If you’re anything like me, you learned a lot about yourself over this past year-plus. Maybe you feel like you’re an expert at self-awareness. We’ve certainly never been given this much time and space for reflection. But we’ve also never (en masse, in recent history) had so much intense and constant change. Maybe we have learned a lot, but it’s impossible to untangle all the lessons when we still don’t know what everyday life is going to look like.
Enter Summer. The sun is out and, finally, so are many of us. For parents, the days of checking homework and packing lunches are over or nearly so. As my friend’s son enjoys his first sleep-away Boy Scout camp, my family and I are packing for our own version of camp. That is what we, in New England, call the summer place on the lake. Rarely fancy enough to call a summer house or even a cabin, these are often vintage single-wide trailers with sleeping porches and a clothes lines strung between two trees for wet swimsuits. The building and its lack-of-conveniences are never as important as the proximity to the lake.
The only badges we’ll be earning are mosquito bites, goosebumps from the icy water, and burns from s’more-making mishaps. After two years away, I say, bring them on! I can’t wait to hug all the people I haven’t been able to hug since 2019 and to cuddle an almost-two-year-old nephew I’ve never even met. Somewhere among the long-awaited crush of family parties, though, I will find myself alone with the lake and my self-reflections.
Unsurprising, working at the Omnia Group means my coworkers and I are big on self-awareness. We all know our personality traits and our motivators, and we talk about them in a way that would confuse or even concern outsiders.
“Oh, you know me, I’m such a column 3!” Laughs.
“I’m sorry, that’s just my column 8 talking.”
“…”
(That last one is me – someone with a tall column 4 — at a Zoom meeting.)
I know my main motivators are security, stability, structure and work that is primarily solitary in nature (writing/editing). So how well were my motivators served by a world-changing pandemic? Well, one out of four ain’t bad!
After fifteen months or so of uncertainty, a lack of stability and somewhat undependable structure, I’m frazzled. I’m so lucky to work for a company and to have a manager that is committed to providing for employees and did what could be done to keep our spirits up. However, even they couldn’t assure us that everything in the world would be fine. There is a part of me that doesn’t know quite who I am anymore.
Maybe you’re in the same place. Even without speaking in columns, you probably know what you like and dislike and what motivates you. Possibly, you had most things figured out and worked pretty well in the “before times.” But I’d be surprised if there were many of us that came through this unchanged. We could all use that self-awareness badge now.
“But,” I hear you say, “can’t we just sit on the beach and stare at the waves? Why is this important right now?”
First of all, yes. 100%
Secondly, it’s important because it will help us take what we have learned and make plans, goals and strides in our careers in the future, no matter what that future brings. When we are self-aware, we know our strengths and weaknesses and can work with them or around them to figure out how to excel, instead of just survive.
Here are some tips for getting that badge:
- Start scheduling regular time for yourself to reflect. (The beach is a great place to start!) Whatever works for you – journaling, meditation, prayer, breathing exercises, or even just giving yourself a time-out from screens for a while—can help you get to know yourself better. They can help quiet the frazzled static you are experiencing and figure out what is most important to you right now. This helps the unimportant things fall away.
- Check out your to-do list. When you’re on the job, notice what tasks you jump right on with enthusiasm, and which ones keep going to the bottom of your list every day. What do each group have in common? Will you drop everything to make or take a call? Or would you do anything to avoid calls? Putting off a spreadsheet you have to create? Find common themes about things you love to do, or hate to do. Knowing this can help you shape your goals.
- Keep in mind, it’s not just about you. Self-awareness in the workplace also involves being aware of how your tendencies are received by or impact others. You may have determined that you are a tough competitor who needs to win. Excellent! But, if you compete with people you’re supposed to help or support, there really is no winning. It will be counter productive to compete. You love to talk, but do you let others share ideas, too? You want to do the right thing, but are you hesitating too much?
- Pay attention to how you react to stress. Stress can take your strongest traits and turn them negative. For me, I’m super reserved at the best of times. When I am the most stressed, I find it hard to even speak at all. Assertive people can become aggressive; quick-moving people can become impatient, and so on. Realizing how you react to pressure can help you put a plan in place to deal with problems going forward.
- Take a behavioral assessment to gain insight into strengths, weaknesses, motivators and preferences. The Omnia Professional development report can give you that, plus tips for how to mitigate challenges, leverage strengths, communicate with different personality types, and move forward with your career.
Unlike most merit badges (I assume – I was never actually a scout) you can earn new self-awareness merit badges all the time. Every new bump in the road, promotion or personal change gives you a chance for a new one. They come in all different colors. I’m betting the one we’re all getting this year is red with funny spikes all over it. Sew it on with pride. Then get back to staring at the waves.
