Awareness: Knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. 

The first time I paid much attention to the skill of awareness was playing Madden Football (the video game) in college. Each NFL quarterback had an awareness level between 0-99. The players who could best "feel" the defenders around them while still remaining calm and throwing accurate passes rated the highest.

Then in 2013, I was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle with a female friend. She noticed how I was very aware of the movement around us as we talked. All the activity was behind us, with the car parked head-in; she was right. It was night, in an area I didn't know well. I constantly scanned the rearview mirrors to watch people.

Awareness of others and places is not of much use until we are aware of ourselves. Here are three ways to start knowing yourself better. [shareable cite="@DreAllDay "]Awareness of others and places is not of much use until we are aware of ourselves.[/shareable]

Know what you're good at. Sounds so simple and easy, but let's take look. How many people do you know who are forcing themselves into work they are just not very good at? Who is struggling futility to get to mediocre?A self-aware person knows where her power lies. She maneuvers every situation to leverage those strengths, and stays away from where she wouldn't be effective.Just as in basketball, work to maximize strengths (90% of your time), and minimize weaknesses (10%). To do this, you need awareness of what your strengths and weaknesses actually are.
Be aware of your moods and how moods color your experience of situations. Our moods control how we see things. One day we feel like everyone is against us. The next day, we're unstoppable and everyone's friend.A mood is a temporary state of mind or feeling. If you can't control yours, at least have awareness of how it's controlling how you see things.
What you notice most easily in others are usually your own qualities and faults, too. She's arrogant. He is always late! He seems to look down on people sometimes.The very traits we notice in others - especially the negative ones - are often reflections of what's within us.This is a hard one to accept for many. But you can do your own experiment. Notice the things you (mentally or verbally) point out in others, and hold that same observation up to yourself. Does anything jump out at you?

Control happens from the inside-out. If you don't have a handle and awareness of Number One, what you know about him or her or it won't help you much. Start with you. [shareable cite="@DreAllDay "] Control happens from the inside-out.[/shareable]


The Mental Handbook: The Guidebook to Approaching Sports & Life with A Bulletproof Mindset