What is step zero?

In the world of self-development and self-improvement, it is quite common to see frameworks with 5, 7, or 10 steps to be a better self. And try as I might to get through one program and the next, I was constantly hitting a wall and couldn’t figure out why. That is until I realized the most important step to get started on any program, is step zero - self awareness.

Self awareness is defined in the dictionary as, “conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.” We can easily see that this is the true path to enlightenment and understanding how we can healthily define and pursue happiness in our lives. You see, once you have conscious knowledge of your own character, feelings, motives, and desires you show up as your best self and live your dream life. The key here though is discovery and acceptance of your true identity, then living to that calling for your life.

However self awareness is not a destination or something to be obtained, it is the journey, a habit, that when practiced daily becomes one of the strongest weapons we as humans possess. It must be practiced and exercised daily because self awareness is like a muscle. If it is not used, it will atrophy. And the only way to make it stronger is to employ it correctly and frequently. Thus we begin the journey of discovering self awareness, becoming self aware and practicing self awareness daily to stay sharp on the path to mastery.

Self awareness is the very beginning of the journey to being the best self and living the best life. Once you master self awareness and commit to continually transforming throughout your life journey, you will activate the incredible power to be your best.

And just like when learning anything new, we all begin at the first stage of mastery which is unconscious incompetence - that is we suck and we don’t even know we suck. That is step zero. Self awareness. The phase where we begin to take baby steps of understanding and learning in order to start the process of learning and mastering a new subject matter.

Recently I had the pleasure of being on the Gentleman Style Podcast with Marcus Norman to discuss self awareness and Kingdom Entrepreneurship. Go here to have a watch of the full episode.

What do you do to stay at the top of your self awareness game?

Leave a comment and let me know.