SUNDAY NIGHT SLIDES
When was the last time someone gave you feedback?
When was the last time you gave yourself feedback?
And were they aligned?
I don't just mean feedback in relation to a typically insipid performance review at work, more so in relation to;
How you're being perceived by your peers.
How your behaviour is affecting yourself and others.
How your decisions are determining North Star progress.
According to Coa, the online mental health gym, self-awareness is not only the number one trait for emotional fitness but the critical foundation block for mental strength.
"The more aware you are, the more connected you become." – Laird Hamilton (Big Wave Surfer)
When we break down self-awareness, it's not just being in tune with our body or responsive to our environment, that's more like perception, alertness or consciousness.
Self-awareness is deeper than that.
It's having clarity of one's own individuality; with an intrapersonal understanding of beliefs, biases and behaviours that inevitably dictate how you show up for yourselves and others.
This should also include the acknowledgement of emotional injuries (inflicted upon self or from others) and the resultant mechanisms in place for treatment.
If you're sat reading this and thinking "yeah I'm pretty self-aware" then you'd be among the 95% of people who believe they are.
Yet in a recent 5,000 person study, that included reviews from nearly 800 scientific studies (conducted by The Eurich Group), it's in fact around 10-15% of people who are truly self-aware.
So what constitutes true self-awareness?
The ability to authentically describe:
Your own character
Your own feelings
Your own motives
Your own desires
The common misconception with this is that it comes only from introspective discovery by sitting in silence and observing thoughts or accessing painful and egotistical aspects that have been avoided.
However, awareness is split by internal and external influences so, therefore, has two main ways of effectively cultivating it too.
Internal evaluation = spending time periodically (daily or weekly) writing down what's happened i.e. the decisions you made, the habits you stuck to, urges you overcame, feelings you felt etc. in order to bring it to life and review the evidence.
External feedback = asking those closest to you, who you show up in different environments to (family / friends / work), to deliver constructive feedback in an open, honest and non-conflicting conversation.
You can't reach a strong level of self-awareness without consistently practicing the aforementioned. And then acting on the findings.
It's not something you can rely on your internal dialogue for either, no matter how good you are at debating both sides of a situation.
So with that being said, as we approach the first anniversary of Sunday Night Slides, I'm opening up my inbox for your constructive feedback on how you're finding it and what you'd like to see more or less of in the coming year.
Be honest!
Charlie
P.S. It's normal to feel apprehensive about doing this activity for yourself, because of our natural negativity bias: our brains react to negative stimuli faster therefore process it as a priority (necessary for survival) so this might take a little grit to overcome!
FEATURED SLIDE
FINAL THOUGHTS 💭
In memory of Josh Taylor ❤️