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How to Be a Better Human

How to tap into your self-awareness-- and why it even matters (with Tasha Eurich)

How to Be a Better Human

TED

Emotional Awareness, Personal Growth, Chris Duffy, Education, Interviews, Self-help, Better Human, Self-improvement

4.11.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Imagine someone just pointed out you have something stuck in your teeth. A comment like that would probably make most of us self-conscious, but you’d probably be grateful for the heads up if you were about to head into a meeting. Now imagine that situation but with higher stakes, like your attitude at work or the way you behave with your partner. What would happen if we went through life unaware of how we are perceived? In today’s episode, organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich talks about what self-awareness even is and why seeking out what others see in you can be in your best interest. She also shares exercises to get to know yourself and your values, and why this knowledge is an important part of achieving your goals. Tasha is an executive coach and author of the book “Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We Think” (Currency, 2018). Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. To learn more about "How to Be a Better Human," host Chris Duffy, or find footnotes and additional resources, please visit: go.ted.com/betterhuman

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Ted Audio Collective.

0:02.0

Audio Collective.

0:04.0

You're listening to How to Be a Better Human.

0:10.0

I'm your host Chris Dumpy.

0:12.0

I've heard it said before that we all have a blind spot in our lives that's the

0:15.6

exact size and shape of ourselves. It can be really difficult to see ourselves

0:20.4

accurately or to know how other people see us. I have over the years of doing

0:25.2

stand-up comedy I've noticed that almost every comedian I know has some joke that is about

0:30.7

how they look or how they're perceived.

0:32.7

You know, maybe it's something like,

0:34.2

I know I'm also surprised that I'm a comedian.

0:36.5

Or I'm aware that I look like a dance teacher on vacation.

0:39.9

Okay, but like, regardless of the specific joke,

0:42.9

it seems to me that audiences laugh at that

0:45.0

because they don't expect the comedian

0:47.4

to know so specifically how they come across.

0:50.0

There's something delightful and unusual in actually being self-aware in that really specific way.

0:56.6

And today's guest, Tasha Eurek, she has some fascinating ideas and insights

1:01.0

around what self-awareness means in practice.

1:03.4

And the difference between thinking about yourself versus knowing yourself.

1:07.4

She's even written a whole book about it.

1:09.4

Here's a clip from Tasha's talk at TEDx Mile High.

...

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