Self-Awareness, Expectations &
Outcomes in Work and Life
Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean giving up familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, and relationships that have lost their meaning.
-John C. Maxwell
What we say and do in the workplace is often a reflection of how we grew up. Why is this worth noting? The values and behavior habits we developed growing up are often acted out in both our work and home environments.
The more we know about ourselves, what we value in life – and business, the more honest and open we are likely to be with ourselves about what is working, what is not, when we are ‘true’ to ourselves, and when we are not.
Being aware of how we behave at work, in our homes, or in our social lives is just the beginning of developing more choices and improving on what we say and do.
If we don’t pay attention to our mental and emotional habits, chances are we will have difficulty changing up what we do in the workplace. How self-aware we are is often an indicator of how successful we will be in business.
Whereas the average individuals “often have not the slightest idea of what they are, of what they want, of what their own opinion are;” self-actualizing individuals have “superior awareness of their own impulses, desires, opinions, and subjective reactions in general.
– Abraham Maslow in Motivation & Personality (1954) (quote from www.entheos.com March 3, 2016)
We all evaluate what our outcomes are – either consciously, or subconsciously. In this article, we are working toward improving our outcomes by becoming more consciously aware of how our inner life impacts our business and home life.
Most of us evaluate only at the back end of some event that has changed things noticeably in our lives.
If this is your way of living life, you may find you are not so happy with your results unless, of course, you are a bubble boy – or girl. And then it is only until you are not.
Evaluating what you are doing pre- and post events in your life is almost guaranteed to give you BIG Benefits, keep you happier, and more satisfied. Who doesn’t want that?
Getting a really good grip on life is about taking control, evaluating, and changing what you are doing if you are not getting what you want.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-Albert Einstein
Often, the only way we know where we sit emotionally is when we suddenly notice one day that we are feeling restless, out of sorts, or even angry without really knowing why. We lose sleep, we keep going over and over the same scenes in our minds trying to rewrite the scripts.
Can we get back in control of our results? The answer is yes. We can control how we operate from day to day and to a larger degree, have greater control of our success and therefore how satisfied or happy we are in our lives and work.
But it means taking a closer look at ourselves.
Clearly, we don’t get control of everything in our lives. We are living and working with other people! Just acknowledging that can raise your level of satisfaction with life.
The truth is, that for most people, emotional reactions rule their lives without them knowing where those emotion have come from or why.
… always remember that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. If things aren’t going well in your outer life, it’s because things aren’t going well in your inner life. It’s that simple.
– T. H. Eker in Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (quote from www.entheos.com March 3, 2016)
So how do we get back in control – or at least feel more in control?
- Aim for a goal; it gives us purpose and passion in life.
- Know what we value; it adds meaning to our lives.
As we move through our days, if we get lost in the little things, the unexpected throws our day off, events don’t go as we planned, and we feel as though we are losing control of our lives. Our hopes and expectations appear to be dashed. The dream is no longer the primary focus.
It doesn’t have to be that way!
But you do need to slow down, take a look, evaluate, and decide what to do next.
Man cannot see his reflection in running water; only in still water.
-Taoist proverb
- Work to stay aware of what you say and do minute by minute. Stay in the moment.
- Take a few minutes at the end of every day to review how the day went. Always.
- Keep a journal. Write down your thoughts about what went well and what did not. Studies have shown (Harvard) that those who journal daily show a 23% increase in productivity.
To develop more control over our work and life, to have the ability to change what we do, to become more successful, we need to become – and remain – aware of what we say and do, and what happens in the moment.
