In psychology, self-management is a term used to describe the process of achieving personal autonomy. In management, it is the ability to manage your personal reactions to responsibilities and challenges in work and life. This involves managing your time and adapting to changing situations. It requires you to reflect on your experiences and their effect on your physical and mental state. Self-management entails the skills of contemplation, self awareness, planning, monitoring, time management, flexibility and self appraisal.
Introspection & self awarenessFor a person with some experience, contemplating on your past actions and the results of certain acts will help you in your future relationships. But as a fresher, you need to be aware of one's motivations, needs and aspirations. Try and relate to how you respond to people and situations and how your actions are perceived by people. This point of reflection will help in identification of the need to improving your behaviour and bring in an element of positivism. Such introspection would also help bringing in a certain element of maturity helping in the creation of strategies for goal setting and achieving the same. Self-awareness is very important, because I feel that it forms the basis of your performance in any capacity.
Adaptability
In last month's article, the importance of being a fit in the culture of the organisation was highlighted. Yet again I would like to emphasise the importance of being flexible. Being adaptable and getting accustomed to new positions and situations help in honing your existing skills as well as acquiring new ones. The objective should be to work constructively with people from varied backgrounds, values and mindsets.
Preparation & Observation
How can we be prepared? Preparation is basically planning. Once you join an organisation, get ready to face the challenges that situations may present. However, the best way to work is by developing a detailed and realistic strategy for accomplishing goals or for resolving problems. Get proactive and foresee problems or other constraints which may crop up, by regularly reviewing and adjusting plans to hold changes in the situation and priorities. The success of an approach lies in achieving the set goal, in a determined time frame and the earmarked resource and budgetary provision.
Time Management & Commitment
Managing time becomes critical, since it involves distributing time, which comes in limited proportions and cannot be controlled. Somebody has wisely said that time is the greatest leveller; everybody has the same number of hours available.
It’s important to identify the demands on your time and then setting priorities and scheduling it according to your set goals and responsibilities. It's equally important to include relaxation and your social life in your plans.
Your commitment is involuntarily always under the scanner. Integrity has been one of the foremost possessions of a person. Your reliability, honesty and commitment get reflected in your work.
Setting goals
Examine your interests, desires and commitments and identify a goal for your self. Goal setting should be well defined, realistic and set in a specific time-frame, where growth can be calculated and success judged unequivocally.
Groom yourself
We can all be trained to be more self-governing through the disciplines of management and leadership; concepts that can give us a great doctrine to live work by. Remember to have a set of values. People get associated with values and get known for them. Always voice your opinion. Inculcate a sense of courtesy. It pays to be polite. Most importantly, be thoughtful but don’t be a sufferer or a martyr.
