Self-Awareness
The ability to correctly identify your own particular emotions as they happen.
What are emotions (or feelings)?
The ability to control impulses and think before acting during a conflict.
What is self-control (or managing impulses)?
Seeking internal rewards rather than just external ones like money or grades.
What is intrinsic motivation (or internal rewards)?
Understanding the emotions of others and reacting appropriately.
What is empathy?
The practice of listening deeply without interrupting a speaker.
What is active listening?
Understanding your personal strengths and limitations and how they affect others.
What are strengths and weaknesses (or limitations)?
This 4-count breathing technique is a common tool for lowering stress.
What is box breathing (or deep breathing)?
The ability to bounce back after a failing grade or a personal setback.
What is resilience?
This type of empathy involves the desire to act on an understanding to help someone.
What is compassionate empathy (or empathetic concern)?
This "Skill" allows you to read the room and adjust your tone in real-time.
What is "reading the room" (or social awareness)?
This practice involving journals or quiet thought helps you recognize emotional patterns.
What is journaling (or self-reflection)?
Being flexible and adapting well to change in difficult situations.
What is adaptability (or flexibility)?
Experiencing this state of being totally in tune with an activity.
What is flow?
Practicing this by imagining yourself in someone else's place during a dispute.
What is perspective-taking?
This percentage of communication is estimated to be non-verbal (body language/tone).
What is 93%? (Based on the Mehrabian rule where 55% is body language and 38% is tone).
A sign of high self-awareness is recognizing these—specific situations or people that cause you to have an instant emotional reaction.
What are emotional triggers?
Daily Double. It is 48 hours before your final group presentation. One member hasn't responded to the group chat in a week but was just seen posting fun photos on Instagram.
Role-play the confrontation. You must use Self-Regulation to avoid an aggressive outburst and start the conversation with an "I-Statement" (e.g., "I feel overwhelmed because...")
High-motivation individuals focus on this—the belief that their abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
What is a Growth Mindset?
Daily Double. Your roommate has left a pile of crusty dishes in the sink for five days, and the smell is drifting into your bedroom. You’ve reached your breaking point.
Use Empathy to start the conversation by acknowledging their busy schedule (e.g., "I know you've had three midterms this week...") before proposing a Social Skills solution like a shared cleaning "zone".
This "Skill" allows a speaker to sense the energy of a group and adjust their tone or pace in real-time.
What is Reading the Room?
Daily Double. You just received a "C-" on a paper you spent 20 hours on. Your professor’s only comment is: "Lacks critical thinking; see me during office hours".
Role-play the office hour visit. You must demonstrate Self-Awareness by acknowledging your initial frustration and use Social Skills to ask "curiosity-based" questions instead of defensive ones.
Taking this specific "timed break" (often cited as 6 seconds) allows your brain to shift from a reactive state to a thoughtful one.
What is a "tactical pause"?
The ability to "bounce back" and maintain optimism even after a failing grade or a major personal setback.
What is Resilience?
This "higher" form of empathy involves not just understanding a person's pain, but having the desire to help them.
What is compassionate empathy?
Daily Double. You’re in a final-round interview for your dream internship. The interviewer looks at your resume and says, "Honestly, you don't seem like a good culture fit for our fast-paced team".
Use Internal Motivation to explain why you are driven by the work itself, and use Social Skills to "read the room" and pivot your energy to match the interviewer’s intensity.