Self-Development Module 1 PDF

**Unit 1: Self-Development** Module 1: Knowing and Understanding Oneself during Middle and Late Adolescence **SELF-CONCEPT** Imagine yourself looking into a mirror. What do you see? Do you see your ideal self or your actual self? Your **ideal self** is the self that you aspire to be. It is the o...

**Unit 1: Self-Development** Module 1: Knowing and Understanding Oneself during Middle and Late Adolescence **SELF-CONCEPT** Imagine yourself looking into a mirror. What do you see? Do you see your ideal self or your actual self? Your **ideal self** is the self that you aspire to be. It is the one that you hope will possess characteristics similar to that of a mentor or some other worldly figure. Your **actual self**, however, is the one that you actually see. It is the self that has characteristics that you were nurtured or, in some cases, born to have. The **actual self** and the **ideal self** are two broad categories of **self-concept**. Self-concept refers to your awareness of yourself. It is the construct that negotiates these two selves. In other words, it connotes first the identification of the ideal self as separate from others, and second, it encompasses all the behaviors evaluated in the actual self that you engage in to reach the ideal self. There is **negotiation** that exists between the two selves which is complex because there are numerous exchanges between the ideal and actual self. These exchanges are exemplified in **social roles** that are adjusted and re-adjusted, and are derived from outcomes of social interactions from infant to adult development. Alignment is important. If the way that I am (the actual self) is aligned with the way that I want to be (the ideal self), then I will feel a sense of mental well-being or peace of mind. If the way that I am is not aligned with how I want to be, the **incongruence**, or lack of alignment, will result in mental distress or anxiety. The greater the level of incongruence between the ideal self and real self, the greater the level of resulting distress. Personal development modules ultimate aim is greater self-knowledge that will lead to higher alignment between these two personality domains. **PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS** **Personal effectiveness** means making use of all the personal resources -- talents, skills, energy and time, to enable you to achieve life goals. Your knowledge of yourself and how you manage yourself impacts directly on your personal effectiveness. Being self-aware, making the most of your strengths, learning new skills and techniques and behavioral flexibility are all keys to improving your personal performance. Our personal effectiveness depends on our innate characteristics -- talent and experience accumulated in the process of personal development. Talents first are needed to be identified and then developed to be used in a particular subject area (science, literature, sports, politics, etc.). Experience includes knowledge and skills that we acquire in the process of cognitive and practical activities. Knowledge is required for setting goals, defining an action plan to achieve them and risk assessment. Skills also determine whether real actions are performed in accordance with the plan. If the same ability is used many times in the same situation, then it becomes a habit that runs automatically, subconsciously. Here are some skills that will greatly increase the efficiency of any person who owns them: 1. **Determination.** It allows you to focus only on achieving a specific goal without being distracted by less important things or spontaneous desires. It may be developed with the help of self-discipline exercise. 2. **Self-confidence**. It appears in the process of personal development, as a result of getting aware of yourself, your actions and their consequences. Self-confidence is manifested in speech, appearance, dressing, gait, and physical condition. To develop it, you need to learn yourself and your capabilities, gain positive attitude and believe that by performing right actions and achieving right goals you will certainly reach success. 3. **Persistence**. It makes you keep moving forward regardless of emerging obstacles -- problems, laziness, bad emotional state, etc. It reduces the costs of overcoming obstacles. It can also be developed with the help of self-discipline exercise. 4. **Managing stress.** It helps combat stress that arises in daily life from the environment and other people. Stress arises from the uncertainty in an unknown situation when a lack of information creates the risk of negative consequences of your actions. It increases efficiency in the actively changing environment. 5. **Problem-solving skills**. They help cope with the problems encountered with a lack of experience. It increases efficiency by adopting new ways of achieving goals when obtaining a new experience. 6. **Creativity**. It allows you to find extraordinary ways to carry out a specific action that no one has tried to use. It can lead to a decrease or an increase of costs, but usually the speed of action is greatly increased when using creative tools. 7. **Generating ideas**. It helps you achieve goals using new, original, unconventional ideas. Idea is a mental image of an object formed by the human mind, which can be changed before being implemented in the real world. For generating ideas, you can use a method of mental maps, which allows you to materialize, visualize and scrutinize all your ideas, which in turn contributes to the emergence of new ideas. These are just some, but the most important personal effectiveness skills which make the achievement of any goal easier and less costly. **Story: YOU NEED TO TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR FUTURE** There are three kinds of people in this world: The first is the **Moviegoer**. This person watches the movie of their lives, admires some parts and criticizes others. Aside from that, they do nothing else. All she says the whole day is, "I like this thing and but I don't like that thing." The Moviegoer feels she has absolutely no control of their lives \-\-- except to comment about it. Moviegoers are the most pathetic, miserable people in the world. The second is the **Actor**. This person does not only watch the movie of her life. She actually realizes she's the Actor -- and can control a big part of her life. She can actually make or break the movie -- by how well she delivers her lines and how she portrays her character. Actors are a happy bunch, realizing they're the start of the show and enjoy some level of control. But many times, they wish the movie would end in another way -- but realize that they have no say in such things. The third is the **Scriptwriter**. This person does not only watch, and she doesn't only act, but she actually creates the entire movie from her mind. She determines what she will say, what she will do, and how the movie will end. She realizes she has enormous control over her life, and sees to it that the movie of her life will turn out beautiful. Who are you among these three people? Do you merely watch your life go by? Or do you act out a script that you feel has been handed to you? Or do you write the script and make your life beautiful? By the way, the Producer of the movie is God. He tells you, "Make the movie beautiful, and I will give you all that you need for success."