Knowing oneself is the foundation of a journey into deeper leadership. Being self-aware makes one more effective in working with people, it helps one to see how their behaviour affects them positively or negatively. One gains a better understanding of themsleves as an inducement for influencing others.
Being aware of oneself means one is aware of their own culture, values, virtues, personal style, skills and aspirations and that of others and their society at large. It also means that one is aware of character, weeknesses and stregths as well as their ability to be a self-observer who is mindfull of their actions, feelings and beliefs. Consciousness of self as defined on page 302 of Leadership For A Better World implies an awareness and acknowledgement of those relatively stable aspects the self that makes up a personality: talents, interests, aspirations, values, concerns, self-concept, limitations and dreams. One question need to be asked though: Is being conscious of oneself the same as being self-conscious?
I considered them the same until I read this chapter. For a long time I thought I was being conscious of myself not knowing I was lieing to myslef and the people around me. I was actually being self-conscious of myself because as I reflected on the difference between the two on page 301 I fit in the shoes of someone being self-conscious and not conscious of myself. When I find myself in a new group or environment, I do not become actively involved very quickly because I worried about what the people around me are going to say. I would not answer questions in class even if I knew what the answer was or had a guess because I feared the other students might think I'm trying to show of or I am not smart because my answer was wrong. I would stay calm and quiet until I am familiar with the place and I have become convesant with most of the people using my magic "Eddie Murphy" smile. Now I have read, I believe I understand a bit what knowing myself means; it means that I know who I truly am, what I am good and not good at, and I use it as my drive to act confidently and naturally because I know what I can and cannot do so i do not need the approval of others before I act.
For a leader to be the best of themselves, the must have a deeper sense of who they are. Self-awareness is a critical tool or necessary ingredient for effective leadership. In a study described on page 302 of Leadership For A Better World , self-awareness affected the process of learning to see oneself as a leader along five dimensions; (1) deepening self-awareness; (2) building self-confidence; (3) establishing interpersonal efficacy; (4) applying new skills and (5) expanding motivation. In applying these dimensions to myself as I am going through this process of learning to see myself as a leader, I have gained a deeper understanding of myself as I continue to work with diversed group of people either on individual basis or in an organization. As I continue to gain a deeper sense of myslef I also gain more confidence in myself. Being confident in myself has helped me step out of my circle of comfort to take up responsibilities taht I would not have done in the past when I was self-conscious of myslef. This helps me focus my strengths into all that I am doing baring in mind what my limits are and not being over confident. Self-awareness has also affected the way I work with people individually or in groups. For example, in my job as an instructional aide, I encounter many types of students; some very smart they make me question myself, some are average and others not so good with mathematics. If I stood infront of the class and taught as if the class was made up of only one type of students then more than half of my students would hate math for the rest of their lifes. Being aware of myself helps me to communicate with the students at a level where none of them feel left behind and even if they did they know my door is always open for them to come for help. Being aware of myself has helpes me identify some of my weaknesses and it has also helpes me devise ways to tackle these weaknesses. It also helps me channel my strengths, that is one of the reasons why i want to be teacher. When I realized how beautiful math is, it increased my love for the subject and there I decided to become a teacher in order to share this passion, joy, excitement, life... I get in math with my surrounding. All these dimensions go back to back, as I gain deeper and deeper sense of who I am, it builds my self-confidence, helps me establish great interpersonal efficacy, helps me identify my weaknesses and strengths and how to use my skills and creativity on them, as these go on and on it re-affirms what I know of myself and acts as a source for expanding motivation.
Just as there is more to me than the human figure everyone sees, so it is with everybody so I will follow through with Katherine Mansfield's quote " I want, by understanding myself, to understand others, I want to be all that I am capable of becoming."
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