Episode 1249: Practice Self-Awareness

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,249 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Mario Porreca: I'm

[00:00:07] Mario Porreca. From 10 Minute Mindset to podcast, I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling.

[00:00:22] Having the right inspiration to set your mindset on the right path is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to. The Inspired Stewardship podcast with my good friend Scott

[00:00:34] Scott Maderer: Other distractions to hide those feelings until eventually they blow up and come out with tears or anger or overreaction. So becoming aware of your emotions before they get to that level involves in part examining and eliminating those distractions. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired [00:01:00] Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:01] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:23] Today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about what self-awareness is and why it's important. I share several ways you can practice self-awareness to get better. And I also share why you might actually want to work on your self-awareness. You've heard me talk about developing your talent, and one of the best ways to do that is through books.

[00:01:46] But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read, and that's why today's podcast is brought to you by Audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up [00:02:00] and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from, and you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via.

[00:02:13] That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. At first glance, the word self-awareness seems pretty self-explanatory. It's awareness of the self, right? But this is something that we talk a lot about. What does it really mean?

[00:02:37] A simple definition is self-awareness, is the conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings. In other words, it's not just about what we're doing, but it's also why we're doing it. It's something about not just how we are, but how others [00:03:00] perceive. See, we, I think a lot of times go through life with really very little conscious thought about what we're doing and why we're doing it, and in some ways, that makes our life easier.

[00:03:12] But at the end of the day, it also means that we begin to form habits of our responses and how we think about things. We become conscious and conditioned in a. And aren't able to break out of those habits because we don't even understand that their habits. We begin to create problems for ourself without even being aware of the fact that some of the things that we're doing are actually creating problems.

[00:03:45] Being able to recognize how do I react in different situations. and why do I react in that way? What triggers certain habitual responses for you? Do you have certain [00:04:00] things that just quote sets you off? How do you relate and interact with other people? Why do you feel the way you feel about certain people?

[00:04:11] Are there certain topics that you feel. And have an attitude about, and you're not even really sure why or can't explain it to someone, or at least if pressured on explaining it. Eventually it comes down to an answer of that's just the way it is. How do other people respond to you and perceive you as well?

[00:04:33] All of these things are part of self-awareness. And developing your self awareness actually has some benefits. It enables you to communicate with others better. It enables you to recognize and process feedback more accurately, both good and bad. It helps make you a better member of a team and it helps you, believe it or not, become more productive and manage your time [00:05:00] better.

[00:05:00] In part because by being aware of yourself Sets you off what causes you to be distracted and you're able to deal with those things in a more positive way. Some of the things, at the end of the day, at the first level of self-awareness the level that most of us can get to at some level is awareness of our actions.

[00:05:24] and our distractions. Paying attention to how we do things. How often do we get on our phone? How often do we watch YouTube? How often do we watch tv? How often do we do these things? Not because all distractions are bad, but because unaware of the time and how you spend it is bad. The second level up is awareness of feelings.

[00:05:54] Most of us don't really know how we're feeling because in part, we [00:06:00] use things like other distractions to hide those feelings until eventually they blow up and come out with tears or anger or overreaction. So becoming aware of your emotions before they get to that. Involves in part, examining and eliminating those distractions.

[00:06:24] So how can you become more self-aware? Make time for yourself. And when I say time, time without distractions. So time without your phone, without your computer, without a podcast running able to just be there and present so that you can begin to practice mindfulness in that. This is again, another place where journaling and gratitude, journaling and even just mind dumps where you're free writing for a certain period of time can be useful.

[00:06:54] You can listen to others and listen to the things [00:07:00] behind the words that they use so that you begin to become aware of others, which then helps you become aware of yourself. You can ask others who you trust for honest and open feedback. How do they perceive you? How do they see you? What do they see as your strengths and your weaknesses?

[00:07:21] And you can do the same thing for yourself. You can assess where you're at, assess your own strengths and weaknesses, Regular. Now you might want to work on this because as you become more aware of yourself, it also helps you become more present in the moment, like we talked about yesterday. It helps you become more aware of your values and your attitudes and where they come from and your beliefs.

[00:07:46] It helps you uncover your biases that you aren't even aware that you. And that makes you more open to new experiences and more open to overcoming your own limiting beliefs and [00:08:00] expanding who you are and what you do in the world. Thanks for listening.

[00:08:06] Thanks

[00:08:07] Scott Maderer: so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the Stewardship of Talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent.

[00:08:38] Or if you're in the us, you can text 4, 4, 2 2, 2 talent tips. That's talent tips to 4 4 2 22, and get those tips. Until next time, invest your. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.[00:09:00]