The Power of Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is a superpower. The more you know and understand yourself, the better you can work on improving yourself. The people most skilled at building their unique skills are usually willing to carefully analyze themselves and their past actions to help shape their future. I’ve included an image below that helps identify four areas that can help you enhance your self-awareness.

For this newsletter, we’ll focus on values, specifically your personal core values. While this is only one element of self-awareness, it is the most important because it will guide all your subsequent actions and thoughts. Understanding what motivates and drives your internal sense of justice—in essence, what your duty to the world is and how you behave in society—is key. Your behaviors with others directly reflect the values you hold dear. So, let’s explore those values now!

What do you Stand For?

Do you know what truths you hold dear? The ones that you can’t shake. For example, you might believe in giving full effort as a personal value. That would mean you think that the way you do small things is the way you do everything. So, your actions should reflect that truth, even when you’re doing something you don’t want to. If you only pick and choose when you want to hold a value, it’s not a personal value. Personal values will require you to sacrifice time, money, attention, or success. They will require you to say no to things that may benefit you but fall outside your core beliefs.

For example, someone who doesn’t believe in debt would not do well for themselves getting a job at a bank that tries to entice others to acquire debt. The problem is very few people take the time to map out their values deliberately. Instead of finding clarity, they feel stressed and anxious without fully realizing the source. The source is a disconnect between your values and your actions. Understanding your values is the first step toward self-awareness, which is the first step to taking control and designing the life you want to live.

I’ve listed a few questions below to help you consider your values. If you’ve never considered them before, please don’t expect to get them all figured out in one session. You’ll need to take time to reflect on your past experiences combined with your ideal vision of the future. Think of crafting your values as an ongoing journey that can change as you grow and develop into a new person.

Have fun interacting with these questions and exploring your own values more deeply!

Reflection

Below are some questions to help you think about and develop your own core values. Your values should stand for what you believe in. You must be willing to make sacrifices to uphold your values. It’s only a personal value if you hold a steadfast conviction in all situations. As you work through these questions, remember that your values should reflect what you stand for.

1. What (leadership) moments have made you most proud?

   • Think about times when you felt you made a real impact—what values were at play?

2. What qualities do you admire most in great people (leaders)?

   • The traits you respect often reflect the values you strive to embody.

3. What principles do you refuse to compromise on when facing a tough decision?

   • These non-negotiables reveal your deepest priorities and beliefs.

4. How do you want people to describe you (or your leadership) when you’re not in the room?

   • Your desired legacy speaks to what truly matters to you.

5. What challenges have shaped you the most, and what values helped you overcome them?

   • Adversity often clarifies what we stand for and what drives us forward.

Summary

If you want to chat with me about personal values, please reply, and we’ll schedule a time! Don’t worry—it’s free! I love helping people explore their values, and it’s been a big focus of mine over the past five years. If you found this edition valuable, I’d love to hear from you, too!

See you next week, 

Rick