I've found many conversations are also meta-conversations – or should be.
Take the topic of self-awareness.
To optimize my self-awareness I must be consistently self-aware of when I'm not self-aware, or else I will continue to not be self-aware.
This constant self-awareness requires ongoing self-reflection and an intentional willingness to change – sometimes very subtly – my momentum, my energy, my ethos.
For instance, I've noticed lately that I've been trending in a more sarcastic and acerbic direction with some of my written communication.
Not beyond the boundaries of acceptability (for me), but something I'm noticing and want to intercept before I stumble drunkenly down a devolutionary dark alley.
This careful self-analysis and self-awareness may seem minor or insignificant, but without course correction, it's easy to go off the rails.
This isn't about self-censorship or inauthenticity. Just the opposite. It's about actualizing the authentic version of who I am and who I want to be.
I want to be the guy who disrupts the status quo, who has a clear point of view, who has a perspective worth sharing.
The guy who has something to say, who challenges assumptions, who makes people think, who influences the conversation, who builds connections.
I don't want to be an asshole.