Written By: Isabelle Saunders
It’s easy to pick out someone’s characteristics when you’re watching them through your own eyes. You know your friend is a natural leader, or a pessimist, or can’t take anything seriously, and so on. But it’s harder to tell when it’s YOU. For some reason, it just proves more difficult to categorize our strengths, weaknesses, values, etc., because they’re the only ones we're used to having.
This is what makes self-awareness a challenge. Self awareness, to put it simply, is knowing yourself- being conscious of your own thoughts, feelings, strengths, and limitations. It’s an asset in communicating with others and pinpointing how you think. Clearly, it’s a pretty important attribute to have in a school setting, but it’s also invaluable for life in general.
“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
-Socrates
The importance of self-awareness
Here’s a scenario: you’re in a lecture-style class, meaning the teacher is primarily talking. No matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to make the information stick. That “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” goes in one ear and right out the other. That’s because you’re not an auditory learner- you can’t easily retain information just by hearing it said. This is one of many possible examples that goes to show why academic self-awareness is necessary. If you don’t know these things about yourself, you’ll wonder what’s wrong when you have trouble in a setting outside of your strengths. With self-awareness in your inventory, you’ll be able to set yourself up for success by utilizing your unique skill set in a problem. You’ll be able to pick out where you want to see improvements, empowering you to meet your goals and grow as a student and individual. Self-awareness isn’t just something students need. It’s a universal human necessity.
So...how?
Gaining self-awareness is about listening to yourself. Let yourself think coherently, and pay attention to the tone of your inner voice.
Pay attention to others. Other people see you, just like you see them. When with your peers, try to analyze their unique personalities. It will help to familiarize you with the concept of every person as having distinct habits and complexities.
Personality tests. Yes, really. Tests such as the enneagram and MBTI are a treasure trove of personal insight. The questions will help you analyze yourself as a complex person. They put into words your social-emotional makeup, and warn you of limitations you possibly haven’t yet taken mind of.
MBTI: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test
Enneagram:
Be receptive to constructive criticism
When someone offers you (well-meaning) constructive criticism, don’t just dismiss it. Try to see where they’re coming from, use it to better understand yourself and your weaknesses, and step towards growth.
Benefits
Social: A huge part of school is communicating with other people. This goes on to benefit things such as job interviews and presentations as well. When you are knowledgeable of yourself as a person, you have some insight as to how you come off to others. Maybe what you intended to be strong leadership can be seen as bossy. In any case, you’ll become more aware of how others interact with you, and you can use this sensitivity and empathy to strengthen your relationships with your peers.
Academic: As aforementioned, you’ll know how you best learn, and how you tend to manage work. If you know you tend to procrastinate, you can work to combat it. If you know you tend to bite off more extra-curriculars than you can chew, you can find a way to regulate it.
Personal: It’s so important to understand your emotions. It’s essential to your emotional maturity that you learn not to repress what you feel, but to be able to grasp and analyze it. You can master what you’re good at, work on what you struggle with, and understand your limits.
Check out the sites below for more information!
https://nickwignall.com/self-awareness/