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Angie Ruiz

2022: Skills to improve Self-Awareness and Positive Mindset

Updated: Apr 3, 2022

Our personal and professional lives frequently feel uncertain. Our environment is defined by constant change and increased complexity. We lack of clarity, experience overwhelm, and get stuck in negative feelings, like regret and discontentment.

Improving self-awareness and positive mindset help us to gain focus and confidence. It empower us to overcome obstacles and use challenges as opportunities for growth.

If there’s one skill you should spend time learning, practicing, and improving in 2022 it's mental fitness. Now is a great time to start!



Coaching helps us through meaningful conversations to understand ourselves, uncover new options, and get unstuck. And the best is: you can also practice some of these strategies on your own!


Which skills can you develop by yourself?


1. SELF-AWARENESS

Exploring our values and beliefs give us valuable hints on what drive our actions, thus we can be more conscious about our choices.

- One strategy is to use a mind-map for your challenges. Write down your challenge in middle of a page, ask yourself about the what, who, when, and why of the challenge and note down your reflections. For example: a conflict with a colleague. Your take-aways could be: your need to be liked and praised by people, difficult people just work differently from how you work, there might be a motivation for your colleague that you don't know yet, etc

With the practice you’ll notice patterns in your thinking that can be helpful or unhelpful. Hence you can adjust those.

- A second strategy is to discover the gap between your own and others' perception. Understanding what is your intention when you interact with other people and how you impact them is key. For instance, in a discussion with your partner your intention is to be supportive, but the way of expressing yourself sounds dominant to him/her. Asking your partner for their feedback and comparing that with your intention, will let you know where is need for alignment and so a chance to improve.


2. COACHING QUESTIONS

- Ask yourself open questions using who, what, why, where, when, and how.

For instance. "Do I enjoy my private life?" is a yes/no question. Ask instead "What do I enjoy from my private life?" and you will get valuable insights.

- Focus on yourself

If you find yourself blaming external factors or other people when instrospecting, it’s a sign that you need to refocus on what you can manage. By identifying your own actions, you’ll be more committed to make change happen. “How has that person got better results than me?” vs. “How could I improve my results?”

- One question at a time

Avoid asking multiple questions at the same time. This helps you generate more options and clear actions. E.g. "why is my calendar full with appointments and I'm not able to manage my time efficiently?" Instead, explore separately both aspects to uncover the reason behind and draw appropiate conclusions.

3. ACTIVELY LISTEN TO YOURSELF

- Listen to your thoughts and beliefs with discernment

To be able to do this, first look for an environment that it's appropiate for the introspection, where there are no distractions, like technology, or people around you.

Then reconnect with your body using mindfulness techniques and get yourself in a neutral (non judgemental) state of mind.

- Be your best friend

Be empathetic and have own compassion when you analize the situations. Be attentive if your inner critic creeps in judging the situation with negative chatter.

Listen to yourself as your best friend, seeing the facts with discernment, acknowledging the efforts and encouraging yourself.

Give it a try. You are worth it!

Let me know how it goes and if you need support.


Wishing you a great year of the tiger!

Angie

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