Knowing yourself requires effort and commitment; the bad news is that there is no single pill to help everyone obtain it. However, it is always good news; a way to achieve self-awareness is to explore who you are and examine your skills, dreams, emotions, and feelings.

Here is a list of questions that will help you reflect on yourself. 

To answer these questions, I will advise you not to spend too much time thinking about the answer. Instead, write down the first thing that pops up in your mind; it tends to reflect your actual mindset, situation, and beliefs.

1. What am I good at?
2. What am I not that good at?
3. What am I bad at?
4. When am I at my best?
5. What takes my energy away?
6. Who are the most important people in my life?
7. What is the most important thing in my life?
8. How much time do I take for myself?
9. How many hours do I sleep?
10. What causes me stress?
11. What makes me relax?
12. For me, what is success?
13. What motivates me to achieve my goals?
14. What are the things that I value in life?
15. What type of athlete am I?
16. How do I want others to see me?
17. What makes me happy?
18. What makes me sad?
19. What makes me angry?
20. What kind of person do I want to be?
21. What kind of friend do I want to be?
22. How do I want others to remember me?
23. What do I think about myself?
24. What makes me afraid?
25. What makes me confident?

Ok, now that you answered these questions, what next?

Here are some bullet points to help you in this process:

• First, don’t worry about the initial answers you wrote down; there was the first thing that pops up in your mind, and as I said, it tends to reflect your current situation; it doesn’t mean it needs to be your permanent one. Second, when you know about yourself, you uncover valuable and harmful things to your success.
• When you have a better idea of what those valuable and harmful things are, act on them. Do more positive things that make you happy and that help you advance. On the other hand, avoid things that make you sad or angry.
• Don’t take this process too literally. I mean, you will discover things that make you both happy and sad, for example, relationships. It does not mean you should run away from any relationship that involves sadness. However, you can avoid those specific things that make that relationship bad or sad; it can be jealousy, egoism, lack of commitment, etc. 
• Writing down your thoughts is a great way to keep knowing more about yourself. Ask yourself the magic question “why?” of a situation or thought. An example can be: today I am feeling sad. Why? Because my parents did not allow me to take the car. Why? They said it was too late, and I was too tired. Why? Because they care about me.
• Once you start to be more aware of your thoughts, you will also recognize your feelings attached to these thoughts. The next step is to externalize them. The best way to do so is by talking with friends, relatives, teammates, and coaches to discover more things about yourself, and at the same time, you will be able to have feedback. 

What makes self-awareness difficult is the introspection that we must do, and to be honest, we often prefer to lie to ourselves because the truth is scary. 

It is a choice only you can take. Be open and make your life easier, or don’t be honest and deny that significant improvement you can obtain for your life. It is up to you.