Seminar assignments - The meaning and importance of self- awareness and self- development PDF

Preview

Summary

The meaning and importance of self- awareness and self- development ...

Description

1

The meaning and importance of self- awareness and self- development

1.1 Introduction We usually identify our existence with our position in society, our friends and family, the needs and desires of our body, and the emotional and intellectual expressions of our mind. For instance, we might say ‘ I am a student studying business and management at BMS, I have one brother, and live in Colombo, Sri Lanka. But, we rarely take the time to ask the question, “who am I?” Identifying “who we are’ and ‘why we are here’, simple, knowing one’s self is the key to unlocking the greatest mystery we encounter in life.

1.2 Self- awareness Self- awareness is about discovering our innermost being and is about learning to better understand why we feel, what we feel, and why we behave in a particular way. The more technical definition of self- awareness is “a psychological state in which people are aware of their traits, feelings and behavior”. Alternatively, it can be defined as “the realization of oneself as an individual entity” (Crisp & Turner, 2010). Moreover, as Franzoi states in his book named social psychology, self-awareness is a psychological state in which one takes oneself as an object of attention ( Franzoi,1996, as cited in Cherry, 2016). Further, Daniel Goleman described selfawareness as aware of both our mood and our thoughts about that mood (Goleman.D, 1997 as cited in Smith, 2016). In addition to that, Dubrin defined self- awareness as, "insightfully processing feedback about oneself to improve one’s effectiveness (Dubrin , 2007 as cited in Smith, 2016). As Weisinger wrote high self-awareness enables individuals to observe and monitor their behavior. He sees it as essential to effective on-the-job performance because it enables individuals to appropriately respond to the range of interpersonal interactions that can be

encountered in the workplace, such as angry clients, duplicitous coworkers, and demanding bosses (Weisinger, 1998 as cited in Smith, 2016). 1.2.1 Importance of self-awareness Once we begin to understand this concept then we have the opportunity and freedom to change things about ourselves, we enabling to create a life that we what want. It’s almost impossible to change and become self - accepting if we are unsure as who we are. Therefore, having clarity about who we are and what we want can be empowering and giving the confident to make changes and to build on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we should make improvement. In this way, self-awareness is important because when we have better understanding of ourselves, we enable to experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals. Beside, relationships are easy until there is an emotional contest. This is the same whether we are at work or in our personal life. When we can change the interpretation in our mind of what we think, we can change our emotions and shift the emotional equality of our relationships. When we can change the emotions in our relationships we open up entirely new possibilities in our lives. So then, self -awareness is the first step in creating what we want and it mastering us. It also allows us to see the control of our emotions, behavior, and personality so we can make changes we want. Until we are aware in the moment of the controls our thoughts, emotions, words, and behavior, we will have difficulty making changes in the direction of our life.

1.3 Self -development Self-development is also known as personal development or personal growth. Simply, it will demonstrate to us about the unimaginable power that the thoughts we think have on our reality. In this view, Krauss et al (2010) argued that the success of continuous self- development relies on self-awareness and accurate appraisal of one’ strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, according to Megginson and Pedler (1992), “self-development means that learners take the primary responsibility for choosing what, when and how to learn”. This is implies the freedom of the individual to choose not to develop particular skills, knowledge or career directors at the directive of others. Further Pedler argued self-development as personal development process, with the person taking primary responsibility for diagnosing their needs, setting the goals for learning and development, determining the means, methods, time and place to achieve this, and finally evaluating the results (Pedler et al., 2001). In addition to that, according to Ustun (1998), self-development can be defined, as gaining information needed in person's working life, acquiring new information and skills open to the change, learning for the sake of learning and maintaining all these knowledge, throughout one's life. Sharing the same view, Adair (1988) referred to self-development as the ‚"willingness to assess one's own strengths and weaknesses, and to embark upon programs for improving one’ skills. Meanwhile, London and Smither (1999) suggested that self-development involves ‚"seeking and using feedback, setting development goals, engaging in developmental activities, and tracking progress on one’ own. In sum, people can assess his/ her own strengths, weaknesses and work styles, the more effective training and development interventions will be.

1.3.1 Importance of self- development Personal development begins with self-awareness. Once we have raised our self-awareness, we are clearer on the things we wish to achieve from life. Therefore, decision-making becomes a lot easier. Tasks which used to take a great deal of our time, no longer make it onto our to-do list. We now realize that they do not move us towards our objectives and therefore are not worthy of our time. Not only that, but also in improve focus and effectiveness. Because, if we are clearer on our objectives and we can quickly identify which task will give us the best result with the resources available at that moment. Furthermore, when we know what we want to achieve, it is easier for us to see the benefits of taking action. Even the task is not enjoyable, since we can see a clear benefit, we are more motivated to take the necessary action. There will be tough times in life. When these tough times occur, we need to have the skills and attributes to deal effectively with them. Personal development cannot prevent all bad things from occurring, but it will help us deal with them when they do. We will have greater confidence, resilience, personal and interpersonal skills to cope with any eventuality. Moreover, relationships are a double-edged sword. They either lift up or drag down us. When we improve our personal development, we are better able to see which relationships are worth investing in and which need to be cut loose. We also develop the skills to make the most of those relationships which have the most positive impact on our life.

1.4 Conclusion In conclusion, being aware of our strengths and weaknesses is an important step in understanding what current self -development needs actually are. After that we can implement various strategies to overcome our weaknesses and improve our strengths, in order to survive in the changing working environment. ....