What does it take to be successful?

The ability for someone to be successful stems from many things.  Recently, I have had students mention to me they don't really care to participate in school and what does school do for me?  It is because of these comments that I have decided to list some of the competencies I believe make someone successful.  Some of these are things you learn outside of school, others are learned through personal interactions, some are difficult to understand, but they are all very important when we look at success and qualities of leadership.
This post will focus on being self aware or having self-awareness.  Self-Awareness refers to knowing one's internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions.  When we look at self-awareness, it is important to understand three parts:  Emotional Awareness, Accurate Self Assessment, and Self-Confidence.
Within Emotional Awareness is the ability to recognize your emotions and their effects.  It is important to understand how we are emotionally and how they not only affect ourselves, but also those who we have contact with.  Think about the last time you were in a great mood, everything was great, the people around you were in great moods.  Were you aware of what changed this mood to a bad mood?  Did you have the awareness to maintain a positive mood throughout bouts of difficulty?  This part of self-awareness places the responsibility on each of us individually to understand why things happen around us.  Think of a time when you were angry, upset, or things weren't going your way, could providing a different outlook have changed how things were following this unfortunate moment?  We must understand what we do and how we act affects how others around us feel and act, sometimes we need to look at ourselves and develop an understanding to see other points of view, or a more positive outlook on our own lives.
I leave you with this:  We are the only ones who dictate what type of mood we are in, if we develop a positive mood others around us will also develop this positive mood.  We need to recognize our emotions and their effects.  It is okay to have bad days, but we must understand how we approach those days and how they can affect us in many many ways.