Self Development & Assessment-Chapter 6

• Change
• Grow
• Persist
• Prioritize
• Read
• Learn
• Listen
• Record
• Remember
• Asses
• Think
• Communicate
• Relate
• dream
 Change
“If you do not create change, change will create you.” ~Unknown
We are often resistant to change, and we don’t realize that change itself is
constant.
Even if you resist or avoid it, it will enter your life just the same. When you initiate
the change yourself, it’s pretty easy to adapt to it, since it’s a wanted one.
But are the unplanned and unexpected changes bad? What if all changes were
good by default?
I have been embracing change since a young age. During my life I have lived in
five countries and in over twenty-five apartments, changed five schools and
about five different careers.
At first it is a bit difficult and annoying, but after a while you get used to the change
so much that if it doesn’t come for a while, you end up moving the furniture at
home in order to feel something changing.
 Change
Changes connected with moving from country to country impacted my personality.
Thanks to them I became more flexible and open-minded. Now I understand cultural
differences and appreciate diversity.
Each of the career shifts brought knowledge and new experiences. As a result, apart
from the professional experience I learned how to resolve conflicts with difficult
colleagues and how to work with unbearable bosses.
Career related changes brought self-confidence. All those changes led me to the
realization of what I wanted to do with my life.
The biggest change in life occured when I got married. The change brought love,
peace, and comfort into my life. As a result, a new me was born—me being a wife,
mother, and happy woman.
Finally, the big change I initiated by quitting a good job and embracing the passion of
writing made me truly happy and satisfied.
In general, when looking back, I realize that all the good things in my life are the
results of changes that occurred in the past.
People usually avoid changes and prefer to stay in their comfort zones, but I am true
believer that once you get the courage and take the first step to change, your life will
become much better.
 Benefits of Change
1. Personal growth
• You grow and learn new things every time something changes. You discover new
insights about diffferent aspects of your life. You learn lessons even from changes
that did not lead you to where you wanted to be.
2. Flexibility
• Frequent changes make you easily adapt to new situations, new environments, and
new people. As a result you do not freak out when something unexpectedly shifts.
• 3. Improvements
• We all have things in our lives we’d like to improve—finances, job, partner, house,
etc. All of us know that nothing will improve by itself. We need to do things
differently to make that happen. Without change, there’d be no improvements.
• 4. Life values
• From time to time changes make you re-evaluate your life and
look at certain things from a different perspective. Depending on what the change is,
it may also reinforce your life values.
• 5. The Snowball effect
• Often we give up because we cannot accomplish the difficult task of making a huge
and immediate change. That is when small changes become extremely valuable. One
shift at a time, small changes will eventually lead you to the desired big one.
 Benefits of Change
• 6. Strength
• Not all changes lead you to pleasant periods of life. Unfortunately we do not live in
fairy tale and sad things happen, too. Overcoming the tough period will make you
stronger.
• 7. Progress
• Changes trigger progress. Things move forward and develop because of the them.
• 8. Opportunities
• One never knows what each change may bring. When you turn from your usual
path there will be plenty of different opportunities waiting for you. Changes will
bring new choices for happiness and fulfillment.
• 9. New beginnings
• Each change is a turning page. It is about closing one chapter and opening another
one. Changes bring new beginnings and excitement to life.
• 10. Routine
• Remember the movie Stranger than Fiction? The main character Harold Crick does
the same things in exactly same time for years. He leads a completely dull,
extremely predictable, and uninteresting life. That is how your life would be
without changes.
 professional growth
• What do professional growth and personal
development mean?
• Professional growth is all about gaining new skills and
experience. That means your development is either
related to your current role or the role you want to do
next.
• Personal development fits alongside professional growth
— so if you want to progress in your career, you’ll need
to develop personally first. That’s the only way you’ll be
able to handle your fears, take on more responsibility,
and succeed with greater challenge
5 ways to manage your personal and professional Growth

1.Set a clear goal about what you want to achieve

Once you have a clear goal, you’ll find it easier to manage your
personal and professional development. You’ll be able to choose
the training that stretches you personally and gives you the
experience you need to grow professionally.
2.Be intentional and plan your development
One of the best ways to develop yourself and your career is to
ensure you keep learning. Work out a training plan for each year
and aim to complete at least one piece of significant training each
quarter.
• If your employer only pays for training that gives them a return
on their investment, you may need to pay for it yourself.
 5 ways to manage your personal and
professional development Growth
3.Look for and take the right opportunities
• Training isn’t all about the learning. You also need to find opportunities
to use your new knowledge and skills. But not all opportunities will be
right for you and may not fit your personal brand, so choose carefully.
4.Discuss your career plans with your manager
• When it comes to personal and professional development, it helps if
your manager is on board with your career plans. Since your manager
will be signing off on your training, select the right one to take on new
projects when those chances appear.
5.Set goals and measure your progress
• The best way to manage your development is to ensure you go
through a regular process of planning, taking action and reviewing
your progress. You’ll be clear about how you could improve your
performance while seeing beyond day-to-day frustration.
 Persist
• It means to continue in an opinion or course of action in spite
of difficulty or opposition. Persistence is a
very important trait to develop in life because it is intimately
interlinked with ones own personal development and self-
improvement. You will only get better in life by failing at
things, learning from those experiences and moving on The
importance of persistence in life is defined as continuing to
move on with whatever goal has been planned originally even
though an external event or initial losses may have slowed
down, or temporarily halt a person while the person is on the
way towards achieving their goals. It requires a person to
continue keeping their
mental attitude positive no matter what happened.
 The Importance of Setting Priorities
• It means determine the order for dealing with (a series of items or tasks)
according to their relative importance.
• Usage-"the department has failed to prioritize safety requirements”
• With more tasks to do, non-stop emails, and higher expectations, deciding
what deserves your attention can quickly become overwhelming.
• However, mastering prioritization can change your life. Knowing your priorities
reduces stress, helps you focus and ignore can improve productivity and
time management, and even help with work-life balance as you create better
boundaries for your workday.
• Once you know how to prioritize your tasks and your time, you realize that
much of the work that felt urgent doesn’t really need your attention. At least
not right away.
• But while the elements of prioritizing your work are simple (i.e. Know what
tasks need to be done and rank them by importance), it’s far from a simple
exercise.
• When priorities are piling up, you need a clear system in place to take you
from overwhelmed to under control. In this guide, we’ve collected the best
strategies on how to prioritize your daily tasks, optimize your time, and focus
on the work that matters most.
• 1. Capture everything on a Master List and
then break it down by monthly, weekly, and
daily goals
 Read
1. Mental Stimulation
• Studies have shown that staying mentally stimulated can slow the progress of (or possibly
even prevent) Alzheimer’s and Dementia,[1] since keeping your brain active and engaged
prevents it from losing power.
• Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and
healthy, so the phrase “use it or lose it” is particularly apt when it comes to your mind. Doing
puzzles and playing games such as chess have also been found to be helpful with cognitive
stimulation.
2. Stress Reduction
• No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless
other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A
well-written novel can transport you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract
you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to
relax.
3. Knowledge
• Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it
might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle
any challenge you’ll ever face.
• Additionally, here’s a bit of food for thought: should you ever find yourself in dire
circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your
possessions, your money, even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.
• 4. Vocabulary Expansion
• The more you read, the more words you gain
exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way
into your everyday vocabulary.
• Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in
any profession, and knowing that you can speak to
higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous
boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your
career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and
knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get
promotions more quickly (and more often) than
those with smaller vocabularies and lack of
awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs,
and global events.
. 5.Memory Improvement
• When you read a book, you have to remember an assortment of
characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as
the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through every story.
That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can
remember these things with relative ease.
• 6. Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills
• ability to analyze details also comes in handy when it comes to critiquing
the plot; determining whether it was a well-written piece, if the
characters were properly developed, if the storyline ran smoothly, etc
• 7. Improved Focus and Concentration
• In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time
between working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of
people (via gchat, skype, etc.), keeping an eye on twitter, monitoring their
smartphone, and interacting with co-workers. This type of behaviour
causes stress levels to rise, and lowers our productivity.
• When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the
rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every
fine detail you’re absorbing.
• 8. Better Writing Skills
• This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary:
• Exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing,
as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will
invariably influence your own work.
• 9. Tranquillity
• In addition to the relaxation that accompanies reading a good book, it’s possible
that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and
tranquility.
• 10. Free Entertainment
• Though many of us like to buy books so we can annotate them and dog-ear pages
for future reference, they can be quite pricey.
 Lifelong Learning

• Lifelong learning does not necessarily have to

restrict itself to informal learning, however. It
is best described as being voluntary with the
purpose of achieving personal fulfillment. The
means to achieve this could result in informal
or formal education.
 Listen

• The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear

communication is necessary for management success.-James Cash Penney
• What is Active Listening?
• Active listening is when you are fully aware and concentrate on what is
being said rather than passively hearing what the speaker is trying to
convey.
• The goal of active listening is to acquire information, listen to understand
people and situations before responding to it. It is the conscious decision to
listen carefully and understand what people are trying to convey without
being judgmental.
• The listening ability can vary from person to person. But the good part is
that it is a communication skill and can be acquired with time and patience.
It is about focus and understanding and looking at things from different
perspectives for the greater good.
 Basic Skills: The 3 A’s of Active Listening

• Learning practical listening skills is not easy. Like any other

skill, one must sincerely understand the dos and don’ts of
listening and act accordingly to become a better listener. The
first step is to understand the basic listening skills, the three
A’s
• 1. Attitude
• Attitude is a feeling of emotion that comes from
understanding that we must be respectful towards what
others say about a fact or state. Also, understanding that we
all can learn something new from others even if we have
strong beliefs or feelings prior to the topic. When we respect
everyone, we tend to look beyond our preconceived notions
and become better listeners.
• 2. Attention
• To be a good listener, we must have good
attention. But it is easier said than done. Many
of us have less attention span, or we tend to
distract away easily. If that is the case, you must
practice some exercise to help you hold your
attention to the speaker. Mind games or puzzles
that keep your attention are great to start with.
Meditation is one more important tool that
helps us retain our focus and full attention.
• 3. Adjustment
• Adjustment in listening is nothing but keeping an
open mind. To follow what the speaker conveys,
even if that is difficult for you to grasp or hold no
meaning. Often we listen to great leaders
speaking about business or life in general. If the
topic of discussion steers in a monotonous
direction, we tend not to adjust but daydream.
When we keep an open mind and ready to invest
our time, we adapt to the situation and, in the
end, become a better listener.
 Few More Important Active Listening Techniques and Skills

• 4. Face the speaker

• facing the speaker or maintaining eye contact is a primary aspect of effective
communication? Nobody wants your divided attention while they are speaking to
you, be it your friend or colleagues. If you are scanning the room or busy with your
phone while talking to someone, you give them a signal that you don’t value their
time, and it is disrespectful.
• 5. Use your mind
• It is often difficult to focus your mind on the speaker, and we all have been there.
Use your mind in such a situation and create a literal picture and abstract concepts
to keep you focused. If it's a lengthy business meeting or a seminar, try to focus on
the key points and make mental notes. Your mind will do it for you; just allow it to
act and be present.
• 6.Don’t Interrupt
When you interrupt during a conversation, you subconsciously tell the speaker that
your voice is more important and relevant. Interrupting is not only rude but self-
righteous. At times you may have to interrupt the speaker if you are bothered or have
a question in your mind, but make sure to do it politely
 Record
• Keeping accurate and up-to-date records is vital to the success of any
business. The business must realise that records kept will be one of the
most important management tools it possesses and, therefore, it should
be allocated due importance. Many business owners invest a lot of time
and effort into the running of their business and yet fail to realise the
importance of maintaining good documentation. The business owner is
looking for the maximum return from their investment and the
maintaining of good records is part of that equation. For the business to
achieve its success and profit, it is necessary for the scores to be kept, as it
were. Keeping records is really like score keeping - if you went to a
football game where no one kept the score, you would have to ask
“what was the point of that whole exercise?” By keeping the score you
are able to work out who is winning and whether you are winning at all.
Many people do not know the "current score" of their own business
because they have failed to realise the importance of keeping good and
adequate records. Any record keeping system should be accurate, reliable,
easy to follow, consistent as to the basis used and be very simple. Good
record keeping is vital in regards to meeting the financial commitments of
the business and providing information on which decisions for the future
of the business can be based.
 How will Record keeping help you?

• Assists you in preparing your financial statements quickly and accurately.

• Provides information to enable the control of cash in the business.
• Provides management information to base business decisions on.
• Contributes promptly to assessing the financial situation of the business at any time.
• Saves a lot of time and effort.
• Keeps a good track of the costs of staff and their performance.
• Measures the business performance against the projections that were originally set down
in the business plan.
• Highlights quickly areas where problems could arise and enable remedies to be put in
place.
• Fulfils the obligations as to taxation law.
• Assists you in calculating how much tax you have to pay.
• Assists in providing information required by your bankers.
• Helps in detecting thefts within the business itself.
• Provides valuable information and details for the future sale of your business where that
is required.
• Increases the chances of the business operating and achieving success.
 Asses
• Career assessments are designed to discover the
skills, aptitude and talents of candidates. A self-
assessment can be a useful tool in assessing the
areas in which a candidate has strengths and
limitations. The results can be useful in helping
candidates to choose a career that is in tune with
their goals and talents. While the validation of each
instrument may vary from test to test, overall these
types of assessments have been proven to introduce
more career options, increase satisfaction in one’s
career plan and increase the understanding of
oneself
 Think
• Here are some ways to improve your critical thinking
skills:
• Keep the goal in mind
• Know your biases and try to look past them
• Ask questions and gather information
• Evaluate the facts of the situation and all available data
• Collaborate and get feedback from others—especially
people with different backgrounds to your own
• Generate possible solutions, particularly out-of-the-box
ideas
• Consider the short- and long-term consequences of
implementing each solution
 Communicate
• It can ensure you pick the right communication method for your audience
• It is seen as a desirable skill by employers
• It can help avoid misunderstandings
• It will help you work effectively in a group
• It can inspire others
• How to develop your Professional Communication skills?
• Ask for feedback
• Learn from others
• Work on your active listening
• Study a professional communication course
 Relate
• Having a good relationship with those that you report to and work with, is important.
• Keeping your head down, not causing any conflict with others, and getting your
responsibilities done is not a relationship.
• To name a few, open communication, feedback, trust, mindfulness, and mutual respect
are characteristics that define a healthy working relationship. Healthy, working
relationships can make your work life a lot easier and more enjoyable.
• When you’re happy at work, you’ll be happy outside of work, therefore the benefits are
endless. According to a study done by Gallup, people who have a friend at work are seven
times more likely to be engaged in their jobs.
• Given the ample amount of time employees spend together, the development of good
relationships can increase employee morale and productivity in the workplace.
Conversely, a firm and unfriendly environment will have the opposite effect.
• Although we are social beings that crave friendship and positive interactions, there will
always be those that we don’t necessarily get along with. While there are
many ways to improve relations with coworkers, it can all be avoided if we were more
watchful over our words and actions.Our words and actions have the greatest potential to
damage our careers and relationships.
• For the sake of work, it’s best to maintain a professional relationship with everyone you
come in contact with.
 Dream
• 1. The secret of living is giving. If you follow your dreams, you
will have something worth sharing with others: hope,
inspiration, and purpose.
• 2. Dreams inspire us to be hopeful and young-at-heart.
• 3. Great dreamers are independent. They understand they
have power within them to make a difference in the world.
• 4. Dreams fill you with a positive perspective. Negative drama
is obsolete when you are passionate about following your
dreams.
• 5. When you pursue your dreams, you understand failure leads
you from where you are to where you want to go.
• 6. Dreamers understand that age irrelevant.
• 7. Dreamers face fear with courage because they see
challenges as opportunities to feel invigorated and alive.
• Jigsaw