Self Awareness and Personal Development

Objectives

 Understanding Self Awareness & Personal Development

 Improve your self-awareness and reflect on your patterns
 Recognize your current personal development needs and Emotional Well-Being
 Building Effective Relationships
 Be aware of the techniques available to address strengths and weakness
 Be aware of how you can set your goals
 Understand the concept of Adaptability and Resilience
 Why do we react differently to the same situation?

 Why, despite having the same resources we generate

different outcomes?

 Why your message won’t always have the desired effect?

 What is Self-awareness
 Understanding who you really are and why you behave in the way you do.
 Our perception of different aspects of the self including traits, behaviors,
Values, and feelings.
 Assess our own physical, mental, and emotional states.
 Why????
 Objectively evaluate yourself, manage your thoughts, or emotions, and
align your behaviors with your values and internal standards.

 Gain more control and make better decisions

 Be more flexible and confident in our approach

 Interact better, communicate more effectively

 How can we
think about what we do
so that
we achieve success
more consistently
 We have more self-awareness if we can understand is *the correlations* between

Internal patterns of thought Outward patterns of behaviour

 To do that
First let us understand what happens inside the head of every person,
(customer, supplier, or colleague)
Conscious mind vs Subconscious mind
 Examples of Functions
Conscious Mind: Decision-making, details about life, planning, strategy-making, and communication through
language, are some functions performed by the conscious mind.
Subconscious Mind: Breathing and digestion, memory, feelings, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and gut instincts
are some functions that the subconscious mind can control.
 
 Accessible information
Conscious Mind: Conscious Mind does not depend on accessible information. 
Subconscious Mind: Subconscious mind depends on accessible information. For example, a person can walk
down a lane to his home while talking on the phone without the real need to concentrate on where he is
heading to. All this happens, because the directions to his familiar places are stored accurately in the
subconscious mind, which can easily be brought to the level of consciousness if necessary.

 Mental Processes
Conscious Mind: The conscious mind is known to be responsible for one’s awareness of an incident, including
internal mental functions and external happenings. For example, a person can concentrate on the wind blowing
out the window while paying attention to his own pattern of breathing. 
Subconscious Mind: The subconscious mind is not aware of both internal mental functions and external
happenings
Recrossing Arms
• Interpretation of the same information could
be completely different when made by
different people – there is no objective truth.

• It’s all about how we perceive the events,

our constructed reality.

• Anything people say to you doesn't have

meaning except for the meaning you give it.

Change your Internal map (filters), you change the world

This is why You could say the same thing to different people and receive
different responses.

Everyone is right according to their own map of the world.

The communication Model provides a framework to understand,

communicate and influence people.
Now we will help you to understand your
own Internal Map and how it works
How we perceive and Respond to the world around us (The communication Model)
Five Senses:
Filters
Visual

Auditory

kinesthetic
Values
Olfactory
Beliefs
Life Experiences
Memories Gustation
Language
 Deletion: When we perceive information, much of it is deleted

To Subconscious mind
2000,000 bits/Sec
126 bits/Sec

Pros: focus on what needs to be done.

Cons: miss important information, because you focus elsewhere.

It’s an Automatic process. Unlike ignoring

Distortion: when you assume or interpret information,
putting words and labels on an event.

Our negative assumptions will influence how we act.

If you learn to recognize your distortion, you can avoid

jumping to conclusions and make choices.

Give Examples of distortions from your daily life.

Generalization: when you take a small amount of information or number and assume
that the same supposition applies universally.

Positive: “ if I can use one computer, I can use any computer”

“ I did a good presentation today and last week, I am a good presenter”

Negative: “ The last few sales meeting went badly, perhaps I am losing touch”

If you can recognize your disempowering generalization, you will be better able to see
situations and hence respond.

What generalizations you may have made?

NOW, What influences how we filter?

1. Values: what we want/seek, Values tell you who you

are and what is important to you.

• What is important to us in a given situation.

• Everyone has his own set of values that affect his choices.

• Examples: Health, Financial Security, respect, Family,

variety, progression, honesty.

• Values affect the main three filters because if something is

important to you, you will pay attention to it and delete
other information.
2. Beliefs

Mr. Elephant can, but he can’t break loose.

What influences how we filter?

2. Beliefs: those convictions and opinions we hold as being true or false.

We will often filter out (delete, distort, generalize) information that contradicts our beliefs.

Like the elephants, most of us go through life hanging onto a belief system that limits our potential or empowers
us.

Examples of limiting beliefs:

 “ I can’t make a presentation”
 “ salesman does not believe in the effectiveness of his product”
 “ I am not good at math “

“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right”
Henry ford
Now, Do you recognize
some of your limiting
beliefs?
Reframing your limiting
beliefs?
So, To have high self-awareness and be more successful in life you must understand:

 Your internal representation (map) affects your perception, attitudes, and behavior.

 Have a higher understanding of your values.

 Recognize your limiting beliefs and reframe them into empowering ones.

 learn about oneself in good and bad times through reflection.

 Identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through reflection and analysis.

 Identify your aspirations and goals

We will guide you by providing the self-awareness and personal development assessment tools at the
end of this chapter
 NOW after having the Self-awareness and discovery
of:
• Our Internal MAP (perception) of the world, mental
states, and emotions
• Values, beliefs, and behavioral patterns

Let the US Identify our Wtrengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities, and threats.
Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses is an
important step in understanding what your current
personal development needs actually are.

Self-awareness leads to personal development as an

individual has identified their strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis).

Helps you understand what areas need further

improvement, and what assets they might have.

As part of the required self-awareness and personal

development assessment for this chapter, every student
has to complete his own SWOT analysis process.
Under Strengths, you will list particular skills and
qualities you have as an individual Strengths

Examples:
 Word processing skills
 Persuasiveness
 Computer programming
 I have experience in Customer services
 Good with public speaking
 Presentation and communication skills
 I am good at design and decoration
 I have good multitasking skills
 Problem solver
 Good in managing teams
 Good in math
 ………..
Weaknesses, These will include skills you wish to
Weaknesses
acquire and qualities you wish to develop

Examples:
 Too detailed oriented
 Procrastinator
 Sensitive
 Shy
 Saying “no”
 Impatient
 Poor language skills
 Introvert
 Very busy
 Get bored quickly
 ………..
Opportunities will again include resources available to you
Opportunities
so will strongly link to your strengths

Examples:
supportive friends and family
good Internet access
Chance to travel
Available part-time job
Financial support
I am studying in a good school
I have a certain certificate
Teachers are helping and offering support
A scholarship or an opportunity to study in ……..
My field of study is needed and promising
Threats are the factors or obstacles that have the Threats
potential to hinder your progress. They will be linked
to your weaknesses and might include opportunities
you don’t have.

Examples:
High study load
Increased family responsibilities
increasing costs of tuition
Strong competition out there
COVID 19- had an impact on business conducts
Not many jobs in my field
Difficult to get Visa to …
Lack of financial support
Risk of getting rejected
It is Time for Goal setting and our Personal Development Plan
 We simply let life develop around us and take opportunities as they arise.

If you can master the discipline of developing your own life goals, you stand a much
greater chance of achieving them.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

 Why……..?

“The Person who starts out going nowhere, generally gets

there.”
-Dele Carnegie

“ All Good Performance Starts with clear Goals. ”

-Ken Blanchard
 Personal development is an ongoing Process

• Personal development is about developing and improving

aspects you can including areas such as education, motivation,
feelings, health, skills, abilities, and more.

• Life and circumstances are constantly changing.

• It is necessary to continue developing to be able to adapt to

changing situations.

• Personal development requires an individual to set goals

• Different for every individual and it can be tailored to fit

personal circumstances
 
Currently, I am..... In two years, I want

Your Long term Vision

In ten years, I want In five years, I want

In order for personal development to occur, you must
first identify what your personal development
strategies are.
 
There are 3 aspects you need to consider:

1. Your knowledge base

2. Your skills
3. Your attitude
4. Resources
In order to enhance your knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes
to help you develop, you need to consider

Where you are now

Where you want to be.

For example: If you would like to become an accountant within the

next five years but you do not have the required knowledge base then
one of your key personal development needs would be to identify how
you would go about gaining this knowledge.
Personal development needs to identify what
knowledge and how you would go about gaining
this knowledge.

You would probably end up going on a formal

education course.

However, there are other ways

- Work shadowing and placements
- Self-study
- Coaching, mentoring
- Short courses.
knowledge on its own would not be sufficient, you also
need to audit your skill set

Knowledge is a prerequisite for Skill development.

• know what to do and when to do it (this is knowledge)
• However, A gap separates knowing things from
actually being able to do them.

Ex: Driving a Car

you need to undertake a personal audit of the skills that

you need to gain and/or enhance in order to get to where
you want to be.
There are two stages to skill
development, compilation, and
automaticity.

The compilation is the early stages of

skill development, where you are learning
and practicing the skill. You have to think
about what you are doing at this stage.

As you become more experienced you

will eventually start to do things
automatically i.e. without consciously
thinking about it, and this is the point at
which you have mastered a skill
Attitudes

 Attitude is a mental set, a way of thinking and

behaving that makes a person respond in a particular
way to a particular stimulus.

 “For example, some people react negatively when

they receive negative feedback at work, whereas
others take the feedback and respond in a more
positive way”

 Attitudes are often forgotten when people are

thinking about their personal development needs.

 Attitude can set you aside from other people and

give you a real advantage in the workplace
Attitudes
 The more positive your attitude, the more productive you tend to be, and the more people
are likely to want to be around you.

 Developing attitudes generally takes longer and cannot be ‘taught’. Attitudes tend to
develop over time in response to experiences and environments we find ourselves in.

 One question to ask yourself is whether or not you think you can develop your attitude?
Resources
Once you’ve thought through the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes you need to succeed. Here are a
few examples of resources that can be relevant to your professional development:

• Seminars, webinars, or workshops that elevate your skill set

• Learning and development resources that can advance your knowledge

• Professional networks that connect you with new peers or mentors

• Continuing education institutions that provide you with the degree you need for your promotion.

• Social media platforms, like LinkedIn, where you can connect with your virtual team outside of work

List all the resources you can think of and then narrow them down to the ones that align best with your
strategies and goals
Now, Complete the self-awareness assessment by addressing the
development goals that will enable you to achieve your vision

Let us start with Your 2 years Vision: …......

Aspirations/goals Action Plans
1.
Knowledge  

Skills  

Attidues  

Resources  

At least you have to finalize your goals for your two years and five years vision