Research has shown that people who are self-aware are more fulfilled, have stronger relationships, are more confident, are better communicators, are less likely to lie, cheat, and steal, perform better at work and are more promotable. They are also more effective leaders in more profitable companies. What the?

Entrepreneur, Organisational Psychologist and author of Insight, Dr. Tasha Eurich shares the fascinating findings of her three-year research project:  analysing 800 studies on the topic, surveying thousands, and then conducting dozens of in-depth interviews with people who had dramatic improvements in their own self-awareness.

She defines self-awareness as ‘the ability to see ourselves clearly, to understand who we are, how others see us and how we fit into the world’.  Note that it is not the same as liking what we see.

She reveals that 95% of people think they are self-aware, but the real number is closer to 10 – 15%.

She also found that ‘thinking about ourselves is not related to knowing ourselves’.  Introspection by itself is not useful, self-analysis can be a trap.

In NLP we talk about NOT asking ‘Why’ of others if we want to help them create change, because this only generates what we call a ‘story’ (an explanation, often one that defends the behaviour).

Dr Eurich shares that research has shown that asking ‘Why’ doesn’t surface our unconscious motives and reasoning, it just causes us to invent an answer (which she describes as ‘alternative facts’).

Check out the video to find out what she suggests you ask yourself instead…

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