There is one major problem with developing your own awareness: it doesn't happen automatically. The outside world is distracting – you could spend your entire time occupied with it. You might feel the pressure to be constantly busy, and for sure most people don't have a lot of time built into their day for stopping and taking time to reflect.

The result is that you probably spend most of your time each day on automatic pilot. You are pulled from one thing to the next – emails, a team member in need, a ticket – without ever stopping to breathe. In this situation, there is no chance to develop the kind of awareness that might prevent issues from arising in the first place. You never have the chance to build a better set of tools to deal with them.

There are many approaches to developing awareness, from...