Tools to Increase Self-Awareness

Do you know how much control you have over your level of health and well-being?

53%* 

Your lifestyle habits – what you do day in and day out greatly contributes to your level of health and well-being.   These habits are behaviors you do consistently over time without conscious thought.

Have you observed your habits lately? Are you aware of the automatic behaviors affecting your well-being?  As James Clear states – “The process of behavior change always starts with awareness.”

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Pay Attention to Routine Behaviors

Take a step towards healthy lifestyle change by first observing the behaviors you already do. Without realizing, you probably do several things in your day that are health promoting.  Positive behaviors to build up your confidence and give you the momentum to continue making healthy lifestyle changes.  At the same time,  you also uncover behaviors that are draining your energy and contribute to poor health.

I love James Clear’s strategy of making a ‘Habits Scorecard’, discussed in his book Atomic Habits. He suggests to take note of your daily habits and scoring each habit with a positive (+), negative (-), or a neutral (=).  Which behaviors get a positive mark?  The ones that contribute to your wellness.  On the other hand, habits that diminish your wellness gets a negative.

Once you have all habits written down and scored, you can see more clearly where the gaps are, which leads you to consider adopting behaviors in alignment with your vision of wellness.

A Health Coach’s Tool to increase Self-Awareness

One tool I like to use with my clients to increase their self-awareness is a comprehensive Well-Being Assessment.  It’s an eye-opener that helps you discover your wellness priorities and needs, while bringing attention to the areas where you’re ready to make changes.

With my coach training done through Wellcoaches, I’ve adapted their model into my practice, which covers the seven areas of well-being.  As you’ll learn, your well-being is much more than just the physical aspects (nutrition, physical activity, weight management) but is also impacted by other dimensions such as life satisfaction and mental/emotional health.  After you complete the assessment, you have a better idea of where you are today and where you’d like to go – what behaviors you’re ready, willing, and able to change.

Want to take a Quick Well-Being Assessment?

Consider taking this 15 question assessment (about 3 minutes to fill out).  Since you are in the driver’s seat of your health 50% of the time, find out where you’re currently at towards at with this quiz.

I encourage you to give yourself a high-five in the areas where you marked a 3 or 4. It also will help to identify your strengths that made it possible for you to succeed in that specific area.  Then take a look at where there is great potential for improvement (the ones you marked a 1 or 2).  Think about how you can use your strengths to improve this part of your well-being.

Take the quiz here: QUICKIE Well-Being Assessment

*Other determinants of your health and well-being:

Medical Care 10%, Genes/Hereditary 16%, Environment 21%