If you don’t have awareness, then you don’t know that you don’t have awareness. If you can’t see what you need to have awareness of, then you don’t know that you can’t see what you need to have awareness of. To grow to your full potential, you must have awareness. How do you raise your awareness?
By becoming a highly effective leader, there are a lot of things that you need to be aware of, and one of those things is to have awareness. When it comes to the differences between an ineffective leader and a highly effective leader, one of those differences is how aware they are. A highly effective leader’s awareness level must be higher.
1. How To Raise Your Awareness Level
To help you raise your level of awareness, you must keep working on yourself every day in both the competency and character areas. Reading this post is a great start in making you more aware. However, there are hundreds of self-development books out there that can raise your awareness level even more.
So, when you finish this post, don’t stop there. Keep searching through my other posts that can help you continuously improve as a highly effective leader, and eventually create a team of highly effective leaders.
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You will learn about more people (besides me), and their stories throughout their lives and career. The more stories of highly effective leaders you can relate to, the better it is for you.
To help make you even more aware, increase your influence, and help you raise your leadership level then read through my other articles, and keep an eye out for my future posts. You can check them out at here.
I have been reading self-development and leadership books since 2009, and with every new book I read I am becoming a lot more aware. I read daily, and this is a part of how I work on myself every day. I encourage you to do the same. You can learn from me in my other posts about working on strengths and weaknesses.
To work on your strengths in the area of competency, reading will help with that. To work on your weaknesses in the area of character, reading will help with that too. Being deliberate in these areas is a must…every day.
Highly effective leaders take action every day with their development and personal growth. They are also constantly seeking response and feedback from their leaders and teammates on how they are doing.
Highly effective leaders have very high levels of self-awareness, but there are times when they can’t see everything. So feedback from teammates helps them in the areas they can’t see for themselves.
2. Focus On The Right Things
Being aware and being focussed is the ultimate goal when it comes to a highly effective leader and their team. One thing a highly effective leader has great ability in is the ability to focus on what the team is trying to accomplish, the mission.
However whilst being focussed on the mission, they also have awareness of what the organisation is trying to accomplish, the objective. By being able to do both, nothing will be lost. The team will be able to achieve both their own mission and still contribute to the organisation’s objective.
We have talked in detail about motivation and inspiration. As a highly effective leader is working on themselves every day, and increasing their awareness level every day, they are in a great position to help their teammates increase their awareness level every day too.
As we now know, a highly effective leader can motivate their teammates with ease. A highly effective leader is inspired from within to help develop their teammates and their personal growth.
3. Know What Your Mission Is
They don’t need any motivation from anyone else to be able to do that. A highly effective leader’s mission is to grow their teammates and increase their influence.
This is who a highly effective leader is. They are part of the team so they can add value to the team. It is what they do. They are so aware of themselves, and know themselves inside out, better than anyone else. They are fully aware of their own purpose, and they are fully aware of their own passion.
They use their purpose and passion to help the team, and give them the most benefit possible from it. A highly effective leader is not seeking any type of reward or recognition for it, they are happy to be in the background remaining highly effective.
4. Look Forwards Not Backwards
For many years as I was going through my career, and living in different places, I caught myself looking backwards a lot. I would think of Scotland and wonder “I wish I was still in Edinburgh.” Or, I would think of my hometown Liverpool, “I should have stayed home with my family, I miss them.”
These are nice things to think about, but the past is something we shouldn’t dwell on or criticise ourselves about. When we learn something new, we imagine what our past life, or our past job would have been like if we knew this new thing we have just learned.
We think, “I should have done this is I’d known.” Or, “I could have done that if I’d known.” The past is something we should think about and reflect on, not dwell on. What we should focus on is the future.
Now that we are learning new things every day because we are working on ourselves every day, we should look forward. We should be excited for what’s in store for us with our newly found skills and insights. It is thinking like this that will keep our awareness level high, and it is thinking like this that will raise our awareness level.
When I stopped dwelling on my own past and instead began to reflect on it, I started to learn more about myself. I reflected on my past mistakes, learned the lesson from those mistakes and vowed to myself to do my best never to make those mistakes again.
The more I reflected, the more I learned. The more I learned, the more aware I was becoming. I wasn’t just becoming more aware of myself, I was becoming more aware of those around me.
It’s amazing what you feel and realise when you change how you think about your past, and use it as a way to learn, not as a way to beat yourself up or criticise yourself.
When you look inside yourself right now, how do you feel? Are you beating yourself up? Are you criticising yourself? A highly effective leader is constantly looking inside themselves, and learning about themselves. They are also looking at their teammates and learning about them too.
A highly effective leader is so aware of both themselves and their teammates. By being aware of others on your team, you will know exactly how to motivate them and how to influence them.
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The more you learn about yourself, and you start doing things differently, you will not only become a highly effective leader, you will become a better person overall. Highly effective leaders don’t just have to do things better, they have to be better.
Raising your awareness level isn’t just about your competency and what you can do, it is about your character, and who you are. We discussed that to be a highly effective leader that competency and character must work in harmony.
Well, to raise your awareness level, do better, and better, then again competency and character must work in harmony.
How do you feel about your teammates, your friends, and your family? If a person is not important to you, then there is no way that you can make them feel important.
I welcome hearing how this post has influenced the way you think, the way you lead, or the results you have achieved because of what you’ve learned in it. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting below.
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All the best,
This is a great piece of advice for those who doubt their potential or not aware of it in the first place. Self-realization is the first step. Once that is done, then I believe we can achieve anything. Thank you for this wonderful article.
Hi Prav,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you found it valuable.
Self-realisation is absolutely what we need to do first. You are so right. I agree too that we can achieve anything that we focus on, as long as we don’t give up on it. That is the key.
Keep returning and keep engaging. If you need any further help from me then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
All the best,
Tom
I found your article very inspirational and in my own opinion the majority of people are not aware of their potential, and you have provided both the motivation and the solution for your readers and I thank you for sharing this information
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you found my post inspirational.
You are right, the majority of us don’t know our potential. But, when we can find the way to be aware of our potential then we can achieve what we want in life. We just need to focus and not give up on ourselves.
Keep returning and keep engaging, I really appreciate your input.
All the best,
Tom
Good description of the awareness of being an effective leader, which we can all learn from.
Hi David,
Thank you for your comment. I really hope you can put into action what you are learning.
If you need any further help from me then please don’t hesitate to ask.
All the best,
Tom
Wow!
That could really sum up this blog in one word, I honestly could just leave it at that! I won’t of course, what you have put together here is fabulous. It truly is motivating and outright refreshing to see such positivity still exists in this world. I’m certain I can learn much from you, so keep up the good work friend.
Warm Regards,
Hi Adam,
Thank you for your very kind comment. I’m so pleased that you found my post valuable.
I will definitely keep up my work, and I hope I can motivate you a lot more.
Please do come back to read further articles, and please engage a lot more.
If you need any further help from me then please don’t hesitate to contact me.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom,
This is a fantastic and thought provoking message for aspiring and seasoned leaders.
Awareness like you said is very important and your point on awareness reminds me of an interesting children’s book called Varjak Paw. Varjak was a cat and he wanted to lead so he was told to learn the ‘Way’ from his ancestors – the ‘Way’ are 7 skills for leadership – open mind, awareness, hunting, slow-time, moving circles, shadow-walking and trusting yourself. These leadership skills although explained in child-friendly words are highly necessary for leaders.
Awareness is about been aware of your surroundings, your competitors, your team and your business.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Bolupe,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you found the post valuable.
I love your story of the children’s book as it is so important that we are teaching our children the best leadership principles now while they are still young. I would love to write my own children’s leadership book one day.
You are right about awareness, surroundings, team, competitors etc. Our competitors are ourselves, so being aware of ourselves is so important.
Please return any time and keep engaging with us.
All the best,
Tom
Amazing post!
Hi Emilie,
Really pleased you found the article helpful.
Please return anytime and keep engaging.
All the best,
Tom
This topic is very important, and the information in this is very applicable to anyone in any field. I look forward to reading more of your leadership articles. Great job!
Hi Bryce,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased that you found it valuable.
I post new articles on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So keep an eye out for my new posts.
I have definitely tailored my posts and my other materials that I am working on to suit most people in most industries. I want to help create and inspire as many highly effective leaders as possible all over the world.
Keep returning and keep engaging.
All the best,
Tom
Very inspirational. I think awareness is one of the key charahteristics of many successful people. I don’t think my awareness level is that high but I can say I am quite satisfied with where my life is at the moment. It can always get better and that is where I am aiming at. This include my awareness as well.
I will bookmark your website for future posts because it really looks great.
Hi Strahinja,
Thank you for your kind comment and bookmarking my site. I really am pleased you found this post valuable.
Awareness is not the most common thing that we are aware of in ourselves. However, if we want to keep working on ourselves every day, then we have to be aware that we are improving, and we have to be aware of our potential.
It’s great to hear that you are happy where you are in your life right now. So, leverage where you are right now by continuing to work on yourself.
Keep returning and keep engaging, and if you need any further help from me then please let me know.
All the best,
Tom
This website is great and it looks great and fresh! The articles are detailed, well written and in depth! This is a inspirational and motivational article! Thank you for the great and article and don`t forget to add an affiliate disclosure if you are going to be using affiliate links and promoting products! Keep up the great work on your website!
Hi Timothy,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased that you found the post valuable.
I am not using affiliate links just yet. I am trying to build up my influence within my industry first. I am not interested in making money just yet. I want to become a leadership resource for people by creating posts, articles, and my own products.
Keep returning and keep engaging.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom, thank for the article.
I totally agree with you, we need to be aware of our weaknesses and also of our strengths.
I believe that when we get to know ourselves, we are able to lead effectively by the fact that we know how we function. Therefore we get to know where we are good and where we are lacking, so we can seek help in others.
Thanks for your articles.
God bless
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thank you for returning and leaving another great comment.
Knowing ourselves is much more important than people think. We need to know our strengths, weaknesses and our own potential. The only way we can do that is by working on ourselves every day.
My articles will be uploaded on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So keep coming back and engaging.
God Bless to you too,
Tom
Hi Tom,
What a great post – a lot of great info here.
Sometimes I think I am TOO aware, sometimes I think I’m almost blind. I wish I could find a happy medium and no longer dwelling on the past, and instead reflecting on it, sounds like a very good starting point. I often find myself stressing over things in the past that cannot be changed.
Do you have any self-development book recommendations? I’ve been wanting to start reading more self-dev books, but I can’t ever decide which are legit.
Thanks again for the info!
Anna
Hi Anna,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you found the post valuable.
If you are looking for a starting point on self development books, I would look at John C. Maxwell and Simon Sinek first. They have really helped and inspired me. They also have a lot of videos on you tube and articles on the internet.
Happy reading and if you need any further help then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
All the best,
Tom
Oh! One of my favourite subjects, self awareness. Your post was excellent, in making others aware of the importance of self awareness and how it can lead to living their best life yet. I’m all for this, so the post spoke to me as I have been working on myself for years. It’s an EVERY day thing for me, to be aware of why I do what I do, in action, behaviour or thought pattern. Fantastic website, keep up the good work and I really enjoyed the web design too. Louise
Hi Louise,
Thank you for your comment. Really pleased you enjoyed the article and my website. I really appreciate your feedback.
It’s so great to hear that you are working on yourself every day, and have been for a number of years. Well done, and keep it up. You are a role model to others, and the more you work on yourself, the more people you will be able to influence.
Keep returning and keep engaging.
All the best,
Tom