Personal—and, by extension, professional—development begins with an introspective self-evaluation. The more honest you are with yourself, the more eager you are to correct your faults or to accentuate your good qualities. This self-scrutiny is one of the hardest things to do for most people, yet it is the single most important path to self-awareness. A person who is self-aware, in turn, strives to be authentic, confident but humble, curious and open-minded, and eager to learn and improve. Wouldn’t you like to work with or for a person like that? More important, wouldn’t you like to be that kind of person?

This episode explores what all this means for someone like you. We’ll define self-awareness, offer effective strategies for becoming self-aware, and list just a fraction of its many rewards.