To become a successful person or a successful manager, it is crucial to understand the importance of self-awareness. For hundreds of years, the understanding and knowing of the self are considered to be at the core of people’s behavior. If one wants to master themselves, it is important that he or she pays attention to self-awareness as self-management and other skills depend on and are closely linked to it.
For people to create direction in their own lives and understand themselves, it is necessary to clarify priorities and goals, develop self-control, and effectively manage time and stress. In this paper, I will reflect on how what I have learned from Chapter One applies to my personal life.
The first chapter has provided me with rather interesting information about the importance of self-awareness. Apparently, there are many popular methods and techniques that help to achieve self-knowledge and that people spend lots of money on. Some of them are meditation and yoga techniques, group methods, altered consciousness procedures, assorted massages, aromatherapy, biofeedback, and physical exercise regimens. After learning this, I decided to try yoga, meditation, and aromatherapy practices in order to develop my self-awareness.
Also, the information about the concept of the sensitive line seems to me rather interesting. “This concept refers to the point at which individuals become defensive or protective when encountering information about themselves that is inconsistent with their self-concept or when encountering pressure to alter their behavior” (Whetten and Cameron 58). Usually, people get and experience information that doesn’t quite or at all fit the way they think about themselves.
The strength of the defensive reaction depends on the discrepancy; if it is relatively minor, it is not likely to hurt and offend a person. However, if the information is very discrepant, and it affects one’s self-concept, it will approach the sensitive line closer, and the person will feel a strong need to defend himself or herself against it.
This information caught my attention because, some time ago, I used to feel that my self-esteem was hurt, and I needed to defend myself. Now I understand that it was only the difference between my self-concept and the way someone saw me. As it is important in management to be self-confident and discreet, in situations when something approaches my sensitive line, I will not show a strong reaction.
Work Cited
Whetten, David A., and Kim. S. Cameron. Developing Management Skills. Prentice Hall, 2011.