What is the difference between a life worth living and living a life worth living? The answer is, of course, ‘a little of both.’ But that’s not the whole answer. The other half is what we label as ‘self-awareness.

If you understand the concept of self-awareness then you’ll realize that a person with self-awareness is able to exercise a little meta-cognition and say, “Hmm… every time my sister calls me and asks for money, I end up drinking a lot of vodkas. That might not be a coincidence,” a person without self-awareness just hits the bottle and doesn’t look back.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t that just what I do all the time?” Not really.

We actually see this in our everyday lives. When we have a conversation with someone we don’t realize we’re talking to a person who’s not really there. At least when you are aware of it, you can change the conversation to suit you. If you don’t realize it, you can go back and forth like a bad joke and you’ll find someone who actually is there. For example, I’m talking to a friend on Skype and I realize that I’m actually talking to my brother.

The most common reason for this is the same one I mentioned: we get distracted. When we’re not looking, we lose track of time. But in reality, when we are distracted, we generally can’t focus on what we’re doing (which is what we’re doing right now). The solution is to simply get out of the way.

Thats why I said getting distracted is the most common reason for this. So when you are being distracted and you are not even aware of it, you cant really blame it on anything. We just do things in a way that is so habitual that we dont even realize we are doing it.

Getting distracted is also a major reason why we all miss out on some crucial information. When are going through the motions, we forget some important things. We get distracted. So the solution is to get out of the way and focus on what are doing right now.