Self-Awareness is Underrated

One of the most admirable traits in a person to me is one’s vulnerability to self-awareness. Being able to look themselves directly in the face, eye to eye, and be truthful with themselves. Being able to listen without judgment or predispositions. Being able to read something and put their ego to the side and actually learn something.

These are some of the traits of great athletes, creatives, coaches, etc. They are open to change. They are open to other people sharing their thoughts without feeling attacked. Instead of feeling “attacked” or hurt, which is a natural reaction at first, they assess the comments to see if it is an honest assessment of them. If it is honest, there may be a lesson to be learned out of it.

Sure, if someone is straight-up jealous or spiteful of you, their comments can be completely inaccurate and an unfair reflection of you as a person. But their negative feelings are their responsibility to deal with. If we receive feedback from somebody we trust and who is trying to help us reach a new level of growth, it is an opportunity for us to be vulnerable and make an honest assessment of ourselves.

It is our responsibility to figure out how we deal with someone’s comments. It seems rare to be able to grow by doing the same motions again and again without adjustment. Think about it.

Once we become aware, we must adjust to grow

Without being able to take someone’s honest feedback and assess ourselves to make adjustments, the average 30% 3-point shooter continues to shoot 30%. The 170lb aspiring bodybuilder never reaches his true potential. The salesperson who wants to double their sales in a year never doubles them. The writer that wants to finish writing a book never finishes it the way they want to.

Vulnerability to self-awareness is cool and all, but nothing gets accomplished without true and consistent adjustments. It seems like to be able to change your lifestyle based on your honest assessment of yourself, it takes a certain level of discipline to make a change. We are so used to living our lives a certain way. And when we become comfortable living our lives a certain way we get stuck in this mindset of, “this works for me, why change it.”

And sure, it may work for us, but that is what helped us reach a certain level. If that level is something that is what you wanted to achieve and don’t want to go any further, that is totally cool. But, if there are dreams and goals that are higher than what has currently been achieved, adjustment is necessary.

To achieve goals and new “levels” it seems to take vulnerability to self-awareness, adjustment, and then performing said “adjustment” consistently, whether we feel like it or not.

Keep pushin’,

Vinny