As leaders, we have to become more self-aware. Because if we are more self-aware, then we can be more aware of what we are doing as leaders, and how we affect and influence other people. For me, after listening to Travis Bradberry speak, this was so profound. Travis Bradberry is the award winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the co-founder of TalentSmart. Travis suggests in order to fully understand how we affect others as leaders, we need to make sure we know who we are as leaders.

There are many components of self-awareness. In Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry unpacks emotional intelligence, and focuses on four areas; self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship management. I would highly recommend picking up a copy of this book to dig deeper into what it takes to become more self-aware.

Another aspect of becoming self-aware, is becoming a healthier leader. Being healthier as leaders enables us to help others that we lead develop into their best selves. Here are some tips to being just a little more healthier in your day.

Get more Sleep
I know first-hand how not getting sleep can make you less effective. There have been countless times were I push myself into the wee hours in the morning to get things done, only to pay for it the next day. At times being completely not nearly as effective as I would have been with sleep. Face it, not getting rest can also make you bigger and hungrier since it stimulates your appetite.  Let’s trust the doctors on this one and get our 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

Watch the Blue Light, Especially at Night
Using smart phones and tablet computers at night in bed, can affect how effective your sleep is at night. Many times, it can leave your body more alert, making it difficult for it to reach a restful state. Try ditching your technology in bed and trading it in for a good night’s rest.

Ditch the Coffee after 12pm
Did you know it can take up to 6 hours for the coffee you drank at 9am to get out of your system? For most, that can affect your bedtime and how your body prepares for sleep. A good practice is to not drink any coffee or have any caffeine intake after noon. Moreover, if we are looking at making our attendees healthier at events, we might want to consider how coffee at afternoon breaks might affect our attendees later in the evening.

Exercise 30 minutes a Day
When we speak about self-awareness, we also should look at how we are exercising and keeping our bodies energized and fed. Making sure you are exercising in some capacity can help you in so many ways. Become more aware of what you currently do for fitness, and adjust to make sure you are fitting in enough time to be effective for you.

I hope this post peeked your interest just enough to do some self-reflection. Looking for some more on self-awareness? Checkout Travis Bradberry’s interview below on improving self-awareness.

Might want to do something different and add in an embed code to the YouTube video:

Have you looked inwards and found some things that need to be worked out? What are they? I would love to continue this discussion with you!