Day 17 - Self Awareness Skill

Picture credit - positivepsychology

Day 17 - Self-Awareness Skill

What is Self-Awareness Skill?

Self-Awareness is the ability to see yourself clearly and objectively through reflection and introspection

My learning for the day

Source - Are you self-aware?, Self-Efficacy

Author - ScienceBeta, Albert Bandura

Importance of self-awareness

Honing self-awareness skill is one of the most important aspects of personal development, determining almost everything else

Self-awareness is - being aware of your goals, your strengths and weaknesses, your beliefs/ philosophy in life etc.

A great sign of self-awareness skill is your ability to clearly articulate why you are doing what you are doing

Self-efficacy

The concept of Self efficacy was proposed by Albert Bandura (1925-NA), Canadian-American Psychologist in 1977

Self-efficacy (the perceived belief we have in our own abilities) is the foundation of human inspiration, motivation, performance accomplishments, and emotional well-being

People with high self efficacy (who are confident of their capabilities) approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided; They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure

People with low self efficacy (who doubt their capabilities) shy away from difficult tasks which they view as personal threats. They have low aspirations and weak commitment. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully

These are the four ways you develop your self efficacy - 

1. Mastery experiences - Drawing confidence from your past successes (successfully completing a task strengthens sense of self-efficacy)

2. Social modeling - Learning from your role models (Social modeling is the act of witnessing other people successfully completing a task and drawing inspiration from them)

3. Social persuasion - Learning from social influence (finding a right mentor/ coach/ seeking feedback from others)

4. Emotional State - Learning from your style of ‘judging’ yourself (identifying the mental roadblocks that come in the way and removing them). 

Are you ready for the journey? Happy journey, Shchaslyva podorozh! 

How to improve Self-Awareness Skill?

Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of Self-Awareness Skill. 

Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of Self-Awareness Skill. 

1. Learn - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of Self-Awareness 
2. Apply - 
• Identify a model suitable to you
• Create a template to document the flow of the process
• Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
• Maintain record/ process flow of every important Self-Awareness activity you did
• Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used for sharing/ training others
3. Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
4. Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over time, your organization benefits from your efforts

Purpose of this document

I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day. My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new possibilities to surprise myself. This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills learning with my social media friends. I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.

What are Life Skills?

UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three  broad categories of skills

• cognitive skills for analyzing and using information, 
• personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself, 
• inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.

Which LifeSkills are covered?

The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are relevant across cultures: 

1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.

Some trivia

‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.

Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives

• Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
• Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
• United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
• USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
• South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.