Taking Action Towards Self-Improvement
It’s important to be aware of our behaviors, both the good and the bad. Do you become defensive when things don’t go your way? Are you quick to anger when you make a mistake? Are you impatient when coworkers do not operate as quickly as you do? Do you talk too much during meetings? None of these are flattering habits. By practicing self-awareness, we can catch ourselves when we fall into bad behaviors. However, it’s not enough to be aware of your personal failings.
Jennifer Porter, managing partner of The Boda Group, teaches the importance of self-management. This is a learnable skill that allows us to turn self-awareness into self-improvement. According to Porter, self-management can be achieved in six steps:
1. “Decide where you want to self-manage.” Practice self-awareness to identify behaviors you aren’t proud of and actively decide to work toward self-improvement.
2. “Notice and reflect on what’s driving your lack of self-management.” Notice how you feel in those moments when your behavior is not your best. Ask yourself what is driving that action to understand what motivates your poor behavior.
3. “Consider your choices and your reactions to those choices.” Instead of responding with your default behavior, what else could you do? How do you feel about those other options?
4. “Make a plan.” Think of what concrete steps you can take to correct your poor behavior. Make an actionable plan that you can follow the next time you’re about to fall into an unwanted habit.
5. “Practice.” You won’t master a new habit in a day. Practice self-management again and again until it becomes second nature.
6. “Repeat the process.” Your first plan may not be the best one. At each opportunity, evaluate your behavior and vow to stick to the path of self-improvement.
Self-management is not easy, but it is a necessary skill we must all build. Self-awareness alone means nothing if you don’t work to improve yourself. When you do not work toward self-improvement, that awareness just becomes an excuse.
I hope you enjoyed this post,
Randy Sklar
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