A good first step could be to ask what our brain does when we ask "am I conscious?"

But this is not as good a way to identify "consciousness" as it could be because of question substitution. Just because we can answer the question quickly does not necessarily mean it's easy - it just means we've done something easy in order to answer the question. How do we reduce question substitution? Engage system 2. So maybe a good second step is to ask what our brain does when we write a philosophy paper about consciousness.

Some things we might check on through introspection: plan-making ("I can make choices"), world-modeling ("I know where my keys are"), basic sense constructs ("red sure does look red"), membership in humanity ("humans are conscious by definition!"), emotional state ("I'm bored"). Personally, when doing the quick version of the question, I seem to just answer the question about my senses.