Benefits of having high self-awareness

With mastery of the three core skills of the emotional intelligence competence, self-awareness gives you a greater control over the decisions you make. Therefore:

• You can identify and understand the impact that your own feelings are having on your thoughts, memory, and creativity. For instance: you know you are excited by the chance of getting promoted to a new executive role, yet you feel vulnerable--in case you cannot meet all the criteria and feel silly in case people think you are arrogant. By identifying all three emotions (excitement, vulnerability, and silliness), you can work through them and apply confidently for the role. If you are not aware of your emotional triggers, you are more likely to feel stuck, procrastinate, and miss the opportunity.
• You are able to protect yourself from harm. Emotions can give you important warnings that you are not safe, or that you are about to make an error, that you are not well and need help. By knowing how you feel you have the opportunity to heed these warnings early. This could save you from embarrassing yourself, your team, or your organization.
• You can recognize the fluctuations in your emotions and accurately identify which emotion you have and whether you have a simple emotion or a complex of emotions--as emotions often occur together. For example, you might feel excited and fearful at the same time, or hurt may be underlying your anger, thus you are aware of the emotions behind what you are saying.
• You are able to recognize the patterns and habits in your emotional responses and reactions and understand what triggers particular emotions in you--the reasons behind some of your emotions. (Some emotions arise because of our history and not always because of our immediate situation.) Therefore, you may feel more in control of your life and know what you want. Hence, you are less likely to get stuck with decision-making and problem-solving when there are conflicting emotions at play.
• You will be more able to develop trust between yourself and the people with whom you work--whether stakeholders, executives, or clients. Self-awareness can be enormously beneficial for the development of productive and engaging relationships.