UNIT- I: Self-Management Skills

5 IMPORTANCE OF
SELF-MANAGEMENT
Self-management is managing yourself to achieve the pre-determined tasks or goals that you have set for
regulating your actions, organising your time, and being accountable for yourself by
your decisions. Appropriate
can help students
perform better in school, can reduce self-management
on the job.
delinquent behaviours, and can help individuals perform better

Who manages things in

your house? Your mother. She takes care of
everything right from cooking, washing clothes, your
studies, buying stuff for everyone, and the house. Have ever
you
wondered how she manages to do so
many tasks? She does this by
setting a goal the family's well-being. Then, she identifies the tasks
-
Planning
to be completed to achieve that
goal. She plans and delegates the
responsibilities, and ensures to finish the tasks in time.
She
recognises the resources she has, such as time, money,
help, etc., to Controlling Self
complete those tasks and allocates her resources according to the Management Organising9
family's priorities. Now, since nobody is directing her to do all of this,
she is setting and achieving goals all by
herself, she is self-managing.
Self-management is a great skill to be developed for life and work.
Let us learn how to develop Directing
self-management skills.
SELF-MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Self-management comprises three key skills:
1. Initiative
2.Organisation 3. Accountability

INITIATIVE
Initlative means doing the right thing without being told what to do.
Initiative requires one to believe in one's own capabilities, and be
resilient to work, even when faced with obstruction and
disappointment. For example, as a student, you can identify areas of
improvement in your school environment, such as apathy and
disrespect for teachers, bullying, discipline, cleanliness, etc., and talk
to your teachers and the principal about it. You can volunteer to
address the issues in the school assembly, educate fellow students
and staff, and inspire others to join you to resolve the issue.

ORGANISATION SKILL
organisation skill is the ablity to use your time, energy, and resources effectively to achieve the goals you have set for
yourself. Being organised saves your time and energy, helps you to complete tasks efficiently, and therefore makes you
more productive. To develop organisational skills, you need to follow the below mentioned steps.

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ldentify and Define Specific Goals: To achieve goal, it is important to clearly define your goal. For example,
a
to have a holistic growth which your goal is
encompasses intellectual, physical, artistic, emotional, and
Break Down Goals Into Smaller Tasks: creative, social development.
To achieve bigger
essential to break them into smaller,
goals, it is

SMART strategy while setting and

an acronym for
actionable tasks. Adopt the
defining your targets. SMART is
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and
Time-bound. Thus, adopting SMART
strategy means you can
GOAL
clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and
resources
productively, and increase your chances of achieving what you
want in life.

Specific Awell-defined task helps you to focus

your efforts. For example, instead of saying, '1will cover my syllabus in
time', a more specific task would be, lwill
complete Subject 'A' by tomorrow.
Measurable: A goal without measurable outcome is like a sports competition without a
a
scoreboard. Make your
progress measurable. For example, rather than saying, '1 will
speed up my learning', more measurable target would
a
be, 1 will solve 20 Math problems in 2 hours.

Achievable: Set targets that realistic and can be achieved. Setting unattainable
are
targets result in a false sense of
failure, loss of motivation, and low self-regard. For example, rather than
saying, 1 will learn this whole poem in 1
hour, a more achievable target would be to say, 1 will read this poem five times now.

Realistic: Devise a realistic plan. For example,

rather than saying, 1 will devote 8 hours to my studies after school
every day, a more realistic goal may be to say, 1 will study 3-4 hours
regularly.
Time-bound:Atime-bound target informs you whether you are progressing at the right pace or not. For example,
rather than saying, I will complete this chapter, a time- bound target would be, I will finish this chapter by 8
pm'
Time-Management: It refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. Effective
time management allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance. Following steps
help in managing your time in the best possible way:

Planning: An important part of time management is planning. In order to control your workload, it is important to
learn to plan each day, week, month, and year. Always be realistic in estimating the time to accomplish the tasks, as it
helps you to create effective planning. When you follow your plan, you are more organised. Agood work plan enables
you to start being realistic about how much work you can take on, how much time it willtake, and what activities will
it involve. For example, when you get your exam date sheet, prepare a study plan. Write down how many exams you
have and the days on which you have to take
Prioritise and them. Then organise your time accordingly. You
Schedule may want to give some exams more study time

Give Time Learn to than others.

Slot say 'No' +Estimate time required for each task: Be realistic
in estimating the time required to accomplish the
tasks as it helps you to plan effectively. For
Spending the right example, if you are participating in a debate
Planning time on right activity contest, estimate how much research time do
you need? How long will it take you to write it,
proof read it, and practice it?

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rioritise and Schedule: Prepare your schedule to accommodate the planned tasks and other activities. Write down

u p o t a n t activities that need to be done in a single day againstthetime that should be allocated to each activity.
rioritise your tasks based on importance and urgency while preparing your schedule. For example, consider your

SChool calendar for exams, weekly and daily assignments, school events, family special events, friends' birthdays,

etc. See if you can accommodate all of them, and if you cannot, then choose which ones are more important and

which ones you can forego. Make

weekly and daily to-do lists accordingly.
* Learn to say "No':
Always refer to your schedule and to-do lists before committing to new projects. One of the
reasons we become overloaded is that we have a tendency to say Yes' when people ask us to do things. Learn to say

"No' ifyour schedule does not allow taking on a new responsibility. It is one of the golden rules of time-management.

f you find it hard to say 'No', think about the negative consequences of always saying Yes'. Analyse what tasks you

will have to postpone, to fulfil the new

request and how willit affect your bigger goal.
Spending the right time on right activity: Set a time limit to complete the task. If you set a time constraint on a
particular task, it will make you to be more focused and efficient. For example, instead of working on a project and
thinking of doing it until it's done, set a limit of, say, 5 hours.

ACTIVITY zONE Evaluating Time Management

Identify which statements are befitting you the most. Put a tick () mark in the correct box.

Characteristics Yes, a lotYes, sometimesS No1don'tknow

I am late for functions/appointments.

I miss appointments.

I rush at the end of a task.

I miss stipulated target dates.

I take too long to complete a task.

I run out of time while completing tasks.

I am not aware of how long it would take me
to complete a task.

I forget what I have to do

SCORING:
I f your response to all the above statements is 'No, then you seem to have good time-management skills.
If your response to some statements Is I don't know, then you seem to lack awareness about your
time-management. Speak to people who know you well and find out what they think about your time-
management skills.

If your response to any of the above is yes, then that is the specific aspect of time-management you need to

work on.

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ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability is a vital component of self-management. Accountability and

but they don't mean the same
responsibility are interrelated to each other,
thing. The main difference between responsibility and accountability is that
can be shared, while responsibility
accountability is personal. Responsibility for a task may be assigned to you by someone else, like a
teacher or a parent, but being accountable means
being answerable for your
actions. It is the mindset, where a personis
expected to take ownership of his actions and not to blame other people or events for
delays, failures,
and incompletion.
Accountability develops the following characteristics:
Avoiding Procrastination: Procrastination is defined as the avoidance of
doing a task that needs to be accomplished.
Procrastination is choosing a different, usually less
important and enjoyable task, to avoid doing an unpleasant and
more difficult task. However,
procrastination not only results in loss of productivity but it also often results in guilt
and loss of self-confidence. You can adopt the
following strategies to avoid procrastination:
Acknowledge that you are procrastinating. The mere
acknowledgement helps in curbing it.
Refer to your to-do list and remind yourself of
your bigger goal.
It is advisable to keep your to-do list displayed where you can
see it often.

Refer to your to-do list often. Promise to reward yourself after

completion ofthe task.
Make it a habit of scheduling your more laborious tasks before more
enjoyable tasks, so that you can complete
them before your energy level goes down in the day. Also, the attraction of
doing enjoyable
activities will
motivate you to finish the difficult tasks in time.

Adopting Problem-Solving Attitude:Aproblem-solving attitude is

a must in every area of life.
Despite all the planning, you may face

problem hardships, obstructions, delays, and failures in your life. When

such hindrances occur, it is natural for people to get into a

nalys problem-centred mindset. People try to find the source of the

problem and blame other people or events for the delay or failure.
However, problem-centred mindset does not help to achieve

solutlon anything. On the other hand, a solution-centred attitude helps

one to focus on the
possible solutions, which not only lifts the
spirit but also resolves the problem and helps you to move
towards success

Managing Your Own Emotions: Emotions always get in the way of rational interpretation of a situation. They usually
prevent us from working towards the best or most constructive solutions. Often, people either over-express their
feelings (excessive anger, passiveness) or suppress their feelings to cope with the situation. However, different
circumstances require different emotional reactions and expressions. Although it is essential to allow yourself to
experience and acknowledge your emotions, it is even more important not to act on your emotions instantly. Give
yourself time to regain your composure before you act. Although emotions may seem like a natural and uncontrollable
phenomenon, however, you can apply reason to change how you feel in a situation, and thereby manage your actions
and reactions in a challenging situation.

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To apply reason, ask yourself some questions like:

What should Ido in this situation? Does this action help in fixing the problem?
How will my action affect me and other people? How will t affect my bigger, long-term goal?
What are the alternative actions Ican take that will actually help betterthis situation?

CanItalkto someone who can guide meor help me through this problem?
Coping With Distress: Unforeseen and unfortunate events like illness, injuries, death in the family, or some other tragic
Find a suitable
event may happen in your life. It may have a significant impact on your emotional and physical well-being.
with the required
coping mechanism in such circumstances like, surround yourself with people who can provide you
emotional and practical support, count your blessings in life, distract yourself with pleasant things, indulge yourself
in

situation.
any physical activity, or draw attention on others' experience to pull yourself out froma depressing

POSITIVE RESULTS OF SELF-MANAGEMENT

matter what the circumstances
Self-management is an essential skill for everyone as it teaches you to be productive, no
are. As we grow, the demands on our 'pull' from all directions
time and efforts increase from all aspects of our life. This
us to set up our priorities, and allocate time,
brings excessive stress and confusion in our minds. Self-management allows
resources, and efforts for activities according to the preferences that
we have set. Therefore, it helps us to avoid unnecessary confusion,
Makes you
delays, the stress of pending tasks, and guilt of not being able to attend more

to important issues. The practice of self-management benefits you

in organised

the following five ways:

Instils
+Makes you more Organised: While planning your schedule like Commands
respect from discipline
time slots for your studies, relaxation breaks, and other
allotting others IMPORTANCE OF

essential activities, you learn the vital skill of organising

and SELF
MANAGEMENT
allocating all your resources.
Instills Discipline: When you make a schedule and commit yourself
Helps in
to do it in the reject other unimportant
stipulated time, you Enhances
attaining
self
are clear
invitations from anyone else. It happens because you confidence goals
would mean cancelling
that undertaking any unscheduled activity
the scheduled plan and failing to achieve the target.
make schedule for exams and follow it in a disciplined way, you will be able to
Helps in Attaining Goals: If you a

prepare for your exams

and attain your set goals.

Enhances Self-confidence: When you set goals them, that give you the confidence to pursue more
and achieve

Self-confidence, in turn, gives you the courage to take the initiative wherever
significant and more challenging goals.
and achieving goals helps you rise higherin life.
there is an opportunity. This cycle ofinitiating
around you, your family, teachers, classmates and friends, watch you
Commands Respect from Others: When people
without any push or supervision they start respecting you. Your parents and
performing to achieve good results,
need to control orforce you. Also, your peers get inspired byyou.
teachers realise that they do not
skill will help you to live a more organised, stresS-free, and a fulfilling professional and
In essence, self-management
personal life.

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