How Aware Are You?

Let’s get right to it – on a scale of 1-10 (1-low, 10-high) – how aware were you of others and your surroundings today? Take a minute, think about it, and give yourself a rating – and no “.5’s.”

My guess would be that you rated yourself fairly high. Maybe a 7 or 8 – not wanting to be too boastful and elevating yourself to a lofty score of 10…even though you more-than-likely secretly rated yourself a 10. But were you really a 7 or 8, or 10? Or were you more of a 2 or 3?

Here are a couple of quick, somewhat simple, questions to ask yourself to gauge how truly aware you were of others, your surroundings, and of the events of your day:

1. What was the color and style of the shirt/top that your significant other, family member, or the person that you worked most closely with today, wearing?
2. In your first meeting today, what was the main point presented by the person(s) running the meeting? What were the second and third points?
3. If you were engaged in a personal or work conversation today did you break from the conversation to look at your phone? If so, more than once? How many times in total?
4. What was the topic, purpose, and future action needed from your most pressing email, phone call, or text today?
5. If you were engaged in a personal or work conversation today (say over lunch or at the end of the day) name three talking points from the conversation.

Now that you’ve read each of the questions, provide your answers. Note: If you’re struggling to answer these relatively simple questions, you may want to rethink your 7 or 8, or your very generous 10, and own your 2 or 3!

If you are now realizing that you are not quite as aware as you would have hoped, it’s not too late. Awareness, to the smallest or to the most important details is a tremendously powerful and important skill – a skill that can be learned – to keep yourself focus and engaged in your work, and your life. So, keep your eyes and your ears open and you’ll find that there is a lot to take in.