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JIMINY SELF-HELP HANDBOOK 16

1. The place to start in the Johari window is in the open area. We make some notes about ourselves.
What are our strengths and our weaknesses? What are we comfortable with and willing to share
with others? We must be honest and clear about what we know about ourselves already.
2. Involve other people and ask for feedback about ourselves. We should be prepared to seriously
consider it. That doesn’t mean that we have to do everything that’s suggested, but we should at
least listen and think about it. Then we should give the person who provided the feedback some
acknowledgement or thanks for making the effort. When receiving feedback, we must be
respectful, listen and reflect on what has been said.

Categories of Self-Awareness and Methods/ Tools to Increase It
In an article published in Harvard Business Review, Tasha Eurich, a researcher and organizational
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psychologist, and her team of researchers came up with two categories of self-awareness :
 Internal self-awareness – which is about to how clear we see our values, passions and aspirations,
or more practically, it is about recognizing if our current job matches our true passion or if we feel
dissatisfied with a heated conversation we had with a colleague which conflicts with our believes.
 External self-awareness – which is the ability to clearly see how other people view us. People who
know how others see them are more empathetic, more effective and have stronger relationships
with the colleagues, friends and family.
Self-awareness is a beneficial thing for the full affirmation of who
we are and can help us to be, at any moment, authentic and
courageous. There are a many ways to increase self-awareness and
a lot of useful sites, but the first steps that we can take are:

1. Ask “What?” instead of “Why?”
Usually, when we assess our current emotions and state, we
often ask “Why am I feeling angry? Why did I received such
feedback? Why isn’t my project the way I’d hoped?” We forget
very often about the psychological factors (tiredness because
of lack of sleep, low blood sugar because of not having a
Source: https://images.pexels.com
breakfast, etc) when we’re trying to understand our
behaviours.
“What” questions are more productive and focus on objectives and future goals, rather than past
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mistakes.
For example, if we feel frustrated at work, the “Why am I feeling dreadful?” will lead us to focus
on negatives and will leave us feeling more depressed. “What are the situations at work that made
me feel bad?” will lead us to identify the factors that are out of our control and that don’t align
with our passions, believes and goals and will help us to think of a strategy to adjust the situation.
2. Create time and space for ourselves (spend time with ourselves)
Just avoid distractions for half hour a day and connect to ourselves. Practicing a solo activity might
help, besides reading, meditating, writing a journal.

3. Become a better listener and ask for feedback

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/self-awareness
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