Glee Factor

Self Awareness Tool

 “
You should know now that a man of knowledge lives
by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking
about what he will think when he has finished acting.
A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and
follows it.

Carlos Castaneda
A Separate Reality
Self-awareness has been an interesting
topic among research communities
for the last few decades. In the recent
years this interesting topic is also being
discussed in the business world.
As an employee striving to build a
desired career, or as a leader in search
of building a perfect team, the two
words often recommended by experts
to start the process with are: Know
Thyself.
For some, self-awareness is being
mindful about one’s strengths and limits.
For others such as Daniel Goleman,
self-assessment is only a pillar of the
self-awareness practice. Emotional
awareness which is simply recognizing
one’s emotions and their effects along
with self-confidence (A strong sense
of one’s self-worth and capabilities) are
the complementary aspects of the self-
awareness block.
However, there is a common ground
in these different visions: “Understand
your life Story”.
As Dan McAdams, Northwestern
University psychology professor,
explains, “The stories we tell ourselves
about our lives don’t just shape
our personalities –- they are our
personalities.”
This tool helps you not only assess your
values, limits and strengths but also
to develop a habit of self-reflection. A
challenge in today’s connected and
busy world.
Have fun exploring yourself!
Glee Factor Team
 “
Daring to be ourselves-experiencing our values-is a
challenging issue because it involves courage, which
is uncomfortable for many people. And it is not
something another person can do for us.

Richard J. Leider
The power of Purpose
A) Identify your values

1
From the list below, choose and write down every core value that resonates
with you. Do not overthink your selections. As you read through the list,
simply write down the words that feel like a core value to you personally.
If you think of a value you possess that is not on the list, be sure to write it
down as well.
A) Identify your values

• Abundance • Creativity • Inspiration • Preparedness

• Acceptance • Credibility • Intelligence • Proactivity
• Accountability • Intelligence • Intuition • Professionalism
• Achievement • Daring • Joy • Punctuality
• Advancement • Decisiveness • Kindness • Recognition
• Adventure • Dedication • Knowledge • Relationships
• Advocacy • Dependability • Leadership • Reliability
• Ambition • Diversity Empathy • Learning • Resilience
• Appreciation • Encouragement • Love • Resourcefulness
• Attractiveness • Enthusiasm • Loyalty • Responsibility
• Autonomy • Ethics Excellence • Making a • Responsiveness
• Balance • Expressiveness Difference • Security
• Being the Best • Fairness • Mindfulness • Self-Control
Benevolence • Family Friendships • Motivation • Selflessness
• Boldness • Flexibility • Optimism • Simplicity Stability
• Brilliance • Freedom • Open-Mindedness • Success
• Calmness • Fun • Originality • Teamwork
• Caring • Generosity Grace • Passion • Thankfulness
• Challenge • Growth Flexibility • Performance • Thoughtfulness
• Charity • Happiness Health • Personal • Traditionalism
• Cheerfulness • Honesty • Development • Trustworthiness
Cleverness • Humility Humor • Proactive • Understanding
• Community • Inclusiveness • Professionalism • Uniqueness
• Commitment • Independence • Quality • Usefulness
• Compassion • Individuality • Recognition • Versatility Vision
• Cooperation • Risk Taking • Warmth
• Collaboration • Safety • Wealth
• Consistency • Security • Well-Being
• Contribution • Service • Wisdom
• Spirituality • Zeal
• Stability
• Peace
• Perfection
• Playfulness
• Popularity
• Power
A) Identify your values

2
Group all similar values together from the list of values you just created.
Group them in a way that makes sense to you, personally. Create a
maximum of five groupings. If you have more than five groupings, drop
those least important.
A) Identify your values

3
Choose one word within each grouping that best represents the label for
the entire group. Again, do not overthink your labels. There are no right or
wrong answers. You are defining the answer that is right for you.

4
Identify the hierarchy of your values.
A) Identify your values

5
Action Plan: Now that you have a better understanding of your values, it’s
time for a reality check. Do you live your values on a daily basis? Focus on
the value that you believe is most compromised and define an action plan
with which you can practice this important value on a daily basis.
 “
successful people have one thing in common: they
focus on strengths and manage around weaknesses.

Marcus Buckingham
B) Knowing your strengths and limits
“strengths are not what you’re good at.
weaknesses are not what you’re bad
at.”
We’ve all been raised to believe that
our strengths are best judged by
the success we achieve. If that’s the
case, then a strength is the same as
performance. But we instinctively know
that’s not true. If you’re like most people,
you have some activities or tasks you
do well, but hate doing. You have the
ability; you can do it. You just wish you
never had to do it again because it
drains you. Such activities cannot be
called strengths. They are weaknesses.
The simplest and best definition of a
strength is “an activity that strengthens
you.” And the proper definition of a
weakness is “an activity that weakens
you” — even if you’re good at it.
Take responsibility for claiming your
strengths by recognizing the SIGNs.
A strength is an activity that strengthens
you, but it can be hard to pay attention
in the course of a busy workday to how
what we do makes us feel. Train yourself
to notice the SIGNs of a strength:
success — When you do the activity,
you feel effective and in control (what
psychologists call “self-efficacy”).
instinct — Before you do the activity,
you look forward to doing it. You can’t
wait to do it.
growth — While you are doing the
activity, you feel inquisitive and focused.
You may lose track of time and two
hours feel like only five minutes have
passed.
needs — After you’ve done the activity,
even if you’re tired, you feel fulfilled.
B) Knowing your strengths and limits

1
I feel strong, energized and engaged doing the following tasks:

2
What underlying strengths do these tasks require? Remember that tasks
are specific to a certain job or project while strengths are universal to any
situation.

For this exercise we suggest that you complete the Gallup Strength Finder 2.0 test.
This test will help you discover your top 5 strengths and identify your dominant
talents. If you do not wish to invest your money in this test, you can simply review
their themes and use them as an inspiration to answer this question.
B) Knowing your strengths and limits

you can’t turn a weakness into a strength, but you can take steps to STOP or minimize
the impact a weakness is having on you.

• STOP doing it and see whether anybody notices. This won’t work all or even most
of the time, but sometimes a process or a task has become redundant and won’t
be missed.

• Team Up with someone who is strengthened by what weakens you. For every
person drained or bored by an activity, there is someone — believe it or not —
who needs the same task invigorating.

• Offer Up a strength so deliberately, so insistently, that doing it becomes valuable

enough to take up more and more of your time, crowding out time spent on
weaknesses. Take the best of your job and turn it into the most of your job.

• Perceive the activity through the lens of a strength. If you hate confrontation,
for example, but are strengthened by asking penetrating questions, approach a
potential confrontation instead as a way to ask such questions.
B) Knowing your strengths and limits

3
I feel weak, drained and bored doing the following tasks:

4
Action Plan: What one action are you willing to do tomorrow to start
leveraging one of your strengths and/or neutralizing one of your
weaknesses?
 “
Acknowledge emotions, not as good or bad, right or
wrong, but as a source of information that help you
gain self-awareness.

Tang Weng Liang

C) Daily Habit for Self-Reflection

Researchers believe that setting aside
at least twenty minutes to reflect on
ourselves, our emotions and our lives
can be a very good practice towards
developing self-awareness.
Research from Wisconsin’s Richard
Davidson demonstrated direct
correlation between mindfulness and
changes in the brain. Reflection takes
many forms. Some keep a journal, some
meditate, and others take a long walk or
jog.
The daily habit for self-reflection
will help us become an observer
of ourselves.  We Pay attention to
what we feel and how these feelings
distract, enhance, or challenge us. We
acknowledge our emotions, feel them
in our bodies, and we name them.
Identifying and accurately labeling
emotions is much easier with the right
words.

• Action Plan: Start by noticing what you’re feeling right now. Observe without
judgment or trying to ‘fix’ anything; just notice your emotions a few times a day.

• Plan a 20-minute daily pause and reflection for a week. write about the results
and customize your technique based on your needs.

• No exercise is effective without holding yourself accountable to it. So we suggest

that you review these action plans on a weekly or monthly basis and update them
if necessary to get the best out of this exercise.
 “
Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who
we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who
we are.

Brene Brown
The Gifts of Imperfection
This exercise has been inspired by the following
references:

1) https://www.cmu.edu/career/documents/my-career-path-
activities/values-exercise.pdf

2) https://cdn-media.leanin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/
Claiming_Your_Strengths.pdf

3) http://strengths.gallup.com/110440/about-strengthsfinder-20.
aspx

4) http://www.6seconds.org/2017/04/20/emotional-intelligence-
tips-awareness/

5) http://liveyourlegend.net

6) http://www.danielgoleman.info/daniel-goleman-how-emotionally-
intelligent-are-you/

7) https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-is-your-true-
north/201509/know-thyself-how-develop-self-awareness