"Self-understanding is about clarity regarding who we are and what we want as well as understanding how our behaviors affect others. It includes understanding the people, events, and ideas that have shaped our perceptions, what motivates us, what we value, and what we want to accomplish in our time on Earth, both personally and professionally, and what we are willing to trade off to accomplish these things."
"With advertisers telling us what we should want and how we should measure success (usually money and the things money can buy), the power of influencers, the desire for "likes" on our social media posts, and often families that push us to "succeed," we're taught to chase what others have, to want what others want, and to care more about status and approval than self-understanding, personal growth, or living a meaningful life."
""when we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively. We're less likely to lie, cheat, and steal. We are better workers who get more promotions. And we're more effective leaders with more satisfied employees and more profitable companies.""
Self-understanding requires clarity about who people are, what they want, and how their behaviors affect others. It involves recognizing the people, events, and ideas that shaped perceptions, identifying motivations and values, setting personal and professional goals, and accepting the trade-offs needed to pursue those goals. Cultural forces such as advertising, influencers, social media approval, and family pressure encourage pursuing external status and approval rather than internal clarity. Chasing external signals erodes self-knowledge and can produce poor decisions. Clear self-perception increases confidence, creativity, sound decision-making, stronger relationships, ethical behavior, job performance, promotions, leadership effectiveness, and organizational success. Self-awareness includes understanding one’s internal states and motivations.
Read at Big Think
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