EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

UNIT 2: SELF MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Introduction
Self-management, which is also referred to as‘self-control’, is the ability to control one’s emotions,
thoughts and behaviour effectively in different situations.
This includes motivating oneself, and working towards achieving personal and organizational
goals.
To manage oneself well, a person needs to develop the following.
• Positive thinking: to think that one can get things done and be happy.
• Result orientation: to dream big and achieve the desired or set results.
• Self-awareness: to be aware of one’s personality traits and make the best out of one’s strengths.

Session 1: Motivation and Positive Attitude

Motivation and positive thinking can help us overcome fears and take up new challenges.
Similarly, optimism, which is a mental attitude, reflecting a belief or hope, can lead to positive and
desirable outcomes. It helps us to achieve our dreams, continue working hard towards achieving
success and live a happy life with a positive mindset.

Motivation
Motivation is derived from the word ‘motive’. Thus, directing behaviour towards certain motive
or goal is the essence of motivation. An individual’s motivation may come from within (intrinsic
motivation) or be inspired by others or events (extrinsic motivation).

1. Intrinsic motivation
It includes activities for which there is no apparent reward but one derives enjoyment and
satisfaction in doing them. It occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because
it brings them pleasure. Incentives related to the motive or goal can satisfy one’s needs.
2. Extrinsic motivation
It arises because of incentives or external rewards.
Lack of motivation or incentives may lead to frustration, for example, employees who are kept on
contractual basis for a long time may get frustrated and leave an organisation.

Positive attitude
A positive attitude makes a person happier, and helps build and maintain relationships. It even
increases one’s chances of success. In addition, it can help the person make better decisions.
Positive attitude helps improve mental and physical health.

Ways to maintain positive attitude

Following are some ways that can help one maintain a positive attitude:
• Start the day with a morning routine. Say positive affirmations, smile often and think about
the tasks to be accomplished during for the day.
 • Feed the mind with positivity, read motivating books, listen to music with uplifting lyrics,
watch inspiring movies, etc.
• Be proactive. A proactive person decides how one must feel regardless of what may be
going around or what the day may bring.
• Focus on constructive and positive things. Do not approach life with ‘problems’. Approach
it with ‘solutions’.
• Learn from failures. Think what could have been better and work towards the goals.
• Learn to focus on the present. Negativity mostly stems out from anxiety of the past and
future events.
• Move towards your goals and dreams. Be cheerful and work hard to achieve the dreams.

Techniques to maintain positive attitude

Here are some techniques that can help you to maintain a positive outlook in the long run:
• Physical exercise and fresh air
• Healthy diet
• Organise academic life
• Adequate sleep
• Holidays with family and friends

What is stress and how to manage it?

Stress is a state of feeling upset, annoyed and hopeless. During such times, if we manage and
control our emotions, it helps us to sail through.
By managing stress effectively and maintaining a positive attitude, one can overcome any
challenge and achieve heights in career. Managing stress effectively helps one maintain a healthy
work – life balance.
Some of the ways to manage stress are given below:
• Stay positive and analyse what is going wrong in a certain situation.
• Maintain an accomplishment sheet and enter even small achievements.
• Keep your thoughts in present. Pondering over past issues makes us feel upset and helpless.
• Talk to friends and family for comfort.
• Practise meditation and yoga.
• Whenever you feel negative thoughts are taking over, take a look at your accomplishment sheet.

Session 2: Result Orientation

Result orientation is a term used to describe a person’s ability to recognise what results are
important and the steps needed to be taken to achieve them.
Result orientation describes an individual or organisation that focusses on outcome rather than the
process that has been used to produce a product or deliver a service.

How to become result oriented?

(i) Set clear goals: Setting clear and accurate goals is the first step one needs to take to meet the
targets.
(ii) Prepare an action plan: An action plan gives a detail of the steps to be taken to achieve the
target. Therefore, it consists of several actions or steps that need to be taken, and changes that need
to be made. Each action, step or change should include the following information.
• What changes will occur after the actions?
• Who will carry out the changes?
• When will the changes take place?
• How long will the changes stay?
• What resources are needed to carry out the changes?
• Who should know and what should be communicated?

(iii) Use the right resources and tools: One must evaluate the resources and tools needed to
achieve those results and whether they are available.

(iv) Communicate with mentors and peers: One must talk to teachers, seniors and mentors for
help in setting realistic goals.

(v) Make a calendar: One must make a calendar to monitor the progress at regular intervals.

(vi) Work hard: One must work hard and believe in one’s dreams.

Goal setting
Goal setting helps us to understand what we want, how to achieve it and how do we measure our
success.Writing a goal requires that we should understand its purpose and objective.

To define a goal:
• Identify what the goal is about, for example, customer satisfaction, speeding up the delivery
process, etc.
• How the goal would make a difference? For example, will it enhance customer satisfaction,
will it result in an increase in demand of a product or service, etc.

SMART Goals
Use the acronym SMART to set goals. Let us see what each letter in SMART implies.
S: Specific
Goals should be stated in specific terms. Vague goals are difficult to attain. Specific goals give us
a concrete target. Hence, a goal should have a specific purpose.
M: Measurable Goals should always be measurable. If we do not set our goals in measurable
terms, it is difficult to assess whether we have achieved them or not.
A: Action-oriented
Goals do not just come true on their own. Effective goal setting should include action-based steps
that one will follow to achieve the goal.
R: Realistic
There are few things more damaging to our sense of self-efficacy than setting ourselves up for
failure. Goals must always be realistically attainable.
T: Timely
Goals must have deadlines. However, deadlines may change. But one must always set a deadline
to get the job done within a specified time limit.
Examples of result-oriented goals
Examples of result-oriented goals are as follows.
• A student may set a goal of scoring 100% marks in an exam
• An athlete may run five miles a day.
• A traveller may try to reach a destination city within three hours.

Session 3: Self-awareness

Self-awareness is about understanding one’s own needs, desires, habits, traits, behaviours and
feelings. It plays a critical role in how we understand ourselves and relate to others and the world
around us.

Steps towards self-awareness

1. gaining a greater awareness of one’s emotions
2. making a habit of tracking one’s feelings.
3. expanding one’s practice to areas of life beyond the person’s feelings.

Personality and personality traits

Personality is a cluster of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make a person unique and different
from others.
Personality traits are defined as relatively lasting patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that
distinguish individuals from one another.

Hence, personality development is the development of an organised pattern of behaviours and

attitudes that makes a person distinctive. Personality development occurs by the ongoing
interaction of temperament, character and environment.

One’s personality also affects the person’s relationships with others. A positive personality can
lead to better performance, increased productivity and cordial relationships with others.

Five Factor Model

There are five parameters that describe an individual’s personality. These five dimensions are also
called the ‘Big Five Factors’ and the model is referred to as the ‘Five Factor Model’, which is
abbreviated as FFM.
• Openness: Individuals with openness to experience are, generally, creative, curious, active,
flexible and adventurous.
If a person is interested in learning new things, meeting new people and making friends, and likes
visiting new places, the person can be called open-minded.

• Consciousness: Individuals, who listen to their conscience, are self-disciplined, do their work on
time, take care of others before themselves and care about others’ feelings.

• Extraversion: Extroverts are individuals, who love interacting with people around and are,
generally, talkative.
A person, who can easily make friends and make any gathering lively, is confident and an
extrovert.

• Agreeableness: Individuals having such a trait are, generally, kind, sympathetic, cooperative,
warm and considerate. They accommodate themselves in any situation.
For example, people who help and take care of others are, generally, agreeable.

• Neuroticism: Neuroticism is a trait, wherein, individuals show tendency towards anxiety, self-
doubt, depression, shyness and other similar negative feelings.
People, who have difficulty in meeting others and worry too much about things, show signs of
neuroticism.

Common personality disorders

Personality disorders involve long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviour that are unhealthy and
rigid. A personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling and behaving that deviates from worldly
expectations and causes distress, which lasts over time.

Cluster A: Suspicious
People falling under this cluster always mistrust others and are suspicious, even when there is no
need to do so.
 1. Paranoid personality disorder: Paranoid personality disorder is characterised by distrust
for others, including friends, family members and partners. People with such a disorder
mostly hold grudges against others.

2. Schizoid personality disorder: The term ‘schizoid’ refers to the natural tendency to direct
attention toward one’s inner life away from the external world. A person with schizoid
personality disorder is detached and aloof, and prone to introspection and fantasy. The
person shows little interest in forming personal relationships and seems to be emotionally
cold.

3. Schizotypal personality disorder: People with this type of personality disorder believe
that they can influence other people or events with their thoughts. They often misinterpret
behaviours. This causes them to have inappropriate emotional responses. They may
consistently avoid having intimate relationships.

Cluster B: Emotional and impulsive

This personality disorder is characterised by unstable moods and behaviours, which lead to
unhealthy and unstable relationships, emotional instability and feeling of worthlessness.

1. Antisocial personality disorder: People with antisocial personality disorder disregard

social rules and obligations. They are irritating and aggressive, and act impulsively. They
tend to lack guilt and fail to learn from experience. They may lie, steal or abuse, and may
also get addicted to alcohol or drugs.

2. Borderline personality disorder: People with borderline personality disorder essentially

lack a sense of self-worth, and thus, experience feelings of emptiness and fears of
abandonment. There is a pattern of emotional instability, violent outbursts and impulsive
behaviour. Suicidal threats and acts of self harm are common in people with such a
personality disorder. They may have difficulty in dealing with stressful events.

3. Histrionic personality disorder: People with histrionic personality disorder frequently try
to gain more attention by being overly dramatic. They are extremely sensitive to criticism
or disapproval, and can be easily influenced by others.

4. Narcissistic personality disorder: People with narcissistic personality disorder believe

that they are more important than others. They lack empathy for other people and tend to
exaggerate their own achievements.

Cluster C: Anxious
This personality disorder is characterised by feelings of worry, anxiety or fear, which have the
potential to affect one’s daily routine.

1. Avoidant personality disorder: People with this type of disorder are socially inept,
unappealing or inferior, and constantly fear being embarrassed, criticised or rejected. They
avoid meeting others and often experience feelings of inadequacy, inferiority
orunattractiveness.
 2. Dependent personality disorder: People with such a disorder are characterised by lack of
self-confidence and an extra need to be looked after. They need a lot of help in making
everyday decisions and surrender important life decisions to the care of others. They are
heavily dependent on other people for their emotional and physical needs, and thus,
usually, avoid being alone.

3. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: People with such a disorder strongly stick

to rules and regulations. They can be characterized by a general pattern of excessive
concern with orderliness, perfectionism and attention to details. They feel extremely
uncomfortable when unable to achieve perfection. They may even neglect personal
relationships to focus on making a project perfect.

Steps to overcome personality disorders

• Talk to someone
• Look after your physical health.
• Build confidence in your ability to handle difficult situations.
• Engage in hobbies, such as music, dance and painting.
• Stay positive by choosing words like ‘challenges’ instead of ‘problems’.