All through his career as a comic book writer, Stan Lee saw the world through the eyes of little children, and hoped to show them, through his cartoon characters, that everyone is born with a super power. The long list of super heroes created by Stan Lee were all endowed with special abilities for helping their communities. Imagine what those fictional worlds would have been if those super heroes do not know their super powers.

In a similar way, we all are endowed with abilities, some special, others common. But we are nothing if we do not identify and deploy those abilities. For what is a super hero if he doesn’t know his super powers?

Self-awareness easily means being aware of yourself. It is looking into the mirror of your conscious mind and truly identifying yourself. Being self-aware is knowing your limits, your abilities and your capacities. What is that single skill that comes easily to you? What is that thing you get most compliments for? Are you aware of it?

In my experience, there are two unique concepts that explains the blurry feeling we have when we try to pursue self-awareness:

First is “self-underestimation”. This is considered as the cognitive bias one has when one underestimates his/her own abilities. In other words, you treat lightly the fact that you have special abilities, and attribute to luck what you have accomplished.

The second is “self-deprecation” or “false humility”. Here you downplay your own talents and special abilities, while simultaneously praising those of others; you devalue your own capabilities in a false sense of humility, either coming from a lack of self-confidence or a desire to seek validation from others. Sadly, I see this as very common among Africans.

Friend, to become more self-aware requires you to identify your potentials, appreciate your abilities, and continually improve on them. You are a super hero too. You have your super powers (with their flaws as well). Know them. Use them. And continue to improve on them.

I am rooting for you always. Cheers.