Exploring Self-Awareness: Understanding Our Actions' Impact on Others

Are you the person at the bakery, engrossed in a conversation and utterly oblivious to a customer waiting on you? Or maybe you're the person who, in a rush, cuts across traffic and gives someone else a heart-stopping moment? Today, we're talking self-awareness and the magnitude of our actions on others - a topic sparked off by two personal experiences that burgeoned into intense confrontations. We navigate through our everyday routines, often blind to the ripple effects our actions may have. Uncover how an infuriating traffic incident and a frustrating bakery delay led to some challenging dialogues and brought to light our patterns of unconscious behavior.

Our stories are not just about aggravating situations but what they reveal about our attitudes towards others. As we share these encounters, we highlight the importance of reflecting on the messages we unintentionally send by our actions - indifference, disrespect, and the like. Unpleasant though the confrontations were, they serve as catalysts for self-awareness, personal growth, and change. We're not just talking about acknowledging our actions but understanding the weight they carry and our responsibility towards others in shared spaces. Let's learn together about the power of self-awareness and challenge each other to be more conscientious of our shared spaces. Listen in, reflect, and let's start making a difference, one action at a time.

Welcome to Coaching Conversations

We have created a NEW and Innovative line of books called Workplace Coaching Books. These books use QR codes with embedded audio and video lessons speaking directly to the reader. Each book comes with assessments and journal based coaching pages where they document what they've learned and what they've applied. In addition each book comes with the self analysis link that prompts them to share what they've learned and what they've put into action leading to greater learner application a

Progress Coaching 360 is a dynamic leadership development system that equips managers and teams with powerful coaching skills through a blend of training, real-time practice, peer learning, and feedback. It combines expert-led instruction, a train-the-trainer model, group coaching certification, and monthly coaching pods where leaders practice, share wins, and tackle challenges. With built-in accountability and hands-on application using Coaching Cards and best practice sessions, Progress Coaching 360 turns coaching from theory into action—building a sustainable culture of growth, feedback, and performance.

Progress Coaching 360 teaches leaders how to coach and employees how to develop coachability skills. This unique combination helps build great workplace cultures.

Get More Info Here: https://form.jotform.com/251187914739165

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

When you think about self-awareness. We tend to be creatures of habit. We tend to go about our business and sometimes let's be candid we have people who we don't even know go about their business and don't even realize the impact they have on other people. So I'm about to share two stories. I am not proud of one of them. So the first story is I was driving out of my subdivision of our, where our company is located, and I was driving down the road, I'd say about 75 yards, and someone swerved in front of me to go into a parking lot of a McDonald's, which is really near my office building, and I jammed on the brakes. Things moved all about inside my car and all of a sudden I looked and this person just got out of their car like nothing had ever happened and really almost hit the front of my car and they were in a hurry. I never came to a complete stop and I'm like I'm not a traffic cop, I'm not the one to impose the laws and the rules. Yet I pulled into that parking lot and I confronted the guy. I didn't know who I was going to confront and again, I would not recommend this to anybody, but I looked at him and I go. Are you aware of what you just did? And he kept walking away. So I walked in front of him. I said you're going to listen to me. Did you understand my question? He goes what do you want I go? Do you understand? You almost hit me. What if I were to hit you right now? Are you okay with that? If we're going to put each other at risk, I'd like to participate.

Speaker 1: 2:06

And the guy started to freak out a little bit. I said you're going to kill somebody. Why are you not even acknowledging it or apologizing? He said I'm in a hurry. I said well, guess what, you're not going into McDonald's for 20 minutes because I'm going to stall you, because if you hit my car, I would have been out on the road for two hours, right With cops calling insurance. But you think, because you're in a hurry, everyone should get out of your way. Well, guess what, you're not going in.

Speaker 1: 2:31

By the way, I am not proud to share this story. The guy started to get nervous and I said look, I don't do this. I don't get road rage, but I guess this is it. I want to shove my fists down your throat right now. I'm so angry and I'm not angry that you swerved in front of me. I'm angry because of your demeanor. Right now you don't give a bleep about somebody else, why should I care about you Now? I calmly, finally walked away and as I walked away I could notice he put his hands at his knees and he bent over, almost as if to catch his breath, walked into McDonald's and he sat down. He didn't order, remember, he was in a hurry and I don't think we should confront people like that. But he was never, ever going to be aware. I'm not justifying my behavior. He was never going to be aware. Most people honk, flip the bird and then drive on. I don't know what made me pull in. I've never done it before. I was furious.

Speaker 1: 3:42

The second story is I was at a grocery store. Two people were talking outside the bakery and I wanted to pick up some bakery and I ended up saying to you know, to the two people talking it was almost five minutes I said is someone working the bakery? I said I'm just wondering because I'm in here for a couple minutes, and it was about five, six minutes. They looked down at my watch or my phone and they said yes, someone will be with you in a second. Well, two minutes go by, they conclude their conversation and the woman who's a part of the conversation gets behind the bakery and goes how can I help you? I said, oh, are you working in the bakery? And she said yes. I said, oh, okay, well, you know I'd like the following and I thought to myself that was so interesting, so I asked her. I said can I ask you a question? And I said I'm not mad. I said I just love studying situations and people. I teach coaching and you know why didn't you get behind the counter when you saw me waiting and you didn't even acknowledge that you were the person. When I said is somebody working? And they said somebody will be with you, she looked at me, rolled her eyes and said I was in the middle of a conversation.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Meanwhile, the owner of the store walks by and I look at him. I go hey, I think you've trained your people really well. You know she was in the middle of a conversation. I've been waiting to get one piece of bakery for eight minutes. And I looked at her. I said correct me if I'm wrong, because you were in a conversation. She went red.

Speaker 1: 5:19

Now, both of these stories, I'm not proud of them. I probably have a unique attribute I don't fear conflict. Not a great thing to be proud of, but I knew darn well in both situations. Had nothing happened, their patterns of behavior which, put at least in the first story, puts other people at risk would have continued. I guarantee you that gentleman is not going to cut somebody off for the next 30 days. I guarantee you the lady at the bakery will be a lot more attentive and I looked at her and I remember saying I said look, I'm not trying to call you out.

Speaker 1: 5:59

But I said the fact of the matter is this was not important to you. And I said I get that, I understand that, but I don't have to take it. I can shop anywhere else I want. And I know your first reaction is I don't care, it's not my money. That's the behavior you demonstrated to me and I said so, I'm comfortable with this. You were comfortable letting me wait for eight minutes. I'm comfortable for a minute in front of your store owner calling you out. I hope I haven't offended you Yet. I hope you've learned something. And I proceeded to walk away. I remember the store owner walked out with me and said I'm really sorry about that I'll talk to her and I said look, normally she's very nice, there was something going on there. But I said literally it was eight minutes, and so sometimes we have to do these things, not in the behavior I demonstrated Again for the fifth time.

Speaker 1: 6:52

I'm not excusing my behavior, but I find it so amazing what we do, what we do without being aware of the impact on other people. Now, the eight minutes did not ruin my life. The guy cutting me off, not hitting me, did not ruin my life. Yet those behaviors can be destructive. The person at the bakery is literally telling people, without saying it please shop somewhere else. It's not my money, I don't care if the store goes down.

Speaker 1: 7:25

Now she would never admit that. That's what she's thinking or saying. We all know that. So sometimes we have to hold up a mirror. Yeah, sometimes we've got to hold it close to the face. So again, when you see destructive behaviors, you cannot for lack of better description allow it to continue, but you don't prevent, you permit. Now again, last apology I don't think my behavior is something that should be condoned. I think I was wrong, certainly in the first story, yet not. But. But yet we have to look at situations that allow us to give other people an opportunity to change. Because we are creatures of habit, we have to continue to be aware of our surroundings and our impact on people. We're all guilty of it. I hope this has helped. Let me know your thoughts.