Building your self-awareness is one facet that can truly transform your life. Countless research shows how knowing yourself better and being honest with yourself can help you move past obstacles and be happier in meaningful ways. Other benefits of stronger self-awareness include:
- Being more aware of your subconciousness so you’re able to handle situations more proactively.
- Knowing what you want which means less time wasted chasing on things that really does not serve you.
- Reducing decision fatique and decision remorse because you know the exact outcomes you want.
- Having fewer regrets, guilt, and inner conflicts that can drag you down even on good days.
- Being more honest and reliable with not only yourself but your family, friends, and colleagues.
- Developing an authentic identity which others will consder you a nice person.
- Building a stronger intuition to be more comfortable in situations that once gave you anxiety.
- Improving your confidence and self-esteem so you’re enjoying the moment rather than stressing over the small things.
- Living with more inner peace and happiness.
Those proven reasons are some convicing points on building your self-awareness. There are several ways you can build your self-awareness. One of the biggest, easiest, and most popular way is doing a variety of self-assessments.
Below are the top seven tools that I believe will benefit your self-assessment journey.
Journaling
Obviously, being more aware of your current and past emotions, logic, and choices will be the biggest way you can better understand yourself. While we already know what we did in our past, many of us often forget the value of taking the time to think back on what we did, why we did it, and what we can learn from it. Society does a pretty good job in distracting us from the ‘now’ and knowing ourselves.
Journaling is a great way to strengthen introspection practices. It brings us to right now and is a great way for us to safely express our innermost thoughts. We can return to our writings later to recognize patterns, if there are any, and ways we’ve grown or need to grow.
Enneagram
The Enneagram is a model that evolved throughout many teachers and theorists since 4th century Alexandria. The word, Enneagram, is derived from the Greek words ennea, meaning “nine”, and gramma, meaning “drawn”. The system is composed of nine personality types which is represented through a 9-pointed geometric figure.
The neat thing about this system is that it is based on concrete measures: how you were raised. This influences how you interpret the world. Knowing your underlying fears, desires, and subtypes, you’re able to better understand your motives and how you can grow through uncomfortable or euphoric experiences. It is also beneficial to use when considering relationships with your family, romantic partners, friends, and colleagues.
You can google for a free enneagram test or request my simple two-parts test. Also, check out your local library or used bookstore for some great books where you can dive in your type and have more ‘aha’ moments. Some of my favorite books include:
- The Enneagram Made Easy: Discover the 9 Types of People by Elizabeth Wagele and Renee Baron
- The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others In Your Life by Helen Palmer
- The Modern Enneagram: Discover Who You Are and Who You Can Be by Racie Berghoef and Melanie Bell
- Millenneagram: The Enneagram Guide for Discovering Your Truest, Baddest Self by Hannah Paasch
Myers-Brigg Tpe Indicator
Like the Enneagram, the MBTI has a set of 16 personality types. The main difference between the Enenagram and MBTI is that the Enneagram is how you interpreter the world and the MBTI is how the world interprets you. There are four categories that you can place yourself into to identify your final personality type.
The MBTI has actually been used in recruitment and hiring after Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Meyers further developed the tests.
The website 16personalites.com is one free way to take an assessment. You can otherwise google or shop at your local library or used bookstore for formal tests.
Some good books include:
- My True Type: Clarifying Your Personality Type, Preferences & Functions by Dr. A.J. Drenth
- Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Love, and Work by Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen
Emotional Quotient Test
The past decade has taught us that a person’s success and happiness is more than their intelligence (i.e. IQ). Your Emotional Quotient (EQ) is your ability to recognize your own and others’ emotions and how to manage them appropirately. It was formally developed in 1960’s but was not popularized until 1990’s.
Studies show that people with higher EQ have greater mental health, job performance, and leadership skills. So this is a great tool to measure your ability to manage emotions on top of the intelligence of yourself and others.
You can search Google for an EQ test to find out where you stand.
5 Love Languages
This assessment was developed by Dr. Gary Chapman when he realized patterns that arose when couples complained about their relationships. Through his research and development of the self-assessment, he was able to identify five core ways people measure love: quality time, words of affirmations, receiving gifts, physical touch, and acts of service.
This is a great tool to recognize how you show and expect appreciation from others whether it’s from your family, partners, friends, or colleagues. There is even a version you can use for children or a version that shows your apology language.
You can take the assessment at their official website: 5lovelanguages.com. You can also get their books off of Amazon:
- The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Dr. Gary Chapman
- The Five Languages of Apology: How to Experience Healing in All Your Relationships by Dr. Gary Chapmand and Jennifer M. Thomas
- The 5 Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively by Dr. Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell
Skills You Need
This website is more like a self-service center with a wide variety of assessments you can take to identify skills you’ll like to improve or strengthen. Categories of skills include personal, interpersonal, leadership, learning, writing, numeracy, and parenting.
You’re also welcome to use the data they provide for your books, journal, teaching materials, blogs, and more. They depend on donations so if you have a few bucks to spare, feel free to share the love.
You can visit their website at skillsyouneed.com.
Ayurvedia Doshas
Ayurvedia is a system of alternative medicine that was developed in India. While their texts have some religious connotations, the underlying benefits of their wellness application cannot be ignored.
Basically, a dosha is one of three substances in your body: vata, pitta, and kapha. Each dosha has its own characteristics which can be exacerbated or calmed with diet, activity, environment, and more. For example, a person who is primarly kapha is often hot and can be angry a lot if their kapha dosha isn’t kept balanced with cooling food and activities.
There are plenty of dosha quizzes out there that can fit your style. Google it or again, head over to your local library and/or used bookstore to learn more.
Bonus: Fatherless Daughters
This bonus tool is more for women, although I believe it could be applied to any gender.
The Fatherless Daughter Project is a compilation of research that shows the impact fathers who are lacking in girls’ lives have on those girls. Fathers can be lacking due to death, divorce, neglect, or just abandonment whether it’s emotional or physical. The child’s psyche responds to this void by developing self-preservation strategiese that can atually hold us back later in life.
This book is a great way to recognize how your relationship with your father could have influenced the way you think and how to heal yourself and your relationships.