95% of people say that they're self-aware. But only 10-15% of people actually are. As my guest today says, that means "on a good day, 80% of us are lying to ourselves about how much we're lying to ourselves" and this blind spot can have big repercussions for our success and happiness.
Her name is Tasha Eurich, and she's an organizational psychologist and the author of Insight: Why We're Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life. Tasha kicks off our conversation by arguing that our level of self-awareness sets the upper limit of our individual effectiveness and that self-awareness can be developed and is truly the meta skill of the 21st century. She then unpacks what it is you know about yourself when you possess self-awareness, how there are two types of this knowledge, internal and external, and how you can have one without the other. Tasha then outlines the seven pillars of self-awareness, the barriers to getting insights into them -- including falling into the cult of self -- and how these barriers can be overcome, including asking yourself a daily check-in question. We then discuss how two of the most common methods for gaining self-knowledge -- introspection and journaling -- can in fact backfire and how to do them more effectively by asking yourself what instead of why, and actually journaling less instead of more. We also get into why you should be an in-former, rather than a me-former on social media, how to become more mindful without meditation, and how to solicit and handle feedback from other people, including holding something called the "Dinner of Truth."
If reading this in an email, click the title of the post to listen to the show.
Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in PodcastTasha's website
Tasha on Twitter
Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)Social Skills as the Road to Character
Protein — Everything You Need to Know
Zombies, Minecraft, and Dealing with Uncertainty
Dog as Cure for the Midlife Malaise
Beyond Mere Politeness — The Art of True Civility
The Science of Swole — How to Grow Your Muscles
A Cure for Existential Boredom
The Real Reason You Procrastinate
Break Your Bad Habits by Escaping the Scarcity Loop
Can You Trust Happiness Studies?
For a Better Work Out, Think Like a Kid
Beyond Lazy Learning — The Keys to Gaining and Retaining Knowledge
The 5 Shifts of Manhood
When the Game Was War — Lessons From the Greatest NBA Season of All Time
How to Develop Rugged Flexibility
Take Back the Weekend
Leadership Is Overrated
For Whom The Bell Tolls
How to Use the Principles of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to Overcome Obstacles in Business and Life
Is Cannabis a Safe Drug?
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West