Self-awareness is the starting point of every personal quest for growth. It clarifies our path ahead, enabling us to achieve the vision we have set out for ourselves.

Being self-aware is not the goal, however, but an ongoing practice of mindfulness. So how do we increase our self-awareness?

A simple way is to write a journal regularly. It can be as little as jotting down a few bullet points before you go to bed. Ask yourself: What did I learn about myself at work today? What did I learn at home? What made me happy and what made me unhappy today and why? What are my goals?

Awareness is also practiced through active listening – listening with your eyes, ears and heart. Give your undivided attention and remain non-judgmental. Your relationship with your family can be tenuous without active listening because a deep understanding of each other is missing. The same applies to business relationships; with customers, colleagues or other stakeholders. You can enrich every relationship with active listening.

In the corporate world, being aware of the moods of individuals and teams can offer valuable insights. You need to know if your employees feel valued or demotivated. Heightened awareness helps you fix situations where your employees may feel less than great.

Awareness also means you have a deeper understanding of what is going on in your business. You are aware of what is most important to you. Being aware means not only that you are clear about your vision, mission, values and strategy, but also whether your team and your actions are aligned with them.

Challenge yourself with the following “How to” exercises

1. ACCEPT that your awareness can always be enhanced.

2. ASK yourself: What frustrates me? What bothers me?  What excites me? What do I do well? What can I do better? What does success mean to me? What makes me happy? What takes me away from who I am?

3. HAVE one-to-one meetings with associates, customers, family members, colleagues and your spouse to find out how they’re feeling. Keep an open mind during discussions and listen actively.  When you’re feeling upset about something, ask the question, what else could it be?

4. SHARPEN your awareness of your team members: are they doing their best? What are the gaps between actual outcome vis-à-vis the expected outcome? Who are the performers/non-performers? What will take them to the next level?

5. DEEPEN your awareness of your business: evaluate what is being achieved from a qualitative and quantitative standpoint, and have a mechanism for evaluation. Then determine the one thing you can do which gives you the highest leverage of your time, and focus on it. Set weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly goals and evaluate your progress regularly.

6. DEVELOP a deeper awareness of your offerings: What are their strengths and weaknesses? Which products and services do clients really like and which do not add much value?

7. BE AWARE of your customer mix: who are the 20 percent of the customers giving you 80 percent of the business? Give special attention to those customers.

8. WRITE in a journal – about what’s going on in your life – to get to the root of any problem. Write in a journal before addressing a problem directly with the person concerned, or read your journal before going for an important meeting. Soon after you begin writing, you’ll find that you’re more aware of your behavior, your business and people around you. As little as five to 10 minutes a day spent writing can help clarify issues.