How do they be at their best to perform in such an outstanding way so consistently.
Well, yes, they train hard, they sacrifice everything, they go all in on their commitment to be almost superhuman and win.
They dedicate their lives to being their best. But that’s not all.
There is one thing above all this that allows them to do what they do.
It’s the one thing you can do to achieve your best in whatever you put your mind to as well.
It’s called self-awareness. We achieve nothing great in our lives without self-awareness.
Stephen Covey said “Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions and our habits and tendencies.”
Self-awareness allows us to see ourselves clearly and objectively through reflection and introspection.
Furthermore, self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one’s own character and deep understanding of one’s strengths, weaknesses, and behaviours.
Without self-awareness nothing happens. Change cannot exist.
Socrates said the greatest thing you can do is “know thyself”. And he was right, especially regarding being our best version.
It’s like doing a personal S.W.O.T analysis.
The most successful businesses in the world are continually doing S.W.O.T analysis on their business.
Looking at what their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are to critically understand what’s working and what’s not.
This is how they get the edge. They dig deep to understand how they work and don’t work.
Interesting stat from Self-awareness expert, Tasha Eurich says that there are two types of people.
Those who think they are self-aware and those who are.
She has found that 95% of people think they are self-aware, yet only 10-15% are self-aware.
This led her to suggest that 80% of us are lying to ourselves about ourselves.
Her research supports the fact that self-awareness separates the best from the rest.
And that the reason many are not successful is that we BS ourselves way too much.
Self-awareness challenges us to focus on what makes us grow not what keeps us the same.
In his book Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers From Everybody Else, Geoff Colvin brought home this point.
“A study of figure skaters found that sub-elite skaters spent lots of time working on the jumps they could already do, while skaters at the highest levels spent more time on the jumps they couldn’t do, the kind that ultimately win Olympic medals and that involve lots of falling down before they’re mastered.”― Geoff Colvin, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
Self-awareness seems to have also become the latest management buzzword — and for good reason.
Research suggests that when we have high level self-awareness, we become more confident and creative.
We make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively.
We are better workers who get more promotions. And we’re more-effective leaders with more-satisfied employees and more-profitable companies.
At the core of self-awareness is identifying our blind spots. The things that sabotage our success and hold us back from being our best version.
Why is this important? Because when you illuminate your blind spots you free yourself up for greater performance.
Without knowing your blind spots it’s like you are continually walking around a dark room bumping into things you can’t see but know they are there stopping you succeeding and finally you are turning the light on and now you can see all those things holding you back.
Three of the best ways to improve self-awareness and discover your blind spots are.
1. Get feedback from others. This is critical information that you are probably not aware of that will take you to the next level.
2. Take as many psychometric profiling profiles as possible to understand your type across different areas of life and business.
These profiles allow you to understand your personal template and functional blueprint.
ENNEAGRAM, DISC MODEL, CLIFTON STRENGTHS FINDER, MYERS BRIGGS there are so many great ones to give you a clearer insight into who you are and how you operate on many levels.
3. Practice intentional self-reflection and contemplation through journaling.
Ask yourself when things don’t go your way, or you are failing what it might be about you that’s contributing to it and getting in the way. This is a game changer.
Michael Angelo said “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark…“
For more information go to www.jetxavier.com
