3 Things: Awareness is the first step to continuous improvement

Thought: Getting better at anything starts with knowing you where your starting line is. Awareness is the first step. There are many ways to find awareness. You can simply jot down what you think your strengths, weaknesses or opportunities are. You can ask others what they think. There are plenty of assessments you can take. There’s no one answer. The important thing, however, is that you seek it and understand it.

Illustration: This is an illustration from the book – I call this the With Intention Awareness Matrix. I’m excited to give you a sneak peak as it will officially be out next month!

Let me explain each one:

• Unknown Weakness—Blind Spot (Low Competence / Low Awareness): The lower-left quadrant is an unknown weakness, otherwise known as a blind spot. This is something you aren’t aware of, and there’s a good chance it’s holding you back. It’s very important to gain awareness here.
• Known Weakness—Obstacle (Low Competence / High Awareness): The lower-right quadrant is a known weakness. With this knowledge, you can focus on improving your weakness, delegating it, or mitigating it in some way.
• Unknown Strength—Talent (High Competence / Low Awareness): The upper-left quadrant is an unknown strength. There’s often gold here. Trusted advisors can help you “mine” this talent and leverage it to create visible results in work and life. So, it’s not yet cultivated but there’s a big opportunity here.
• Known Strength—Superpower (High Competence / High Awareness): The upper-right quadrant is your sweet spot. You know your strength. You live it. When you use your superpower, you’re in flow. You feel the effects and so do the people around you. This is one you want to lean into.

Call to Action: How can you find more awareness in our life? Do you know your blindspots? Your obstacles? Your untapped talent? Your superpowers? I recommend grabbing a pen and some paper and jotting some thoughts down on each.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for reading!

Jon