I wasn’t born a successful leader. I earned it. I lived a sheltered life until about 15 years of age when I was sent to Australia – on my own. It was a steep learning curve. I was in a strange land amongst people from a culture I had no understanding of and self-awareness. I did not have friends or family to support me and for many years of my young adult life, I made mistakes that I am not proud of. But somehow, I survived. I learned that bad things that happened to me do not define me. That I can rise above any circumstance so long as I stay true and believe in myself.
Last week, I received news that I had won the 2021 Stevie Gold Award for Female Executive of the Year. I also won two silvers for Mentor or Coach of the Year and Woman of the Year for the ‘Women in Business’ Category. The awards came at a time when my life is on a trajectory to success. I own a successful business. I am a popular leadership strategist and coach. I am in a happy relationship, and I’ve just recently published my new book. How did I do it? I manifested my own success, and I can show you how you can do it too in my upcoming book ‘Great Leadership Starts with You. Be the Leader You Want to Be’. In the book, I discussed at length how I mastered self-awareness and used the power of my mind to manifest and attract success into my life.
In the book, I revealed 5 ways how I mastered self-awareness and manifested success. Here’s a snapshot of each:
Daily self-reflection
Self-reflection is the ability to evaluate your behaviour, actions, and motives. It is about taking stock of your life and being honest with yourself about what you may discover. It helps you recognise your abilities and put things in perspective, so you know how to act and behave every time.
I practise daily self-reflection. At the end of each day before bed, I spend 10-15 minutes debriefing myself. The subject for the debrief is ‘me’. It’s an easy step that anyone can adopt. Start by asking yourself: ‘What have I done well today?’ and ‘What can I do better?’ Aim for one improvement a day. Even small steps can lead to big things. If you take one tiny little step a day for a year, it adds up to 365 steps closer to your goals. Here’s another secret: It’s never too old to start taking baby steps. So, why not start today?
Psychometric tests
Personality and psychometric tests help you understand yourself. I love using personality profiles and guiding my clients to increasing their self-awareness. The more you understand yourself, the closer you are to manifesting your genius.
Journaling
I am a bit of a foodie. I love cooking as a form of relaxation. When I come across a new recipe I like, I usually make a record of it. Whether I download it or jot it down, I need a record of it because I cannot easily recall all the ingredients or every step of the instructions.
Likewise, if you want to master self-awareness, you may want to jot down lessons you have learnt each day. Start a journal and record anything that you feel will be helpful whether it’s a gesture that has made you happy, an interesting observation or an event that may have upset others. You can also use your journal to write down your goals and plans and any ideas you have about how you want to manifest success. Later, you can turn it into a strategy with actionable steps.
Feedback
It’s hard to be your own critic all the time and still stay objective. Sometimes, it is good to seek the help of others. Consider feedback as market research on yourself. Effective market research requires participants’ input. You can’t be the only participant. Consider any feedback as constructive even if they are not what you want to hear. Find someone you can trust to give you an honest and objective feedback. Don’t get upset if the feedback is not what you want to hear. Focus on the outcome. Use it as an opportunity to improve so the next time the same question arises, you will get a more positive response. Now that’s a win!
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness or mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that teaches you to be intensely aware of yourself and your surroundings. It helps you focus on the moment and to hone on your thoughts and feelings without been detracted by them. It is a great way to declutter your mind and not overthink things.
When you have mastered self-awareness, you are ready to manifest success into your life. The next steps include setting goals, working towards these goals, being mindful and appreciative of what you have received, removing mental barriers, and focusing on manifesting the success you want.
My book: “Great Leadership Starts with You -Be the Leader You Want to Be’ is Amazon #1 Best Seller. It is an inspirational book that is filled with practical wisdom and actionable steps to help you achieve your goals and manifest and attract success into your life. Buy Amazon #1 Best Seller ‘Great Leadership Starts with You – Be the Leader You want to be’ here.
Iris Du is a leadership strategist and human behaviour expert who thrives on helping individuals, leaders and businesses achieve the success they deserve. Drawing on leadership, attraction and manifestation strategies, Iris works with organisations to help them leverage their natural talent to create highly engaged and high-performing leaders and teams.
