Self-Awareness and the Evolution of Leaders - Research Paper Example

Self-Awareness Introduction Self-awareness is an aspect where an individual is capable of establishing their drives, strengths as well as their weaknesses. It is a daunting task for an individual to be fully aware of self. Lack of self-awareness results in inconsistencies and failure hence an individual lives a life without a focus. On the other hand, an individual that fully understands self usually has an easy time making decisions as well as in dealing with others. The concept of self-awareness in entirety has many dynamics; Philippe Rochat (2003) of the Emory University describes it as “the most fundamental issue in psychology.” The least level of self-awareness is usually characterized by confusion while some level of awareness results to some form of differentiation. Above the differentiation level, there is the situational level where an individual begins to explore self while finding circumstances that suit them. The individual can also get to the level of identification where they begin developing a self-image. An individual then begins to realize their position based on their experience and finally they develop to become fully conscious of themselves (Jayashree, 2011). Strengths Personally, I am still in the process of self-awareness having realized some of my strengths and weaknesses. Self-awareness is facilitated by self-assessment as well as the need for self-enhancement (Silvia 2002). The realization of strengths can be very important since for the period of time that I have been able to realize them, some benefits have ensued. Firstly, i have always been an individual that loves to be independent. This dates back in early years in school where my parents used to complain that I did not seek assistance and trued to show me its importance. When doing assignments, most of my primary school colleagues were used to doing assignments in groups even those that were supposed to be personal. However, for me, I did not have the slightest persuasion that I needed to do my work in a group. I did not have anything against them but just developed a feeling that I needed to be independent. Later on, as I joined college for my studies I was so pleased to be alone, not for any ill intention but just for having my own space as I face various aspects of life. Upon realization of this, I have been trying to use it to better myself. It has made me accumulate a number of personal belongings as well as get a chance to do appreciate the role of others in my life. Being independent makes me be very selective on the friends I keep and so far, it has been working. When confronted by challenging situations the attitude of doing it independently has made me to adapt easily without seeking the help of others. My level of decisiveness has tremendously improved. In the future, I am planning to use this strength to develop a concrete plan that will facilitate my achievement of both long-term and short-term goals. Secondly, among my other strengths, is my soft-spoken nature. My art of talking attacks many people to me. From the time I was a child, I have attracted many people in my life courtesy of the soft-spoken nature. In addition, I am rarely offensive hence both my peers as well as my seniors who know me demonstrate some unique respect towards me. Coupled with the ability to rely on myself when I have personal needs, being soft spoken has earned me the ability to have a easy time with almost everybody. Most of the times my soft-spoken nature has earned me complements from friends and relatives, arguing that I am an exceptionally humble person. I am able to articulate myself systematically and rarely am I reckless in my words. If there is one thing that my soft spoke nature gives me is the ability to have a thought before I utter my words, I am never in a rush to say something. This has proved to be a major strength, for this reason I can recall a time that I ever conflicted with someone else on a serious note. Despite being soft-spoken, I am able to express my mind whenever I am in a conversation or a negotiation. Even in situation that the negotiating parties are thunderous or persuasive, I try as much as possible to make my position heard. Some of friends admire what they refer as “your intelligence,” this complement really gives me the boldness to acquire knowledge and be more articulate in my words. I have been thinking of the best strategies of utilizing this strength and it is slowly dawning in me that it can be an opportunity to engage in a career that requires such a trait. However, there are a few things that I am realizing that I need to fine-tune in this strength to make it more beneficial for my future endeavors. Weaknesses In addition to the strengths that I have portrayed, there are a few areas where I need to improve. In this article, I explore two areas of weakness that I have realized. The first thing is procrastination. In many ways, procrastination has resulted to lack of inconsistency in many areas including in my studies. One of the most annoying things that this weakness has exposed me to, is that I find it difficult working my way through assignments to meet deadlines. The last minute rush brings forth insurmountable pressure, which translates to either substandard work that is poorly done. Procrastination completely disorganizes as well as having to waste a lot of time. It makes me have wrong priorities that are not based on the principle of importance and urgency. As I worked on this assignment, one of my objectives was to counter this weakness. It was a daunting task but I forced my way to accomplish it on time. I have been reading various materials on effective time management as well as strategies that can help overcome procrastination. Through these sources, I have learnt a very important aspect of prioritizing that I am working on and will feature in my plan. This aspect involves gives priorities to things that am supposed to do based on the level of importance and urgency. Sincerely speaking, challenging tasks promotes procrastination in my case. Even at times when I do not feel lazy, I am tempted to avoid ‘hard’ tasks at the expense of easy ones. I am hoping having priorities will facilitate my working on both tasks indiscriminately. I have come to find that failure to set goals acts an opportunity to procrastinate. Instead of having a clear direction on how tasks will be executed, the spontaneous nature of working on whatever gets in my hand acts as an opportunity for procrastination. Therefore, in order to overcome this weakness, setting of goals that are executable will be inevitable. The other weaknesses emanates from one of my strengths. My ability to work independently becomes a weakness when I opt to be too independent. Relying on self presents lack of diversity such that in a way my thoughts and deeds are confined to what I am able to do all by myself. Creativity also sets in when more than a single person’s thoughts are used in making decisions. In addition, it facilitates lack of motivation since am not able to keep on motivating myself all the time. Independence also has made me to desire to have my way without having to consider the plight of others. Just like any other aspect of life, being in school presents a number of challenges, these requires that I share with other people in order to relieve myself as I gather more information. Therefore, group works are a challenge to me because of the feeling that I can do it alone. Such an independent attitude makes it difficult to work with others because I keep on perceiving that if I did the work alone I would be more efficient. However, independence is not the solution since procrastination can also set in resulting in failure to deliver a given task on time. My independence has also raised complains from my friends that I don’t involve them in my activities courtesy of the spirit of doing it all alone. Despite depicting this weakness, am glad I am aware of it, it makes me think of how I can overcome but again am a too good procrastinator. This article serves a purpose; it has made me reorganize my thoughts on the best strategy that I will adopt. Having a challenge that results from a strength is somehow confusing, I find it hard to figure out the best approach. Literature Integration Self-awareness is a psychological aspect that requires both the input of others as well as self. Some old philosophers made arguments that our capacity to know about how own mental state overrides the capacity to know about those of others. In addition, the recent developments have seen the development of the ‘Theory Theory’ (TT) of self-awareness that provides that an individual’s cognitive mechanisms are very influential in the realization of self (Stich and Nicholas, n.d). The fact that I realized that I desire to be independent has been entrenched in the way I operate and hence it has become more of a habit. Habits are not easy to break, requires stringent interventions. Courtesy of the ability to brainstorm as I monitored my behavior that I have realized that the level of independence that I exhibit is directly linked with my state of mind. If I compare the time that I have lived alone compared to the time that I lived with my parents, I do realize that I am more independent now hence the weakness of being over independent. This means that the people around me influence the state of my being despite the need to be independent being evident. The realization of self is very important in promoting self-image. In the period of time that I have come to know of my need for independence, I have not only been able to have a better view of my self-image but also an identification of the ideal-self as well as the Pygmalion-self. Largely self-awareness makes it possible to exhibit emotional development as well as it provides an opportunity for achievement. Through the art of realization of y strengths, I have been able to become a better decision maker. This is in agreement with Ashley and Reiter-Palmon’s (2012) proposition that “self-awareness is associated with successful leadership.” In addition, my temperament has been able to change. Anger and verbal aggressiveness are dramatically reduced when an individual exemplifies a sense of self-awareness (Kinney, Smith, and Donzella, 2001). Action Plan An action plan is very necessary in aiding an individual have a clear focus on the goals that they want to achieve. In addition, it provides necessary steps that should be followed in order to achieve the set goals. An action plan should also have timelines that should help as identifiers of progress. Several steps are necessary for effective development of an action plan. Firstly, the objectives should be stated. The action plan should have objectives that state the clear position that an individual wants to get to. These objectives are required to be measurable and achievable. Secondly, a plan should have priorities for the tasks to be done. Laying priorities is a very important aspect that should be should be founded on order of importance and urgency. The most urgent and most important are given the first priority. Thirdly, Draw lists of activities to be done that should be done within the designated town. Finally, the plan requires a contingency plan while timing should be done appropriately with tight deadlines (University of Kent, n.d). When developing the action plan, the goals set ought to be SMART. This means that they should be specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic and should have a period. When a goal is specified, it becomes easy to understand and implement. A specific goal has answers to the seven ‘W’ questions. Who? What? Where? when? Which? And why? The goal should also have an indicator that is capable of being measured from step to another. The goals should not be beyond the ability to be executed, they should be attainable. It should also be realistic, fully representing the objective that is being propagated. Finally, timeliness is very important. The action plan is required to have goals that work within a given time limit (University of Virginia, n.d). Concerning my strength in soft speaking, I can effectively use it to advance my career. I am looking for a part time job that will help utilize my soft-spoken skills. I prefer a telecommunication industry. My work can be focused on communication with customers. My goal is to see increases monthly sales by 10-20%. One key ingredient is to develop persuasive skills. I will ensure that I have capitalized on every opportunity to ensure that we remain in business by persuading every client that they need to get our good and services. My vision is to be the best seller within the next six months. I also look forward to reading about the how to talk to people and he requirements that are required for success in sales. Apart from reading, I will endeavor to watch online lectures and documentaries about sales. The entire process will take two years. As per the weakness on procrastination, I will endeavor to finish my assignments at least two days in advance or if the time is shorter not less than one hour before the time elapses. I shall develop a personal schedule that I will use to allocate very assignment specific time. To ensure that the assignment is done at the assigned time, I shall assign three hours in the evenings of Tuesday and Friday from 6 pm to 9 pm as the time for assignments. I shall allocate all the assignments a given number of hours within the six hours in a week. In addition, I have requested my friend Tom that we keep each other on check especially on the issue of doing assignments. We have pledged to always share or struggles and points of weakness while helping one another to cope. References Ashley, G. C., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2012). Self-awareness and the evolution of leaders: The need for a better measure of self-awareness. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 14(1), 2-17. Retrieved on 1 February 2014 from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1082324501?accountid=45049 Jayashree, V. (2011). Self-awareness: The starting point of change in individuals-an empirical analysis. Journal of Contemporary Research in Management, 6(3), 13-30. Retrieved on 1 February 2014, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1314489916?accountid=45049 Kinney, T. A., Smith, B. A., & Donzella, B. (2001). The influence of sex, gender, self-discrepancies, and self-awareness on anger and verbal aggressiveness among U.S. college students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141(2), 245-75. Retrieved on 1 February, 2014 from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199807594?accountid=45049 Nicholas, S. and Stich, S. (n.d). Reading one’s own mind: Self-awareness and developmental psychology. Retrieved on 1 February 2014, from http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~stich/Publications/Papers/ReadingOnesOwnMind%20-%20pdf.pdf Rochat, P. (2003). Five levels of self-awareness as they unfold early in life. Retrieved on 1 February 2014, from http://psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/Five%20levels%20.pdf Silvia, P.J. and Duval, T. S. (2002). Self-awareness, probability of improvement, and the self-serving bias. Journal of personality and social Psychology, Vol 82, No 1, 49-61. Retrieved on 1 February 2014, from http://www.csub.edu/~mdulcich/documents/self_awarenes.pdf University of Kent. (n.d). Action planning. Retrieved on 1 February 2014, from http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsactionplanning.htm University of Virginia. (n.d). Writing SMART goals. Retrieved on 1 February 2014, from http://www.hr.virginia.edu/uploads/documents/media/Writing_SMART_Goals.pdf Read More