As you wake up each morning, you need to prepare yourself for a meaningful and productive day. Focus on how you feel and project a successful YOU with self-awareness.
A big part of self-awareness is getting to know yourself inside and out. The more conscious we are of our strengths and the areas we need to improve, the stronger and more confident we become.
Digging deep and getting to know what makes you tick is so essential but not so easy. We're often very good at observing others! We tell others how to improve their daily routines or health regime but usually when it comes to ourselves – not so much! We forget how first impressions affect how other's feel, and just how much of a lasting impact that has.
Being aware of how you feel is critical.
Your emotions, whether you verbally express them or not, are projected through how you present yourself. Your physical presence is always a good indicator of how you feel. Even though self-awareness is typically an internal process, there are signs you project externally like your facial expressions, posture, demeanour, clothes, and hair, which ultimately affect your success.
These signs demonstrate your mood and how you feel. As your self-awareness deepens, you realize that mood, emotion, and action are tightly connected. Understanding your present emotional state is crucial to monitoring your behaviour and public character. Considering you are projecting yourself as if in a fishbowl being observed by others continuously. Hence, you want to put the right foot forward every day to create meaningfully, lasting impressions.
You have a choice to project yourself purposefully or allow your moods and feelings to manage your overall success.
Ensure you take the time to check yourself each morning before it sets the success of your entire day. You can project the best version of yourself by improving your self-awareness.
Create a successful day
Consider practising some of these strategies for success:
- Set your alarm to wake up 15 minutes earlier than you need to.
- Open your eyes and begin practising mindfulness by focusing on something you are grateful for.
- Think about your family and friends and find something that happened that made you smile.
- Hold on to that smile and feel it. Now, think of something that happened recently in your professional life and continue to smile.
- Look at your day with your cup half full by thinking of all the things you are looking forward to doing.
- Visualize your day unfolding with many positive opportunities.
- Gently get out of bed and begin to prepare for your day.
- Be sure to consider how you feel as well as your facial expression, posture, demeanour, clothes, and hair before you leave your home.
- Ask yourself if this is how you want to project yourself to the world?
- Drive, ride or walk to work with a smile on your face and project a positive outlook for the day.
You always want to be best on your journey to excellence, and you have the power to be awesome each day – in the most real sense of that word. Check yourself each morning to ensure that you are putting your best self out there. As you improve your self-awareness, you strengthen your emotional intelligence. If you're interested in learning more about your emotional intelligence, consider an assessment.
This article was originally published on March 2, 2017, and has been updated (October 2020).
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