From Zero to Self Awareness

Are you ready to go from Zero to Self Awareness in your personal development journey?

For the last few weeks, I’ve been driving home the concept that if you want to change your life, you need to change your level of self awareness.  I want to do more than generate inspiration.  I want to provide you with tools that will aid you in the work of transforming your life.

To that end, I am sharing a framework of questions that I have been using to make transformations in my own life.  When honestly answered, these questions provide a clear picture of any area of your life. With this truthful knowledge, you will have a crystal clear starting point for any change you wish to create in your life.

Most recently, I have used these questions to create pin-point focus in my extremely successful Money May thirty day trial.

These questions are general enough to work in many areas – personal finance, career, relationships, spirituality and health – but they are also precise enough to give you insights into specific situations.

Please click here to download the Zero to Self Awareness Worksheet.  Once you have it, you can use it as a tool any time in the future.

This is my gift to you for reading this blog.  I am so grateful that you are dedicated to conscious growth.  Only once self awareness has been raised, will we be able to affect global awareness.  The struggle for self awareness starts within each one of us.

Please enjoy the Zero to Self Awareness Worksheet.  If you’d like to leave some feedback, please write a comment, head over to the contact page, or drop me an email at jonathan [at] grokkery [dot] com.

Walking Through Zero to Self Awareness

The questions within this worksheet have been developed over the last year as I have intensified my personal development journey.  Through my continual growth oriented reading, my involvement in men’s work and leadership training, and my thirty day personal development trials, I feel that I have gained valuable insight into accelerating the growth process.

Below is an in depth journey through the fifteen questions found in this worksheet.  My first step is always to create honest and authentic self awareness.  These questions are the reflecting mirror I use to do it.

Let’s take a look at how each question has helped me, and how they can help you.

To truly see the power that these questions have, grab a journal and make some space to answer them.

The Basics

1. What area of your life are you trying to change?

This is a simple question, but critical.  Get clear on where you need self awareness.

2. What are you excited for in that area of your life that already exists?

Self awareness is not about doom and gloom.  In every area of darkness, there is usually also some light to be found.  Be aware of the positive aspects of this area of your life and celebrate them.

3. What causes you the most pain in this area of your life?

You’re not looking to change this area of your life because it is perfect.  Be specific about what is causing you pain or discomfort in this area so that you have a clear understanding of what you are going to change.

4. Are you willing to take total responsibility for your current reality?

If you can’t take responsibility for your reality, you are going to encounter significantly more difficulty in changing it.  Do not take responsibility for what are clearly the actions of others.  Do take responsibility for your reactions.  Also take responsibility for the choices you have made, and the choices you have avoided making.

5. How committed are you to making a change in this area?

Is this a passing interest, or are you in the process of drawing a line in the sand that you will not cross?  I cannot discern this for you.  Only you know if your internal resolve is matched to the task of changing your life.

Embracing Reality

1. What patterns in your behavior created your current situation?

The reality of our lives is the consequence of our actions.  Our actions spring from our habits, or the patterns that we consistently follow.  If you find the patterns in your life that have created this situation, you will be able to address them more directly.

2. What facts and fears have you been hiding from?

This is a challenging question to answer.  Hiding from facts is not completely obvious.  We often “know” the facts that we are hiding from, but we do not acknowledge them.  When I went through Money May, the most difficult step was to fully own the consequences of my past financial habits.  What does $23,000 total consumer and student debt look like?  That was hard to face.  What lies have you been living?

Our fears are not often out in the open for us to address, but with time and a discerning judgment, we can isolate them.  Fear can create unconscious actions that play into our patterns.  The easiest way to find them is head on. What raises the hair on the back of your neck or tightens your gut around this issue?

3. Have you blamed anyone else for your situation?

Back to responsibility.  Have you been passing the buck to someone else?  Even if the other party has contributed, they are not responsible for your reality.  You are.  If you have, own this and take the responsibility back onto your self.

4. What actions have you avoided taking?

I’ve known for years what actions I need to take in order to have good financial habits, but I didn’t take them.  Often, we know what we need to do, but we have simply avoided doing it.  Where have you done that in this area of your life?

5. What are the past, short term and long term consequences of your current behaviors?

Hand in hand with the facts that you’ve been hiding from, you have to know how your patterns have affected you, and how they will continue to affect you.  Take a critical look at how your recent history (or longer history) has been impacted by your habits in this area.  Then, take a long view and think about the impact that these patterns will have on your life long term.  Is that what you want?

Defining the Future

1. What would the ideal version of this area of your life look like? Describe it in exacting detail.

You can make this as large or as small as you like, but I urge you to err on the side of realism.  If you are having trouble paying off debt, I don’t encourage you to aim for $10,000,000 by the end of the year; there are significant steps in between.  Do take the time to clearly describe what the ideal situation looks like – habits, feelings, relationships, and locations.  Use all of your senses in describing this ideal reality.

2. What is the easiest, most achievable, first step you are able to take toward your ideal vision?

In personal development and time management, this is called a “first action.”  Figure out the first thing that you can do to create momentum toward this change.

3. What are the milestones between your current reality and your ideal vision?

To get from where you are to your ideal future, you need a map.  Figure out the major landmarks and milestones between you and your destination.  Be as detailed as you need to be,  but don’t get locked in planning.  The more important step is taking action toward these milestones.

4. What habits will you need to break and what habits will you need to create to move forward?

If you have reached this point, you have already examined the habits and patterns that have helped you create your present reality.  Decide which are staying, and which are going.  Then, target which habits you most need to create in order to realize your ideal vision.

5. Who can help you remain accountable as you move forward?

Without the support of a mentor or water brothers, you are going to be in for a rough ride.  Yes, you can do it all on your own.  Why operate from such a limiting paradigm, when you can find others to help you out.  If you aren’t comfortable asking anyone in your life to support you and keep you accountable, consider creating a blog to chronicle your journey and receiving reader support, or even joining a local support group.

A Spoonful of Sugar

Creating this self awareness is the sugar that will help the medicine of change go down easier.  Once you have such a concrete and clear picture of your reality, you will find it hard to maintain your situation.

Why?

Your subconscious will start working against your dissatisfaction.  This will not solve all of your problems – it will take conscious action to do that.  With time, commitment and perseverance, this budding self awareness will be the seed that blooms into lasting change.

The potential in these questions to create self awareness are huge.  Please download and share the FREE Zero to Self Awareness Worksheet.

I promise you won’t be disappointed when you use it.

Photo by YtseJam Photography