Succeeding in our career paths is a dream many of us have and the journey towards that success is different for everyone. Self-awareness, however, is a common factor that plays into this success. What is self -awareness?
“Self Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude, and your responses to them at the moment.” (Pathway To Happiness)
Our career development journeys are fueled by how best we understand ourselves; what we’re good at, what we aren’t, how we react to different situations, how we form relationships and engage with others along the way, etc. We outline below three ways you can further, develop your self-awareness and how it plays into career success.
1. Personality tests as a foundation – Personality tests help you get a head start to learn more about yourself and how your preferences and talents might influence work results. They help you further understand your personality, your interests, strengths, what excites you, what gives, and what drains your energy. All this information is valuable in deciding what career paths to choose and what jobs offers to take or reject. The more we experience life, the more we evolve, thus we encourage you to take these tests at different levels in your career as with each new experience you become an even better version of yourself. Some of the most popular personality tests you can try are 16 personalities and the MBTI test.
2. Regularly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses – Self-assessment and reflection is a key element of developing self-awareness. This is why it’s important to keep track of your progress; the skills you have learned, your achievements, impact created as a result. This also includes being bluntly honest about your areas of weaknesses and making deliberate steps to improve on them, or, pursuing jobs or careers that align mostly to your strengths.
3. Ask for feedback – A part of understanding your strengths and weaknesses is also asking for feedback. Sometimes, we can be blind to our own weaknesses, therefore, asking people we trust who are interested in our own growth and success (colleagues, bosses, mentors, friends, family) can provide us with additional insights to learn more about ourselves. This is especially useful in uncovering our blind spots where more of our talents and strengths may be hidden.
How else do you improve your self-awareness? Learn more here and share with us at happycareers@edgeperformance.co.ke.
Find similar content on our Career Happiness Center.