| “You can’t intentionally change what you haven’t first learned to notice.” |
How often do we move through life on cruise control—getting things done, meeting obligations, solving problems, and moving from one responsibility to the next—without stopping to ask why we’re doing what we’re doing?
In this episode, Erick explores the power of awareness and why becoming more conscious of what’s happening within us and around us is essential to making better decisions and living more intentionally. Awareness does not necessarily require us to immediately fix something. It begins with simply noticing. When we notice our habits, reactions, environment, and the perspectives of others, we create space between what happens to us and how we choose to respond.
Awareness is the ability to consciously notice and understand what is happening within you and around you.
It means slowing down long enough to ask:
Awareness comes before intentionality. Before we can change a habit, repair a relationship, change direction, manage an emotion, or make a better decision, we first have to recognize what’s happening.
Reading gets us outside of our own heads and exposes us to perspectives shaped by experiences different from our own. You don’t have to agree with everything you read to learn from it. Sometimes the greatest growth comes from encountering an idea that challenges how you currently see the world.
Key idea: Reading expands your world without requiring you to leave the room.
Listening isn’t limited to hearing the person speaking directly to you. Awareness means learning to read your environment. What’s being said? What’s not being said? What’s the mood in the room? Who’s engaged? Who has withdrawn? What seems to be frustrating or energizing people?
The more aware you become of these signals, the better equipped you are to understand the situation before deciding how to respond.
Key idea: Great leaders don’t just know what to say—they know how to read the room.
We often form conclusions about people before understanding what’s really happening. Instead of immediately judging someone’s behavior, create space for curiosity:
Good questions communicate: I’m willing to learn before I decide.
Without awareness, we tend to react: something happens, and we react.
Awareness interrupts that pattern: something happens → we notice → understand → consider → choose.
That space between what happens and how we respond may only last a few seconds, but those seconds can change a conversation, a relationship, a decision—and ultimately the direction of our lives.
Practice three simple habits:
Read more. Listen more. Ask better questions.
“You can’t intentionally change what you haven’t first learned to notice.”
“Awareness comes before intentionality.”
“Awareness creates space between observation and judgment.”
“I’m willing to learn before I decide.”
“Awareness creates choice.”
When we’re unaware, it’s easy to allow life to happen to us. We fall into routines, react to circumstances, do what’s necessary, and operate on cruise control.
Awareness interrupts that pattern. It gives us permission to look around, look inward, and ask: What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Is this still where I want to go?
Sometimes the first step toward rising above the chaos is simply becoming aware of it.