People often come to coaching because they want to understand themselves better. They might want to feel clearer about a situation, make sense of a pattern they keep noticing, or explore what could be different in their life, work or relationships. Whatever brings someone to coaching, greater self-awareness almost always becomes part of the process. It helps people see themselves more clearly, understand why they respond the way they do, and make choices that feel more aligned with who they are.
Last week I wrote about self-efficacy and how our beliefs about our own effectiveness shape what we feel able to do. Sharing that post led to some interesting conversations about how self-efficacy interacts with other familiar self-concepts like self-esteem, self-worth and self-confidence. This is not a psychology lesson, but it can be useful to know that there is more to how we feel about ourselves and our abilities than we might assume. Working with a professional with a psychology background means you do not need to study psychology, and you can focus on learning about you.
What self-awareness means
Self-awareness is your capacity to observe your own traits, characteristics, thoughts, feelings and behaviours. When you understand what you like and dislike, what energises you, your values, strengths and what motivates you, you can work with rather than against yourself. This helps you make sense of your experiences, make decisions that fit you, and take action that feels sustainable and personal.
Self-awareness also includes noticing how you feel or what you might be avoiding, how you respond under pressure, and how you show up in relationships. These insights help you understand yourself better so that you can be more yourself more of the time.
How self-awareness develops through reflection
Self-awareness grows through reflection. Paying attention to your experiences, alone or with support, helps you learn more about who you are, what matters to you and how you tend to do things. This supports more aligned action and clearer decision making.
Reflection can be enhanced when psychology-informed coaching is applied. A trained coach can help you slow down, notice patterns, explore what sits beneath them and consider new possibilities.
What research tells us about coaching and self-awareness
Research shows that coaching can increase self-awareness. For example, Peláez et al. (2020) found that a brief period of strengths-based coaching led to increases in self-awareness, wellbeing, satisfaction and progress towards work-related goals. Knowing our strengths can help us set personally meaningful goals that we feel motivated to pursue and able to achieve.
My published research found that people who had coaching in their work or personal life gained greater self-awareness that enabled them to think, feel and behave differently towards themselves. These changes continued months after coaching had finished. Greater self-awareness is also reflected in the testimonials and feedback I receive from the people I coach.
How coaching helps you build self-awareness
Coaching is a collaborative development practice that happens in a reflective conversation between a trained coach and the person receiving coaching. Everyone I work with brings their own experiences, preferences and ways of thinking, as well as the topic or question they want to explore.
I provide a safe space to think, untangle, plan, experiment and reflect. I listen, ask questions and make contributions informed by curiosity and psychology relevant to learning, development, change and wellbeing. Coaching can be a space to hear yourself think, slow down and choose a different response.
When you understand more about how you think, feel and respond, you can work with yourself to achieve what is important to you and support your own continued development.
A question to help you reflect
What have you noticed about yourself recently that feels important to pay attention to?
Get in touch
If you would like support building your self-awareness, you are welcome to get in touch. As a Coaching Psychologist in Norfolk, I offer Life Coaching, Coaching for Professionals and Coaching for Parents that helps people feel more capable, steadier and more able to influence the situations that matter to them.
Book a Free Discovery Call | Caroline Rigby Coaching
Research
For any readers interested in the research into the outcomes of coaching that informed this post, these are the links: