Hi! 🙋🏻‍♀️ Long time no see! I returned to AWS after maternity leave a month and a half ago. It was challenging to find time for Substack while onboarding. But I’m back with a lot to share!
How are you doing with your self-awareness and self-management practices? This post also has 🎁s for you, and an invite to our new Discord server. On Discord, it will be easier to share our journey. The more people who join, the more we will learn from each other, so don’t forget to click 💖 or share this newsletter with your friends!

What You'll Learn:

💡 The importance of self-assessment in owning your career and thriving as a leader.
💡 How to use self-assessments to define your career path and leadership vision.
💡 Practical steps to conduct meaningful self-assessments and what to do with your discoveries.

Tasks for the Week:

☑️ Introduce self-assessment to your self-management reviews.
☑️ Fill the Wonderlead personality sheet with your discoveries.
☑️ Own your career by testing the uncertainties found in your self-assessments.

Assess YourSelf and Discover Your Why

Through self-assessments, we understand better our needs and feelings. This self-awareness eases our success as leaders because by knowing our why, we can redefine our career and share it with the people who will help us to make the next steps.

In my team, we get 360 feedback twice a year. I always took it seriously and dogged into the root causes and patterns to improve my leadership style. I was conscious that the person I think I am, might not be the person perceived by others. And until I self-assessed myself, I didn’t really understand me and all my decisions. By knowing my strengths, limits, and values, I could better understand my past choices. Through self-assessments, I also identified hidden values that were holding me back. Knowing my core values and identifying how to balance them gave me freedom to become the person I envisioned.

“We armored up and at some point that armor no longer serves us. It's keeping us from being seen and known by others. What we thought protected us, keeps us from being the partners, the parents, the professionals, the people that we want to be.” — Brené Brown

Harsh or unfair feedback as well as past experiences created vulnerability armors in my mind that blocked my growth. I still remember situations where some people made me invisible or gave me unfair feedback about my accent. The shields I made up over time prevented me from focusing on what mattered. They affected my communication, and I couldn't completely connect with some colleagues. At the moment I dropped my armors and was true to my core values, I became more empathetic, authentic, and familiar. These changes increased the team's psychological safety which made people feel more empowered to take risks and be open with others.

What is self-Assessment?

Self-assessment is a process of introspection where we evaluate ourselves and our actions. It helps us to identify our own values, skills, qualities, and achievements. With this analysis we get to understand our beliefs, feelings, strengths and areas for improvement.

Why knowing our why helps to succeed?

Knowing our values is a powerful tool for self-discovery and growth. Because our values represent what truly matters for us and guide our beliefs, decisions, and actions even when we are on autopilot. By using self-awareness and introspection, we can control our actions better and align what we do with our core values and strengths, with our why. Aligning with our why, our job organization values, and ethical values increases our motivation and happiness. Using our superpowers and values as a compass helps to get a greater sense of fulfillment and purpose. And with all these advantages, it is easier to succeed.

But there are values that aren’t meaningful. They are called junk values. They were imposed in our childhood, by traumatic events, or by society, and have a negative impact in our wellbeing. We shouldn’t follow them, but it requires effort and persistence. And we will fail to avoid them; at those moments, I practice self-compassion and patience.

For being able to assess ourselves and align with our values for success at the workspace, we need to be emotionally intelligent leaders. We need 1) self-awareness and 2) self-management to keep using our core values and to improve our strengths.

How do I assess myself?

During your self-management review sessions, choose an aspect and dive deep into your preferences. Ask questions and answer them with honesty. Another way to do assessments is to do quizzes on the internet. During the process, track your answers in the Obsidian Vault I shared with you in my last post or in your own note taking tool.

Complete a personality sheet with your self-assessments output.
🎁Download it for free this week, later it will be available through referrals.
In the sheet, you will find different quizzes that you can try. They will help you to identify your personality type, strengths and tendencies.

However, we don’t figure out answers to all our questions through introspection, going with our gut, or quizzes. Instead, think like a scientist. During these sessions, take notes, identify SMART goals you might want to pursue, and clarify your key uncertainties. Afterwards, investigate those uncertainties by doing research and easy experiments. In your experiments, collect data at least for 1-2 weeks. And take note of the activity, feeling, and time spent.

Why does self-assessment matter for my career?

Because personal fit is the most important ingredient for succeeding at a job. It multiplies career impact and capital (skills, knowledge, and credentials). But it can take years to find your fit, and even you might never be certain about it. I am not. For that reason, don’t wait to make the perfect career decisions. Instead, make a career growth plan with steps to remove the uncertainties found during your self-assessments.

Start by making some best guesses about which career/project could be a good fit. If you find uncertainties during your assessments, then start making cheap experiments. Define a sequence of tests, starting by interviewing people and doing short real tasks. After your research and after small tests, treat taking new jobs as experiments. Aim high and be ready to quit if something is going so-so rather than great. With your career plan, the journey towards your dream job and becoming an exceptional leader will be easier.

You’re not alone. I applied these tips, and I am applying them as I write this post. In upcoming posts, we will dive deeper into our dream job and career growth plan. Additionally, will contribute with a guest post. She will share her learnings about her career move from engineering director to product director. The guest posts in the Discovery track will help to learn about other roles and what drove wonder leaders to make their bold career transitions. We hope to help you in your discovery research!

My Recommendations

Books

• The Power of vulnerability — Brené Brown, my life changing audiobook.

• Mindset: The New Psichology of Success — Carol Dweck. From my ToRead list.

• Designing Your Life — Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. From my ToRead list.

Other Substacks related with Self-Assessment and Career

1. Sharing My Portfolio Career — .

2. How to set proper boundaries — .

3. 9 Simple Actions You Can Take to Build a Culture of Empathy — .

4. Become the engineer everyone wants to work with — and .

Hi! 🙋🏻‍♀️ It’s great you decided to embark on the journey to become an exceptional leader.
I’m so happy you joined! Did you introduce yourself in the chat? We are looking forward to meeting you. Also, don’t forget to share this newsletter with your friends.

What You'll Learn:

💡How important it is to define a plan for succeeding in this era of constant change.
💡What self-awareness is and why it's the first critical skill needed for the plan.
💡How self-awareness and emotional intelligence (EI) are essential for leadership.
💡How to become self-aware.

Tasks for the Week:

☑️ Start journaling by identifying your emotions and reflecting on them.
☑️ Reflect on the important things you've had to let go of.
☑️ (Bonus) Spend 3 minutes per day doing breathing meditation.

Plan with Your Heart

(5 minutes read)

We used to only rethink our career paths in our 30s, 40s, or 50s. However, the tech sector has been impacted by significant changes in the past few years. From the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing remote work debate, to the rapid adoption of AI — we as employees have been constantly reevaluating our priorities and career trajectories.

It reminds me of the Dotcom Bust of 2001. Back then, I was juggling around 5 different website projects, the university, and an internship. I was constantly taking and dropping challenges without considering if they truly aligned with my passions. And I kept doing the same for years. Looking back, I realize that I lost sight of my "why" — I was just checking off a list of goals without any real self-awareness.

“We don’t know how time and circumstances will change what we want and even who we want to be, and locking our life GPS onto a single target can give us the right directions to the wrong destination.” — Adam Grant

Recently, during the pandemic, I decided to buy land in Spain and move out of Berlin to work fully remotely. This decision will have a major impact on both my career and my personal life. But this time, I will have defined a career plan grounded in self-awareness — one that will allow me to take calculated risks without losing sight of my own aspirations. This plan isn't a rigid script, but rather a flexible mechanism that I'll continuously review and adapt as we navigate the hectic changes in tech.
It's the compass that will guide me to thrive as an exceptional leader.

Do you want to be a better leader and are you considering a change? We do too.
Discover, plan and thrive as leader in your career with WonderLead insights and community!

Subscribe now

”They’re planning their next career step, and understanding the trends at work is helping them to make more considered decisions” — The Pragmatic Engineer.

Why planning our leadership career with self-awareness?

Defining our trajectory towards thriving leadership is not easy. And often, the biggest barrier is ourselves — our own self-sabotaging thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours that undermine our confidence and decision-making. Self-awareness is the foundation upon which we can listen to our emotions, reflect on our experiences, and make intentional choices that, in this case, will propel us towards our aspirations. It's the first critical step in crafting an effective career plan — one that allows us to shed the job titles, beliefs, and opinions that keep us playing it safe, and embrace the vulnerability required to take the next bold step.

"You don't have to believe your thoughts." — Daniel Goleman

What happens if I don't have self-awareness?

Without self-awareness, our actions become reactionary, driven by unconscious biases, emotional triggers, and limiting beliefs. This can severely impact our leadership effectiveness, leading to emotional outbursts, impulsive decisions, and difficulty empathizing with others. We risk making choices for our plan that don't align with our values and goals.

How can I cultivate self-awareness?

Cultivating self-awareness is an ongoing journey, but it's essential for thriving as a leader in tech. By naming and understanding our emotions, we gain invaluable insights into our motivations, triggers, and blind spots. And by embracing self-reflection, we can make choices that align with our authentic selves and lead with greater intention and impact.

How do I start practicing self-awareness?

Begin by using a journal or the How We Feel app to deeply explore the emotions you experience throughout the day. At the moment you feel an emotion, dive into what situations or thoughts triggered those feelings from the present or past. Use this as a personal reflection tool, and watch as your self-awareness grows, empowering you to become the exceptional leader you aspire to be.

Reflect on the things you've had to let go of that you now regret. List the important matters you had to stop doing, and note the emotions you feel when thinking about each one. Then ask yourself: Why did you have to let these things go? What was the challenge for you? Do you still regret those decisions? What would you do differently now? This exercise will shed light on your values, priorities, and areas for growth, which will be useful in the upcoming posts.

(Bonus Activity) Find breaks of 3 minutes every day and do breathing meditation.

Remember to focus on your strengths.

When the self-sabotaging thoughts or criticisms arise, pause, listen to your emotions, and let them go. Take control of your behaviour and focus on your strengths.

Ultimately, self-awareness is the compass that will guide you on your leadership path. It's the key to thriving in the ever-changing tech landscape, embracing vulnerability, and making choices that propel you towards your vision. So start your self-discovery today - the exceptional leader you aspire to be is waiting.

My Recommendations

Books

1. Working with Emotional Intelligence — Daniel Goleman.

2. Mindset — Carol S. Dweck.

3. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know — Adam Grant.

Other Substacks from the Week

• What is Old is New Again —The Pragmatic Engineer.

• My solution to any trouble, any loneliness — The Quiet Life.

• The Most Efficient Way to Land a Better Job at One of the World's Top Tech Companies — Level Up by Ethan Evans.