The Lost Art of Awareness: How to recognize and respond to your emotions, the emotions of others, the changing situation, and the external environment.

By Edward J. Murphy

This book is about AWARENESS.

Awareness is your ability to recognize and respond to your emotions, the emotions of others, the changing
situation, and the external environment.

It’s also one of these ten core competencies of your effectiveness and success in business:

Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating, Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training,
Motivating and Character-Building.

This book will give you a far better understanding of Awareness, its definition, importance, and how to enhance it.

It’s also your natural connection and affinity with others that helps you better understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Effective people have a natural connection and affinity with others that helps them better understand their strengths and weaknesses and those around them. That special quality is Awareness.

As an executive coach for over 20 years, I know what your boss and customers expect.

By learning, using, and sharing these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the one person who adds the greatest value to the team - making you essential.

Here, you’ll learn how to use the most actionable tactics, techniques, and tools needed to master the Art of Awareness.
Important Notes:

Have you ever struggled with your emotions and the emotions of those around you?

Here are the three most important types of Awareness that will enhance your effectiveness and success at work.

1. Self-Awareness:
Self-awareness looks at what’s going on inside you (your emotions, thoughts, feelings, intellect, instinct, and intuition).

2. Situational Awareness:
Situational awareness involves everything around you (other people, situations, things, places, and circumstances).
This also includes an awareness of your external environment, internal and external politics, social responsibility, and community.

3. Spiritual Awareness:
Spiritual awareness is the realization that there is a power greater than you that created you and everything around you. There’s also a higher purpose for your life – you just need to find it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edward J. Murphy
• Release date: May 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310346552

Edward J. Murphy

Ed Murphy considers himself lucky. From age 7, he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to be a Soldier. In 1964, four days after graduating from High School, he joined the US Army and found himself in Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.A year later, Ed became a Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1970, he graduated as a 2d Lieutenant headed to Airborne and Ranger School, then off to Viet Nam for a year.In 1978, Ed returned to West Point to teach Military Science and earned a Master’s Degree from Long Island University in night school. His greatest achievement during his time in the military was helping 1400 soldiers begin their college education during his last two years in West Germany as a Battalion Commander. He wanted to give his soldiers something of real value - something that no one could ever take away. After 23 years as a US Army Officer, from Viet Nam to Desert Storm, he retired in 1993.Ed then decided, with a little help from Anthony Robbins, that his second career would be as an Executive Coach. For the next 21 years, he worked for four of the largest consulting, outplacement and e-cruiting companies in America from Seattle, San Diego, to Kansas City.In 2012, Ed retired a second time and decided to document everything he learned from those he admired and willingly followed over his 50+ years in both the US Military as an Army Officer and Corporate America as an Executive Coach.Since many of them aren’t alive today to tell their stories, he wanted to pay tribute to them before their lessons were lost forever. Thanks to them, he’s collected thousands of small and simple things (tactics, techniques, and tools) that have helped and will continue to help future generations to maximize their true career potential by becoming more effective at work and in life.In 2014, Ed created TheCAREERMaker.com, a site dedicated to providing the best-in-class wisdom, knowledge, and advice on how to maximize your true career potential by teaching three simple things; how to become absolutely essential and irreplaceable to any leader, how to become more effective tomorrow than you are today, and how to find and build the career you were meant to have. His greatest joy comes from helping others avoid or overcome the problems he’s faced during his lifetime.In 2016, with the help of two partners and co-authors Lee O. Lacy and Jason Bowne, he finally completed The Effectiveness Guide, which teaches how to become more effective tomorrow than you are today by consistently producing excellent results; treating others with dignity, respect, and kindness; and helping others to do the same.Today, Ed considers himself fortunate to get to live in Phoenix, AZ, where he enjoys writing, eating sushi, genealogy, and watching movies with family, friends, and his best friend and wife, Diana.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

"The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power

of contemplation rather than upon mere survival."

- Aristotle

This book is about AWARENESS, which you’ll learn about in the next chapter.

However, before continuing, it’s important to understand that this book is just one of a ten volume set of books that constitute a revolutionary new program called LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE.

It’s a real-world, Leader Training Program designed to help you achieve the effectiveness and success you deserve by mastering these ten core competencies:

Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating,

Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training, Motivating,

and Character-Building.

I’m Ed Murphy, the founder of The Effectiveness Institute and the creator of LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE. 

This training is for you regardless of your occupation,

position, or level of authority.

My goal is to help you rise above the crowd, to be the best at what you do, and to stand out, rather than just fit in.

For my first career, after graduating from West Point, I served 24 years as a US Army Officer, during two wars, Vietnam, and Desert Storm, traveling all over the world. 

After the military, I spent the next 20+ years as an Executive Coach in Corporate America working with hundreds of business executives, small business owners, and teams, in Seattle, San Diego, Kansas City, and Phoenix.

During my career, I was always searching for why some people are more effective and successful than others. 

As a result, I discovered that the most effective people were able to achieve extraordinary success by:

Consistently producing excellent results.

Adding greater value to all those who helped them produce their results- especially their boss.

Treating all those with whom they worked with respect and kindness, regardless of how they were treated.

Currently, I’m the author of over 30 books and create online video training courses on each of the ten core competencies.

I created this special program from all the best practices I’ve learned from the best and brightest people with whom I served over my 77 years on the planet.

What makes LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE so unique is that it provides these three things you won’t find anywhere in academia or corporate America:

First, it gives you the most actionable best practices needed to consistently produce excellent results. 

Second, it teaches the most critical success skills used by the most effective people in their field, which you were never taught in school.

Third, it provides step-by-step instructions for each core competency explaining what should be done, and how to do it, and provides the tools needed to make it happen.

These are all things you can easily learn today and use tomorrow.

I know that as you learn, use, and share what you’ll learn here, you’ll be adding greater value to your boss and team - making you irreplaceable.

Remember, we’re all a work in progress. So, no matter how good you think you are, you can always be better.

Join us and discover why our readers come away saying, "I wish I knew this stuff years ago."

This program is my legacy: to make a difference in some meaningful way to those I must leave behind.

Enjoy the book!

Also, if you feel this information could help someone else, please let them know. If it turns out to make a difference in their life, they’ll be forever grateful to you, as will I.

To your SUCCESS!

Sig 2

Founder of The Effectiveness Institute.

The LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE Series of books is available only from Smashwords.com.

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Stop wishing you were better and do something about it today.

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1

THE ART OF

AWARENESS

"Every human has four endowments (gifts) – self-awareness, conscience,

independent will, and creative imagination. These give the ultimate

human freedom… the power to choose, to respond, to change."

- Steven R. Covey

This book is about AWARENESS.

Awareness is your ability to recognize and respond

to your emotions, the emotions of others, the changing

situation, and the external environment.

It’s also one of these ten core competencies of your effectiveness and success in business:

Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing,

Communicating, Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training,

Motivating and Character-Building.

This book will give you a far better understanding of Awareness, its definition, importance, and how to enhance it.

It’s also your natural connection and affinity with others that helps you better understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Effective people have a natural connection and affinity with others that helps them better understand their strengths and weaknesses and those around them. That special quality is Awareness.

As an executive coach for over 20 years, I know what your boss and customers expect.

By learning, using, and sharing these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the one person who adds the greatest value to the team - making you essential.

Here, you’ll learn how to use the most actionable tactics, techniques, and tools needed to master the Art of Awareness.

Important Notes:

To make this book more useful for, and actionable by, everyone in the workforce, it’s important to point out that I’ll be using the term boss, throughout this book, instead of leader, manager, or employer. 

I do this because,

We all work for a boss, whoever pays us for our work. 

Even if you’re self-employed, or a small business owner, your boss is your customer, client, guest, or patient; whoever pays you for your services. 

I’ll also be using the terms member or team member instead of worker, employee, or associate to reinforce the power of teamwork.

So, let’s get to work!

Have you ever struggled with your emotions and the emotions of those around you?

Here are the three most important types of Awareness that will enhance your effectiveness and success at work.

1. Self-Awareness:

Self-awareness looks at what’s going on inside you (your emotions, thoughts, feelings, intellect, instinct, and intuition).

Murphy’s Law on Awareness:

God gave us toes to help find furniture in the dark.

2. Situational Awareness:

Situational awareness involves everything around you (other people, situations, things, places, and circumstances).

This also includes an awareness of your external environment, internal and external politics, social responsibility, and community.

Awareness demands an understanding of context, accurate assessments of the situation, and the ability to make sense of complex problems.

3. Spiritual Awareness:

Spiritual awareness is the realization that there is a power greater than you that created you and everything around you. There’s also a higher purpose for your life – you just need to find it.

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2

BY REMOVING THE

BARRIERS TO AWARENESS

"The first step toward change is awareness.

The second step is acceptance."

- Nathaniel Branden

Do you know how to identify and remove the most important barriers to your Awareness?

Awareness is your ability to perceive, feel, or be conscious of

events, objects, thoughts, emotions, or sensory patterns.

So, anything that could alter or detract from this ability is the enemy of awareness. Are you aware of what is happening around you? Most people are clueless. They are clueless because of all the distractions they have willingly invited into their daily life. Distractions of any kind are the enemy of awareness.

What are the enemies of Awareness?

Devices.

I went to a family gathering recently and observed something strange. Everyone over 30 years of age was engaged in an actual conversation with another person. Everyone under 30 was sitting quietly on the floor with their nose in some sort of device. I was astonished. Could it be that thanks to cell phone technology, our future generations are losing the fine art of conversation by focusing instead on virtual conversations with their BFFs? OMG! What a shame!

When you’re with others, are you focused on your devices? Whether we like it or not, devices (cell phones, laptops, tablets) are part of our daily lives. However, they can be detrimental to your ability to build lasting relationships.

Here are the most important things to keep in mind:

If with Others: If you're with others, and you’re using any device, you’re ignoring those around you, and that’s how they feel. So, don't be rude, disrespectful, or annoying. Instead, get into them, build lasting relationships, and enjoy yourself.

If in a Restaurant: If you’re in a restaurant, turn your phone to vibrate.  But, what about emergencies? Tell your spouse, kids, and boss, if it’s a real emergency, call you twice, and then you'll answer. Now, put your phone on vibrate and view the number if it vibrates. Don’t accept any calls unless these special people call twice. Problem solved! If you must take the call, get up, leave the group, and talk using your inside voice.

If in a Meeting: If you’re in a meeting, either turn your cell phone to vibrate or leave it in your office. Get involved in the meeting; give your 100% attention and participation. Be a contributor, encourage, and help others. Do everything you can to support the team.

If in your Office: If you're in your office and someone comes to visit, put your cell phone in a drawer and close your laptop. This sends a clear message, I respect you enough to give you my undivided attention. You’re important. Do the same thing in your private life with your friends and especially your spouse and children.

Fatigue.

If you’re tired, your awareness is short, and so is your patience.

Using drugs and alcohol.

If you are under the influence of any drugs (even prescription drugs), your sense of awareness will be altered.

Dwelling on negative emotions.

Chapters 5 through 9.

Not learning from your mistakes and failures.

Learn from your mistakes and get better every day (Chapter 32). And, yes, ignorance can hurt you, but only if you let it. No excuses and no whining! Make the correction and move on.

Complacency.

Complacency will kill your career (Appendix G)! Complacency here means that you’ve stopped moving forward, not challenging yourself, and not being outside your comfort zone. In many cases, this is caused by letting your fear or pride get in your way.

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3

BY UNDERSTANDING

ATTITUDES & BEHAVIORS

People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.

- John C. Maxwell

Attitude is feelings, beliefs, or opinions that you can choose, change, or ignore.

Behavior is an action or reaction that responds to internal or external stimuli and usually reflects your beliefs and attitudes.

Your attitude is your point of view or approval or disapproval

of something that is either