Personal presentation is all about marketing YOU, the brand that is you. What others see you do and hear you say will influence their opinion of you – so personal presentation is about painting yourself in as positive a light as possible – always.
Organisations spend a lot of time and money working on their image, developing their brand and producing as many positive signals as possible. Staff in organisations should know that everything they do is marketing for the organisation, every email they send, every phone call they take, every time they interact with a client or customer. Organisations also spend a lot of time and money recruiting and training the right kind of people to project the right kind of image.
This section of SkillsYouNeed is designed to help you gain more confidence and expertise in presenting yourself positively. Although personal presentation is key in one-to-one situations such as a conversation, in a group situation such as a meeting, or when giving a presentation such as a talk or speech it is also important in less formal situations, when socialising with friends, for example. How people perceive you is important to communication and you should always aim to be viewed as positively and confidently as possible.
Effective Communication
Personal presentation is about you and how you present yourself in everyday situations. However, personal presentation always involves at least two people - the person presenting themselves (you) and the person receiving the presentation. It can therefore be described as an interaction.
Personal presentation is concerned with conveying appropriate signals for the situation and for the other individuals involved. People who lack self-esteem and confidence may fail to convey their message effectively or fully utilise their skills and abilities because of the way they present themselves. By improving your personal presentation you improve your communication skills and reduce barriers to understanding. Everybody presents themselves differently and most can improve their personal presentation.
Personal presentation is about learning about yourself, being inner-directed and accepting of who you are, your positives and your negatives, and being comfortable with yourself. Personal presentation is not about being self-conscious or overly concerned with what others think about you.
Effective Speaking
Your voice says a lot about you and learning how to use it more effectively has many benefits. Our Effective Speaking page examines aspects of your voice, accent, tone, pitch, volume and encourages you to learn more about your voice and how you use it to its full potential. Learn to communicate more dynamically, fluently and with passion and enthusiasm.
Personal Appearance
The way you dress and take care of your general appearance are important factors in personal presentation, what messages does the way you dress send to others? Your personal appearance also includes the body language, gestures and other non-verbal messages that you use. By being aware of positive and negative non-verbal signals you can improve your image and the way people perceive you.
Time Management:
If you don't manage your time wisely you are less likely to be able to get everything done effectively. You are also more likely to be disorganised and run late for meetings or other appointments. Poor time management has an effect on how you are perceived by others. Learn some simple techniques to help you improve your time management skills, get more done and avoid being late.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Thứ Tư, 24 tháng 8, 2016
Thứ Ba, 23 tháng 8, 2016
Emotional Intelligence
Many of us are aware of IQ (Intelligence Quotient). Designed to measure intellectual intelligence, it gives a score from a series of tests. Higher IQs indicate better cognitive abilities, or the ability to learn and understand. People with higher IQs are more likely to do well academically without exerting the same amount of mental effort as those with lower IQ scores.
A logical assumption, therefore, is that people with higher IQs will be more successful at work and through life. This assumption has been proven incorrect – there is more to success than simply being ‘clever’.
Benefits of Higher Emotional Intelligence
People with higher emotional intelligence find it easier to form and maintain interpersonal relationships and to ‘fit in’ to group situations.
People with higher emotional intelligence are also better at understanding their own psychological state, which can include managing stress effectively and being less likely to suffer from depression.
There is no correlation between IQ and EI scores.
In other words, academic aptitude (IQ) has no connection with how people understand and deal with their emotions and the emotions of others (EI). This makes perfect sense: we’ve all met very clever people who nonetheless had no idea about how to deal with people, and the reverse.
Some people have high IQs and low emotional intelligence and vice versa, while some people score highly on both and some do not.
IQ and emotional intelligence attempt to measure different forms of human intelligence; along with personality, these measures make up an individual’s psyche.
Emotional intelligence is the one part of the human psyche that we can develop and improve by learning and practising new skills. You can learn more about these skills from the many pages here at SkillsYouNeed. IQ and personality are more static measures and likely to stay reasonably constant throughout life (although you can develop your ability to complete IQ tests very successfully).
For more about personality types, you may be interested in our pages on Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) and MBTI in Practice.
You can find many different tests to help you measure your IQ, EI and personality online and in books. Emotional intelligence tests require that the person taking the test answers questions honestly and it is therefore a lot easier to ‘cheat’ at an EI test than it is an IQ test.
Ultimately emotional intelligence can only be measured by how an individual progresses through life - developing meaningful relationships with others, their interpersonal skills and understanding, their ability to manage their own emotions, and their personal skills.
Elements of Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman divided Emotional Intelligence into ‘Personal’ and ‘Social’ competences, which broadly split between personal and interpersonal skills on SkillsYouNeed. Within each of these sections are a range of skills which are the elements of emotional intelligence.
Personal Skills or Competences
There are three areas of personal skills or competences in emotional intelligence.
1. Self-awareness
Self-awareness encompasses:
Emotional awareness
Accurate self-assessment
Self-confidence
Self-awareness is the skill of being aware of and understanding your emotions as they occur and as they evolve. It is wrong to think of emotions as either positive or negative. Instead, you should think of them as appropriate or inappropriate.
For example, anger is usually associated with being a negative emotion. However, it can be a completely reasonable and appropriate emotion in certain circumstances – emotional intelligence allows us to recognise our anger and understand why this emotion has occurred.
Effective self-assessment of feelings and emotions will help to improve your confidence and self-esteem.
See our pages on Self-Awareness and Confidence for more.
2. Self-regulation or Self-management
Self-regulation includes:
Self-control
Trustworthiness
Conscientiousness
Adaptability
Innovation
Having learned to be aware of your emotions, the skill of self-regulation relates to managing them appropriately and proportionately.
Self-management skills relate to the emotions you are feeling at any given time or in any given circumstance and how well you manage them. Self-control is a fundamental part of this, but other aspects relate to what you then do: whether you behave in a way which is recognised as ‘good’ or ‘virtuous’ or not.
See our page on Self-Regulation for more.
Motivation
The final personal skills aspect of emotional intelligence is Motivation.
Self-motivation includes our personal drive to improve and achieve, commitment to our goals, initiative, or readiness to act on opportunities, and optimism and resilience.
Self-motivation and personal time management are key skills in this area. Do not make unreasonable demands on yourself, learn to be assertive rather than just saying, ‘Yes’ to the demands of others.
See our pages on Self-Motivation and Time Management for guidance and best practice.
Social or Interpersonal Skills or Competences
Interpersonal skills are the skills we use to interact with other people. They enable us to communicate appropriately and build stronger, more meaningful relationships. Emotional intelligence includes how we understand others and their emotions, and our actions and behaviours towards them.
There are two key aspects.
1. Empathy
Empathy is an awareness of the needs and feelings of others both individually and in groups, and being able to see things from the point of view of others.
Empathy helps us to develop a stronger understanding of other people’s situations.
It includes understanding others, developing others, having a service orientation, leveraging diversity, and political awareness.
Empathy can often be difficult to achieve. Learn to listen effectively to both the verbal and non-verbal messages of others, including body movements, gestures and physical signs of emotion. Use questions to find out more about other people and what they are feeling, and feedback to clarify that you have correctly understood their feelings. Acknowledge and respect the feelings of others even if you disagree, and avoid making comments or statements that are judgemental, belittling, rejecting or undermining.
See our page on Empathy for more.
2. Social Skills
Social skills encompasses a wide range of relationship and interpersonal skills. These range from leadership through to influencing and persuading, and managing conflict, as well as working in a team.
The term ‘social skills’ covers a wide variety of skills and competencies, many of which are rooted in self-esteem and personal confidence. By developing your social skills, being easy to talk to, being a good listener, being sharing and trustworthy, you also become more charismatic and attractive to others.
This in turn improves self-esteem and confidence which makes it easier for positive personal dialogue and a greater understanding and acceptance of your own emotions.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
A logical assumption, therefore, is that people with higher IQs will be more successful at work and through life. This assumption has been proven incorrect – there is more to success than simply being ‘clever’.
Benefits of Higher Emotional Intelligence
People with higher emotional intelligence find it easier to form and maintain interpersonal relationships and to ‘fit in’ to group situations.
People with higher emotional intelligence are also better at understanding their own psychological state, which can include managing stress effectively and being less likely to suffer from depression.
There is no correlation between IQ and EI scores.
In other words, academic aptitude (IQ) has no connection with how people understand and deal with their emotions and the emotions of others (EI). This makes perfect sense: we’ve all met very clever people who nonetheless had no idea about how to deal with people, and the reverse.
Some people have high IQs and low emotional intelligence and vice versa, while some people score highly on both and some do not.
IQ and emotional intelligence attempt to measure different forms of human intelligence; along with personality, these measures make up an individual’s psyche.
Emotional intelligence is the one part of the human psyche that we can develop and improve by learning and practising new skills. You can learn more about these skills from the many pages here at SkillsYouNeed. IQ and personality are more static measures and likely to stay reasonably constant throughout life (although you can develop your ability to complete IQ tests very successfully).
For more about personality types, you may be interested in our pages on Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) and MBTI in Practice.
You can find many different tests to help you measure your IQ, EI and personality online and in books. Emotional intelligence tests require that the person taking the test answers questions honestly and it is therefore a lot easier to ‘cheat’ at an EI test than it is an IQ test.
Ultimately emotional intelligence can only be measured by how an individual progresses through life - developing meaningful relationships with others, their interpersonal skills and understanding, their ability to manage their own emotions, and their personal skills.
Elements of Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman divided Emotional Intelligence into ‘Personal’ and ‘Social’ competences, which broadly split between personal and interpersonal skills on SkillsYouNeed. Within each of these sections are a range of skills which are the elements of emotional intelligence.
Personal Skills or Competences
There are three areas of personal skills or competences in emotional intelligence.
1. Self-awareness
Self-awareness encompasses:
Emotional awareness
Accurate self-assessment
Self-confidence
Self-awareness is the skill of being aware of and understanding your emotions as they occur and as they evolve. It is wrong to think of emotions as either positive or negative. Instead, you should think of them as appropriate or inappropriate.
For example, anger is usually associated with being a negative emotion. However, it can be a completely reasonable and appropriate emotion in certain circumstances – emotional intelligence allows us to recognise our anger and understand why this emotion has occurred.
Effective self-assessment of feelings and emotions will help to improve your confidence and self-esteem.
See our pages on Self-Awareness and Confidence for more.
2. Self-regulation or Self-management
Self-regulation includes:
Self-control
Trustworthiness
Conscientiousness
Adaptability
Innovation
Having learned to be aware of your emotions, the skill of self-regulation relates to managing them appropriately and proportionately.
Self-management skills relate to the emotions you are feeling at any given time or in any given circumstance and how well you manage them. Self-control is a fundamental part of this, but other aspects relate to what you then do: whether you behave in a way which is recognised as ‘good’ or ‘virtuous’ or not.
See our page on Self-Regulation for more.
Motivation
The final personal skills aspect of emotional intelligence is Motivation.
Self-motivation includes our personal drive to improve and achieve, commitment to our goals, initiative, or readiness to act on opportunities, and optimism and resilience.
Self-motivation and personal time management are key skills in this area. Do not make unreasonable demands on yourself, learn to be assertive rather than just saying, ‘Yes’ to the demands of others.
See our pages on Self-Motivation and Time Management for guidance and best practice.
Social or Interpersonal Skills or Competences
Interpersonal skills are the skills we use to interact with other people. They enable us to communicate appropriately and build stronger, more meaningful relationships. Emotional intelligence includes how we understand others and their emotions, and our actions and behaviours towards them.
There are two key aspects.
1. Empathy
Empathy is an awareness of the needs and feelings of others both individually and in groups, and being able to see things from the point of view of others.
Empathy helps us to develop a stronger understanding of other people’s situations.
It includes understanding others, developing others, having a service orientation, leveraging diversity, and political awareness.
Empathy can often be difficult to achieve. Learn to listen effectively to both the verbal and non-verbal messages of others, including body movements, gestures and physical signs of emotion. Use questions to find out more about other people and what they are feeling, and feedback to clarify that you have correctly understood their feelings. Acknowledge and respect the feelings of others even if you disagree, and avoid making comments or statements that are judgemental, belittling, rejecting or undermining.
See our page on Empathy for more.
2. Social Skills
Social skills encompasses a wide range of relationship and interpersonal skills. These range from leadership through to influencing and persuading, and managing conflict, as well as working in a team.
The term ‘social skills’ covers a wide variety of skills and competencies, many of which are rooted in self-esteem and personal confidence. By developing your social skills, being easy to talk to, being a good listener, being sharing and trustworthy, you also become more charismatic and attractive to others.
This in turn improves self-esteem and confidence which makes it easier for positive personal dialogue and a greater understanding and acceptance of your own emotions.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, provides practical ways in which you can change the way that you think, view past events, and approach your life.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming shows you how to take control of your mind, and therefore your life. Unlike psychoanalysis, which focuses on the ‘why’, NLP is very practical and focuses on the ‘how’.
Taking Control of Your Mind: The Principle Behind NLP
NLP works from the starting point that you may not control much in your life, but that you can always take control of what goes on in your head.
Your thoughts, feelings and emotions are not things that are, or that you have, but things that you do. Their causes can often be very complicated, involving, for instance, comments or beliefs from your parents or teachers, or events that you have experienced.
NLP shows you how you can take control of these beliefs and influences. Using mind techniques such as visualisation, you can change the way that you think and feel about past events, fears and even phobias.
What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, provides practical ways in which you can change the way that you think, view past events, and approach your life.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming shows you how to take control of your mind, and therefore your life. Unlike psychoanalysis, which focuses on the ‘why’, NLP is very practical and focuses on the ‘how’.
How NLP Began
NLP was co-created by Richard Bandler, who noticed that conventional psychotherapy techniques didn’t always work and was interested in trying different ways. He worked closely with a very successful therapist called Virginia Satir, and NLP was born from the techniques that really worked with patients and others.
Richard Bandler has written many books about NLP. One of the most helpful as a basic introduction is probably: How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP, by Richard Bandler, Alessio Roberti and Owen Fitzpatrick.
Taking Control of Your Mind: The Principle Behind NLP
NLP works from the starting point that you may not control much in your life, but that you can always take control of what goes on in your head.
Your thoughts, feelings and emotions are not things that are, or that you have, but things that you do. Their causes can often be very complicated, involving, for instance, comments or beliefs from your parents or teachers, or events that you have experienced.
NLP shows you how you can take control of these beliefs and influences. Using mind techniques such as visualisation, you can change the way that you think and feel about past events, fears and even phobias.
You can’t always control what happens, but you can always control how you deal with it
Richard Bandler, Alessio Roberti and Owen Fitzpatrick, How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP
The Power of Belief
What you believe can be extremely powerful.
If you believe you’re ill and that you’re going to die, you probably will: witch doctors have been using this technique for centuries.
Likewise, if you believe that you have been given something that will make you better, you often do get better. This ‘placebo effect’ is well-documented in clinical trials.
What this boils down to is that if you believe you can do something, you probably can. But you can also challenge limiting beliefs, and change whether you believe you can do something by asking yourself questions like:
How do I know I can’t do that?
Who said that to me? Might they have been wrong?
Goal Setting
We’re all familiar with the principles of goal-setting, but NLP suggests some interesting new insights, focusing on satisfaction, not dissatisfaction.
For example, it’s helpful to make your goals positive; focus on what you want to have, not what you’d like to lose or not have. You should also think about what it is that you really want. For example, you don’t actually want to buy your dream house, you want to live in it. It’s much easier to get motivated about a goal that really satisfies you.
The Power of Questions
Bandler suggests that our minds actively look for answers to questions.
So if you ask yourself ‘Why do I feel so bad?’, your mind will find lots of answers and you will feel worse. With NLP the key is to ask the right questions, for example:
Why do I want to change?
What will life be like when I have changed?
What do I need to do more/less of in order to change?
Questions like these naturally lead to a more positive outlook.
ome Tools and Techniques from NLP
There are many tools and techniques used in NLP and this section gives a brief introduction to a few.
To find out more, you could go on a reputable NLP course, or read one of Richard Bandler’s books.
Moving images
Imagine an image of someone who annoys you. Concentrate on how the picture appears in your mind.
Make the image smaller, put it in black and white, and imagine it moving away from you. Notice how this makes you feel.
Imagine a picture of something that makes you feel good. Make it bigger and brighter, and move it closer to you. Notice how this makes you feel.
The idea behind this thought process is that it helps you see how people or events affect you and understand the way you feel about them.
By manipulating images in this way, you are teaching your brain to magnify good feelings and make bad feelings weaker.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, provides practical ways in which you can change the way that you think, view past events, and approach your life.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming shows you how to take control of your mind, and therefore your life. Unlike psychoanalysis, which focuses on the ‘why’, NLP is very practical and focuses on the ‘how’.
Taking Control of Your Mind: The Principle Behind NLP
NLP works from the starting point that you may not control much in your life, but that you can always take control of what goes on in your head.
Your thoughts, feelings and emotions are not things that are, or that you have, but things that you do. Their causes can often be very complicated, involving, for instance, comments or beliefs from your parents or teachers, or events that you have experienced.
NLP shows you how you can take control of these beliefs and influences. Using mind techniques such as visualisation, you can change the way that you think and feel about past events, fears and even phobias.
What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, provides practical ways in which you can change the way that you think, view past events, and approach your life.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming shows you how to take control of your mind, and therefore your life. Unlike psychoanalysis, which focuses on the ‘why’, NLP is very practical and focuses on the ‘how’.
How NLP Began
NLP was co-created by Richard Bandler, who noticed that conventional psychotherapy techniques didn’t always work and was interested in trying different ways. He worked closely with a very successful therapist called Virginia Satir, and NLP was born from the techniques that really worked with patients and others.
Richard Bandler has written many books about NLP. One of the most helpful as a basic introduction is probably: How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP, by Richard Bandler, Alessio Roberti and Owen Fitzpatrick.
Taking Control of Your Mind: The Principle Behind NLP
NLP works from the starting point that you may not control much in your life, but that you can always take control of what goes on in your head.
Your thoughts, feelings and emotions are not things that are, or that you have, but things that you do. Their causes can often be very complicated, involving, for instance, comments or beliefs from your parents or teachers, or events that you have experienced.
NLP shows you how you can take control of these beliefs and influences. Using mind techniques such as visualisation, you can change the way that you think and feel about past events, fears and even phobias.
You can’t always control what happens, but you can always control how you deal with it
Richard Bandler, Alessio Roberti and Owen Fitzpatrick, How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP
The Power of Belief
What you believe can be extremely powerful.
If you believe you’re ill and that you’re going to die, you probably will: witch doctors have been using this technique for centuries.
Likewise, if you believe that you have been given something that will make you better, you often do get better. This ‘placebo effect’ is well-documented in clinical trials.
What this boils down to is that if you believe you can do something, you probably can. But you can also challenge limiting beliefs, and change whether you believe you can do something by asking yourself questions like:
How do I know I can’t do that?
Who said that to me? Might they have been wrong?
Goal Setting
We’re all familiar with the principles of goal-setting, but NLP suggests some interesting new insights, focusing on satisfaction, not dissatisfaction.
For example, it’s helpful to make your goals positive; focus on what you want to have, not what you’d like to lose or not have. You should also think about what it is that you really want. For example, you don’t actually want to buy your dream house, you want to live in it. It’s much easier to get motivated about a goal that really satisfies you.
The Power of Questions
Bandler suggests that our minds actively look for answers to questions.
So if you ask yourself ‘Why do I feel so bad?’, your mind will find lots of answers and you will feel worse. With NLP the key is to ask the right questions, for example:
Why do I want to change?
What will life be like when I have changed?
What do I need to do more/less of in order to change?
Questions like these naturally lead to a more positive outlook.
ome Tools and Techniques from NLP
There are many tools and techniques used in NLP and this section gives a brief introduction to a few.
To find out more, you could go on a reputable NLP course, or read one of Richard Bandler’s books.
Moving images
Imagine an image of someone who annoys you. Concentrate on how the picture appears in your mind.
Make the image smaller, put it in black and white, and imagine it moving away from you. Notice how this makes you feel.
Imagine a picture of something that makes you feel good. Make it bigger and brighter, and move it closer to you. Notice how this makes you feel.
The idea behind this thought process is that it helps you see how people or events affect you and understand the way you feel about them.
By manipulating images in this way, you are teaching your brain to magnify good feelings and make bad feelings weaker.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Creative Thinking Skills
How is it that some people always seem to be able to generate new ideas and think creatively, and others seem to struggle to do so?
Regardless of whether you view yourself as a creative type or not, you can learn some useful skills and techniques which will enable you to tap into that creative ‘right brain’ thinking and bring a new perspective to innovation, problem-solving and managing change.
Although at first glance, creative thinking techniques may sometimes look a bit ridiculous, there are good principles behind most of them. However sceptical you may be about their potential, it’s a good idea to approach them with an open mind. You may be surprised by the results.
This page gives information about a few of the many techniques available.
Brainstorming is the often-maligned practice of getting a group of people together and generating ideas.
It’s generally agreed that the rules of brainstorming, at least in the initial stages, include:
Everyone having a say
All ideas being equally valued
No criticism of other people's ideas is allowed
There are at least a couple of different ways that brainstorming sessions can be run:
Everyone follows up an initial idea, feeding off it to generate new ones, until an end point is reached on that idea, at which point the group turns to a new idea and does the same.
Participants are encouraged to come up with more free-flow generation of unconnected ideas that can then be grouped and themed later.
It is also generally agreed that following an initial period of open brainstorming, there needs to be a period of idea evaluation where questions are asked and criticisms are made. This allows for initial ideas to be explored in more detail and accepted for further investigation or discarded.
Many people also use this opportunity to group ideas by theme to make exploration easier since, often, a lot of the ideas will be linked.
The principle behind brainstorming is Linus Pauling’s point that most ideas are not very good. So the best way to have a good idea is to generate lots of ideas, then discard the impractical and inappropriate ideas. The trouble is that there is no scientific formula for the number of ideas you need to generate to find a good one, or even a guarantee that you’ll be able to find a good one at all.
It is important to set aside plenty of time for brainstorming, and to keep exploring even when you think you’ve found a good idea: the first idea is very seldom the best.
Engaging your Right Brain
Much research has been done over the years on the way in which the two sides of the brain work differently.
The left side of the brain is supposedly focused on logic and order.
The right side of the brain focused on the more 'messy', creative and innovative aspects.
Although this is a rather extreme view, there does seem to be evidence that doing physical activities that engage the creative areas of your brain can help you think differently.
One fairly simple way to do this is by drawing or creating something in three dimensions, perhaps using junk-modelling or balloons and post-it notes. This can be an individual or group activity, to aid either your own or everyone’s thinking processes.
Being able to draw is not a prerequisite to this approach. It’s the activity, not the precise form at the end, that’s important.
Role-Play Situations
Role-play situations are probably the 'Marmite' of management development courses: you either love them or you hate them. But love them or hate them, they can have some dramatic results.
‘Role-play’, does not just include the basic ‘pretend I’m your customer’-type role-plays, or even ‘walk around the room trying to channel an animal’-type exercises, which rightly or wrongly are often regarded as something of a waste of time.
Role-play situations also cover other, more radical and powerful ideas such as Richard Olivier’s Mythodrama, which explores leadership through the medium of Shakespeare’s plays. Olivier found using Henry V as a management textbook opens up some interesting ideas, and there is more about his ideas on our page on Leadership Styles.
The term ‘role-play’ also encompasses Business Constellations.
Business Constellations is a technique emerging from family therapy, which allows a group to explore the interrelationships within it by the use of actors or group members to represent particular individuals, not necessarily themselves.
One person starts by placing all the others in the room to show the way that they see the problem.
In turn, each person in the group then moves to where they see themselves fitting best. And of course, as each person moves, it affects the others in the group, who then want to move again.
The end point is reached when everyone is comfortable with their location within the group, and this represents the ‘shape’ of the group and the dynamics within it.
This is a very powerful technique, which can cause emotions to run high, so should only be undertaken with a trained practitioner to facilitate.
Even those qualified to lead this kind of role-play exercise, and who have done so many times, can often be surprised by their outcomes. There is something about pretending to be someone else and channelling someone else’s emotions which is astonishingly freeing and can lead to hugely creative thinking.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Regardless of whether you view yourself as a creative type or not, you can learn some useful skills and techniques which will enable you to tap into that creative ‘right brain’ thinking and bring a new perspective to innovation, problem-solving and managing change.
Although at first glance, creative thinking techniques may sometimes look a bit ridiculous, there are good principles behind most of them. However sceptical you may be about their potential, it’s a good idea to approach them with an open mind. You may be surprised by the results.
This page gives information about a few of the many techniques available.
Brainstorming is the often-maligned practice of getting a group of people together and generating ideas.
It’s generally agreed that the rules of brainstorming, at least in the initial stages, include:
Everyone having a say
All ideas being equally valued
No criticism of other people's ideas is allowed
There are at least a couple of different ways that brainstorming sessions can be run:
Everyone follows up an initial idea, feeding off it to generate new ones, until an end point is reached on that idea, at which point the group turns to a new idea and does the same.
Participants are encouraged to come up with more free-flow generation of unconnected ideas that can then be grouped and themed later.
It is also generally agreed that following an initial period of open brainstorming, there needs to be a period of idea evaluation where questions are asked and criticisms are made. This allows for initial ideas to be explored in more detail and accepted for further investigation or discarded.
Many people also use this opportunity to group ideas by theme to make exploration easier since, often, a lot of the ideas will be linked.
The principle behind brainstorming is Linus Pauling’s point that most ideas are not very good. So the best way to have a good idea is to generate lots of ideas, then discard the impractical and inappropriate ideas. The trouble is that there is no scientific formula for the number of ideas you need to generate to find a good one, or even a guarantee that you’ll be able to find a good one at all.
It is important to set aside plenty of time for brainstorming, and to keep exploring even when you think you’ve found a good idea: the first idea is very seldom the best.
Engaging your Right Brain
Much research has been done over the years on the way in which the two sides of the brain work differently.
The left side of the brain is supposedly focused on logic and order.
The right side of the brain focused on the more 'messy', creative and innovative aspects.
Although this is a rather extreme view, there does seem to be evidence that doing physical activities that engage the creative areas of your brain can help you think differently.
One fairly simple way to do this is by drawing or creating something in three dimensions, perhaps using junk-modelling or balloons and post-it notes. This can be an individual or group activity, to aid either your own or everyone’s thinking processes.
Being able to draw is not a prerequisite to this approach. It’s the activity, not the precise form at the end, that’s important.
Role-Play Situations
Role-play situations are probably the 'Marmite' of management development courses: you either love them or you hate them. But love them or hate them, they can have some dramatic results.
‘Role-play’, does not just include the basic ‘pretend I’m your customer’-type role-plays, or even ‘walk around the room trying to channel an animal’-type exercises, which rightly or wrongly are often regarded as something of a waste of time.
Role-play situations also cover other, more radical and powerful ideas such as Richard Olivier’s Mythodrama, which explores leadership through the medium of Shakespeare’s plays. Olivier found using Henry V as a management textbook opens up some interesting ideas, and there is more about his ideas on our page on Leadership Styles.
The term ‘role-play’ also encompasses Business Constellations.
Business Constellations is a technique emerging from family therapy, which allows a group to explore the interrelationships within it by the use of actors or group members to represent particular individuals, not necessarily themselves.
One person starts by placing all the others in the room to show the way that they see the problem.
In turn, each person in the group then moves to where they see themselves fitting best. And of course, as each person moves, it affects the others in the group, who then want to move again.
The end point is reached when everyone is comfortable with their location within the group, and this represents the ‘shape’ of the group and the dynamics within it.
This is a very powerful technique, which can cause emotions to run high, so should only be undertaken with a trained practitioner to facilitate.
Even those qualified to lead this kind of role-play exercise, and who have done so many times, can often be surprised by their outcomes. There is something about pretending to be someone else and channelling someone else’s emotions which is astonishingly freeing and can lead to hugely creative thinking.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Critical Thinking Skills
What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas. Critical thinking has been the subject of much debate and thought since the time of early Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates and has continued to be a subject of discussion into the modern age.
Critical thinking might be described as the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.
In essence, critical thinking requires you to use your ability to reason. It is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information.
Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value. They will always seek to determine whether the ideas, arguments and findings represent the entire picture and are open to finding that they do not.
Critical thinkers will identify, analyse and solve problems systematically rather than by intuition or instinct.
Someone with critical thinking skills can:
Understand the links between ideas.
Determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas.
Recognise, build and appraise arguments.
Identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
Approach problems in a consistent and systematic way.
Reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values.
Critical thinking is thinking about things in certain ways so as to arrive at the best possible solution in the circumstances that the thinker is aware of. In more everyday language, it is a way of thinking about whatever is presently occupying your mind so that you come to the best possible conclusion.
The Skills We Need for Critical Thinking
The skills that we need in order to be able to think critically are varied and include observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem solving, and decision making. Specifically we need to be able to:
Think about a topic or issue in an objective and critical way.
Identify the different arguments there are in relation to a particular issue.
Evaluate a point of view to determine how strong or valid it is.
Recognise any weaknesses or negative points that there are in the evidence or argument.
Notice what implications there might be behind a statement or argument.
Provide structured reasoning and support for an argument that we wish to make.
The Critical Thinking Process
You should be aware that none of us think critically all the time.
Sometimes we think in almost any way but critically, for example when our self-control is affected by anger, grief or joy or when we are feeling just plain ‘bloody minded’.
On the other hand, the good news is that, since our critical thinking ability varies according to our current mindset, most of the time we can learn to improve our critical thinking ability by developing certain routine activities and applying them to all problems that present themselves.
Once you understand the theory of critical thinking, improving your critical thinking skills takes persistence and practice.
Try this simple exercise to help you to start thinking critically.
What are you Aiming to Achieve?
One of the most important aspects of critical thinking is to decide what you are aiming to achieve and then make a decision based on a range of possibilities.
Once you have clarified that aim for yourself you should use it as the starting point in all future situations requiring thought and, possibly, further decision making. Where needed, make your workmates, family or those around you aware of your intention to pursue this goal. You must then discipline yourself to keep on track until changing circumstances mean you have to revisit the start of the decision making process.
However, there are things that get in the way of simple decision making. We all carry with us a range of likes and dislikes, learnt behaviours and personal preferences developed throughout our lives; they are the hallmarks of being human. A major contribution to ensuring we think critically is to be aware of these personal characteristics, preferences and biases and make allowance for them when considering possible next steps, whether they are at the pre-action consideration stage or as part of a rethink caused by unexpected or unforeseen impediments to continued progress.
The more clearly we are aware of ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, the more likely our critical thinking will be productive.
The Benefit of Foresight
Perhaps the most important element of thinking critically is foresight.
Almost all decisions we make and implement don’t prove disastrous if we find reasons to abandon them. However, our decision making will be infinitely better and more likely to lead to success if, when we reach a tentative conclusion, we pause and consider the impact on the people and activities around us.
The elements needing consideration are generally numerous and varied. In many cases, consideration of one element from a different perspective will reveal potential dangers in pursuing our decision.
For instance, moving a business activity to a new location may improve potential output considerably but it may also lead to the loss of skilled workers if the distance moved is too great. Which of these is the more important consideration? Is there some way of lessening the conflict?
These are the sort of problems that may arise from incomplete critical thinking, a demonstration perhaps of the critical importance of good critical thinking.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas. Critical thinking has been the subject of much debate and thought since the time of early Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates and has continued to be a subject of discussion into the modern age.
Critical thinking might be described as the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.
In essence, critical thinking requires you to use your ability to reason. It is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information.
Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value. They will always seek to determine whether the ideas, arguments and findings represent the entire picture and are open to finding that they do not.
Critical thinkers will identify, analyse and solve problems systematically rather than by intuition or instinct.
Someone with critical thinking skills can:
Understand the links between ideas.
Determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas.
Recognise, build and appraise arguments.
Identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
Approach problems in a consistent and systematic way.
Reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values.
Critical thinking is thinking about things in certain ways so as to arrive at the best possible solution in the circumstances that the thinker is aware of. In more everyday language, it is a way of thinking about whatever is presently occupying your mind so that you come to the best possible conclusion.
The Skills We Need for Critical Thinking
The skills that we need in order to be able to think critically are varied and include observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem solving, and decision making. Specifically we need to be able to:
Think about a topic or issue in an objective and critical way.
Identify the different arguments there are in relation to a particular issue.
Evaluate a point of view to determine how strong or valid it is.
Recognise any weaknesses or negative points that there are in the evidence or argument.
Notice what implications there might be behind a statement or argument.
Provide structured reasoning and support for an argument that we wish to make.
The Critical Thinking Process
You should be aware that none of us think critically all the time.
Sometimes we think in almost any way but critically, for example when our self-control is affected by anger, grief or joy or when we are feeling just plain ‘bloody minded’.
On the other hand, the good news is that, since our critical thinking ability varies according to our current mindset, most of the time we can learn to improve our critical thinking ability by developing certain routine activities and applying them to all problems that present themselves.
Once you understand the theory of critical thinking, improving your critical thinking skills takes persistence and practice.
Try this simple exercise to help you to start thinking critically.
What are you Aiming to Achieve?
One of the most important aspects of critical thinking is to decide what you are aiming to achieve and then make a decision based on a range of possibilities.
Once you have clarified that aim for yourself you should use it as the starting point in all future situations requiring thought and, possibly, further decision making. Where needed, make your workmates, family or those around you aware of your intention to pursue this goal. You must then discipline yourself to keep on track until changing circumstances mean you have to revisit the start of the decision making process.
However, there are things that get in the way of simple decision making. We all carry with us a range of likes and dislikes, learnt behaviours and personal preferences developed throughout our lives; they are the hallmarks of being human. A major contribution to ensuring we think critically is to be aware of these personal characteristics, preferences and biases and make allowance for them when considering possible next steps, whether they are at the pre-action consideration stage or as part of a rethink caused by unexpected or unforeseen impediments to continued progress.
The more clearly we are aware of ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, the more likely our critical thinking will be productive.
The Benefit of Foresight
Perhaps the most important element of thinking critically is foresight.
Almost all decisions we make and implement don’t prove disastrous if we find reasons to abandon them. However, our decision making will be infinitely better and more likely to lead to success if, when we reach a tentative conclusion, we pause and consider the impact on the people and activities around us.
The elements needing consideration are generally numerous and varied. In many cases, consideration of one element from a different perspective will reveal potential dangers in pursuing our decision.
For instance, moving a business activity to a new location may improve potential output considerably but it may also lead to the loss of skilled workers if the distance moved is too great. Which of these is the more important consideration? Is there some way of lessening the conflict?
These are the sort of problems that may arise from incomplete critical thinking, a demonstration perhaps of the critical importance of good critical thinking.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Thứ Hai, 22 tháng 8, 2016
Memory Skills
Many people complain that their ability to remember things declines with age. But the onset of ‘senior moments’ is not inevitable, as is sometimes suggested.
Being able to remember is a skill that can be improved by practice. It is perhaps more likely that the reason that memory declines with age is that we stop practising.
This page sets out some ideas to help you improve your memory skills, and explains what you can do to develop a better memory.
How Memory Works
The mechanism for memory is unknown, like much of the way the brain works. It does seem clear, however, that there are two types of memory, short-term and long-term.
Short-term memory is generally considered to be your day-to-day memory. Also known as ‘working memory’, it is where you keep information while you are using it, and until you either discard it or transfer it to your long-term memory.
Long-term memory is related to what you did in the past, sometimes going back years. But some of what is stored in your long-term memory may relate to more recent events. It is probably better considered a place where your brain stores information that it wants to keep.
Experts describe three types of long-term memory. These are:
Explicit, requiring conscious thought, which is what most of us have in mind when we talk about memory;
Implicit, relating to learnt activities that have become so natural that we no longer have to think about them; and
Autobiographical, relating to specific parts of our lives, some of which seem to be easier to remember than others.
Keeping Yourself Healthy
Perhaps the most important thing that you can do to maintain your memory is to keep yourself healthy. Nobody can operate at their best if they are feeling tired and rundown.
Areas for attention include:
Eating Well
There are certain foods that have a reputation for helping to improve brain function, but the evidence for this is mixed to say the least.
Eating a healthy and balanced diet will, however, be good for your general health and well-being, and enable you to function at your best.
For more about this, see our pages on Diet and Nutrition.
Sleep
The general consensus among scientists is that adults need about seven to nine hours’ sleep each night.
Of course getting less every now and then will not hurt you, but regular and serious sleep deprivation will seriously impair your mental performance, including your ability to remember important information. Scientists also think that sleep enables our brains to process events and help to turn them into memories, which is another reason why sleep is so important for good memory.
For more about this, see our pages: What is Sleep? and The Importance of Sleep.
Physical Exercise
The third aspect of physical health is getting enough exercise. As our page on Keeping your Mind Healthy explains, neuroscientists believe that exercise is crucial to brain health because of its effect on blood flow.
You may want to read more about the Importance of Exercise.
Alcohol, Smoking and Drug Abuse
It should probably go without saying that using chemicals that affect your mind, and this includes alcohol and nicotine as well as illegal drugs, is going to affect your memory. To keep your memory in good working order, it is as well to avoid excessive use of any such drugs.
Stress
As our pages on stress discuss, a little stress is good for you. But severe, prolonged stress can damage both your physical and mental health.
Exposure to the cocktail of hormones generated by stress will affect your ability to think more generally, never mind to remember. The phrase ‘My mind went blank’ is associated with stressful moments for a reason. Getting stress under control will help you to improve your memory.
There is more about all of these areas in our pages on Caring for Your Body and Keeping your Mind Healthy.
Memory-Specific Activity
Everything that we have mentioned so far could be said to improve your general health, both mental and physical.
But there are also specific activities that you can do to improve your memory and, perhaps more specifically, your ability to recall information
if you can’t remember something, you have not learned it.
They suggest that learning is more durable if it is harder. If you have to work hard to learn a new skill, it will stay with you for longer.
It seems likely that the brain is more prepared to retain something that has taken a lot of effort and energy.
The book contains some useful tips for improving your memory:
Retrieval: practise remembering the information or skill.
For example, when studying, a simple way to do this is to shut your eyes, and try to recite your notes or ideas, not simply read them over again.
Forcing ourselves to retrieve the information makes it easier to remember, because it is harder than simply reading it. It also strengthens the neural pathways associated with the concept.
Elaboration: expanding on what you know, and making connections.
Our brains really like connections between ideas. It makes them much easier to remember. This is one reason why it is easier to remember something that is related to a topic that you already know about, than a completely new idea.
It is therefore helpful to try to explain new ideas in your own words and/or describe how they relate to your existing knowledge.
Interleaving: working on various different subjects at the same time.
Thinking about different subjects, spending perhaps half an hour on each at a time, helps you to remember each better. This may be because it gives your brain a bit of a rest from each one, allowing your subconscious to work on it while you are thinking about something else. The authors of Make It Stick suggest that it goes back to our prehistoric past, and the need to assess a problem before you can find a solution.
Generation: working out the answer as you go.
Otherwise known as ‘thinking out loud’ or ‘making it up on the spot’, depending on your point of view, working things out from first principles helps you to remember them.
Reflection: review what happened.
Our page on Reflective Practice explains the benefits of thinking about and reviewing events more generally. But it seems that reflecting also helps you to fix the lessons from an experience in your mind.
Mnemonics: using tricks to trigger memory.
Mnemonics are phrases and tricks designed to trigger your memory. They include acronyms, such as ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain’ to remember the colours of the rainbow or HOMES to remember the names of the Great Lakes.
Mnemonics can also be more complicated, such as making lists linked to images to assist recall.
Calibration: finding out what you don't know.
Calibration is a necessary part of learning. It is extremely difficult to learn anything if you don’t understand that you need to know it. Ways of calibrating include seeking out feedback, and taking tests.
You Don’t Need to Remember Everything!
Of course it is a good idea to improve your memory and recall, and the ideas on this page will help you to do so.
But it is as important to remember that you don’t have to remember everything in your head. Writing things down, for example, in ‘To Do’ lists, will free up your mind to remember the big things, and allow your memory to prioritise the most important.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Being able to remember is a skill that can be improved by practice. It is perhaps more likely that the reason that memory declines with age is that we stop practising.
This page sets out some ideas to help you improve your memory skills, and explains what you can do to develop a better memory.
How Memory Works
The mechanism for memory is unknown, like much of the way the brain works. It does seem clear, however, that there are two types of memory, short-term and long-term.
Short-term memory is generally considered to be your day-to-day memory. Also known as ‘working memory’, it is where you keep information while you are using it, and until you either discard it or transfer it to your long-term memory.
Long-term memory is related to what you did in the past, sometimes going back years. But some of what is stored in your long-term memory may relate to more recent events. It is probably better considered a place where your brain stores information that it wants to keep.
Experts describe three types of long-term memory. These are:
Explicit, requiring conscious thought, which is what most of us have in mind when we talk about memory;
Implicit, relating to learnt activities that have become so natural that we no longer have to think about them; and
Autobiographical, relating to specific parts of our lives, some of which seem to be easier to remember than others.
Keeping Yourself Healthy
Perhaps the most important thing that you can do to maintain your memory is to keep yourself healthy. Nobody can operate at their best if they are feeling tired and rundown.
Areas for attention include:
Eating Well
There are certain foods that have a reputation for helping to improve brain function, but the evidence for this is mixed to say the least.
Eating a healthy and balanced diet will, however, be good for your general health and well-being, and enable you to function at your best.
For more about this, see our pages on Diet and Nutrition.
Sleep
The general consensus among scientists is that adults need about seven to nine hours’ sleep each night.
Of course getting less every now and then will not hurt you, but regular and serious sleep deprivation will seriously impair your mental performance, including your ability to remember important information. Scientists also think that sleep enables our brains to process events and help to turn them into memories, which is another reason why sleep is so important for good memory.
For more about this, see our pages: What is Sleep? and The Importance of Sleep.
Physical Exercise
The third aspect of physical health is getting enough exercise. As our page on Keeping your Mind Healthy explains, neuroscientists believe that exercise is crucial to brain health because of its effect on blood flow.
You may want to read more about the Importance of Exercise.
Alcohol, Smoking and Drug Abuse
It should probably go without saying that using chemicals that affect your mind, and this includes alcohol and nicotine as well as illegal drugs, is going to affect your memory. To keep your memory in good working order, it is as well to avoid excessive use of any such drugs.
Stress
As our pages on stress discuss, a little stress is good for you. But severe, prolonged stress can damage both your physical and mental health.
Exposure to the cocktail of hormones generated by stress will affect your ability to think more generally, never mind to remember. The phrase ‘My mind went blank’ is associated with stressful moments for a reason. Getting stress under control will help you to improve your memory.
There is more about all of these areas in our pages on Caring for Your Body and Keeping your Mind Healthy.
Memory-Specific Activity
Everything that we have mentioned so far could be said to improve your general health, both mental and physical.
But there are also specific activities that you can do to improve your memory and, perhaps more specifically, your ability to recall information
if you can’t remember something, you have not learned it.
They suggest that learning is more durable if it is harder. If you have to work hard to learn a new skill, it will stay with you for longer.
It seems likely that the brain is more prepared to retain something that has taken a lot of effort and energy.
The book contains some useful tips for improving your memory:
Retrieval: practise remembering the information or skill.
For example, when studying, a simple way to do this is to shut your eyes, and try to recite your notes or ideas, not simply read them over again.
Forcing ourselves to retrieve the information makes it easier to remember, because it is harder than simply reading it. It also strengthens the neural pathways associated with the concept.
Elaboration: expanding on what you know, and making connections.
Our brains really like connections between ideas. It makes them much easier to remember. This is one reason why it is easier to remember something that is related to a topic that you already know about, than a completely new idea.
It is therefore helpful to try to explain new ideas in your own words and/or describe how they relate to your existing knowledge.
Interleaving: working on various different subjects at the same time.
Thinking about different subjects, spending perhaps half an hour on each at a time, helps you to remember each better. This may be because it gives your brain a bit of a rest from each one, allowing your subconscious to work on it while you are thinking about something else. The authors of Make It Stick suggest that it goes back to our prehistoric past, and the need to assess a problem before you can find a solution.
Generation: working out the answer as you go.
Otherwise known as ‘thinking out loud’ or ‘making it up on the spot’, depending on your point of view, working things out from first principles helps you to remember them.
Reflection: review what happened.
Our page on Reflective Practice explains the benefits of thinking about and reviewing events more generally. But it seems that reflecting also helps you to fix the lessons from an experience in your mind.
Mnemonics: using tricks to trigger memory.
Mnemonics are phrases and tricks designed to trigger your memory. They include acronyms, such as ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain’ to remember the colours of the rainbow or HOMES to remember the names of the Great Lakes.
Mnemonics can also be more complicated, such as making lists linked to images to assist recall.
Calibration: finding out what you don't know.
Calibration is a necessary part of learning. It is extremely difficult to learn anything if you don’t understand that you need to know it. Ways of calibrating include seeking out feedback, and taking tests.
You Don’t Need to Remember Everything!
Of course it is a good idea to improve your memory and recall, and the ideas on this page will help you to do so.
But it is as important to remember that you don’t have to remember everything in your head. Writing things down, for example, in ‘To Do’ lists, will free up your mind to remember the big things, and allow your memory to prioritise the most important.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Setting Personal Goals
There is a strong correlation between self-motivation, personal goals and achievement.
In order to get properly motivated, and indeed to achieve, it helps to spend some time thinking about your personal goals and what you want to achieve in your life.
We all have an inbuilt desire to achieve.
What we want to achieve, however, is personal to us and may change through life. At school, for example, you may want to achieve good grades, then later you may want to pass your driving test or get a job.
It is important to set yourself clear goals if you wish to achieve your ambitions.
The Relationship between Motivation, Goals and Achievement
People want to know that they have achieved, or have the ability to achieve, something of value, meaning or importance.
Understanding the relationship between self-motivation, personal goal setting and achievement will help you set realistic personal goals, which in turn will allow you to achieve more in the longer term.
Personal goals can provide long-term direction and short-term motivation.
Goals help us to focus on what we want to be or where we want to go with our lives. They can be a way of utilising knowledge, and managing time and resources, so that you can focus on making the most of your life potential.
By setting clearly defined personal goals, you can measure your achievements and keep sight of your progress; if you fail to achieve at one step you can reassess your situation and try new approaches. Keeping your life goals clearly defined and updated as your circumstances change and evolve is one of the most powerful ways to keep yourself motivated throughout life.
Life Goals
It is important to remember, when thinking about what you would like to achieve in your life, that change is inevitable.
Your circumstances and priorities will change through your life. You may realise at the age of 40 that you are never going to be a concert pianist – as you had planned when you were 19. However, there will be other things that you can achieve instead, and you can still continue to improve your piano-playing and get pleasure from it.
See our page on Personal Change Management for more on coping with the inevitable changes in life.
When thinking about your lifetime goals, it is a good idea to make them challenging and exciting. Base them on your strengths but make them relevant to you and ultimately achievable.
It may be useful to categorise life goals:
Academic goals – what knowledge and/or qualifications do you want to achieve?
Career goals – where would you like your career to take you, what level do you want to reach?
Monetary goals – what do you aim to earn at a given point in your life?
Ethical goals – do you want to volunteer some of your time to a good cause or get involved in local events, politics etc.?
Creative goals – how do you want to progress creatively or artistically?
Domestic goals – how would you like your domestic life to be in the future?
Physical goals – do you want to develop your skill in a certain sport or other physical activity?
Once you have thought about your life goals, you can start to plan how best to achieve them. Set yourself smaller goals for the future. In ten years I will be… in five years I will be… etc.
Work out plans of action with smaller and smaller sub-goals until you can arrive at an action plan that you can start working on now.
Making Your Goals SMART:
It can be useful to make your goals and sub-goals fit the SMART criteria.
These are:
S
Specific
Make each goal specific, so you know exactly what it is.
Take some time to clearly define your goals and sub-goals, the more detail about what your goals are and how you intend to achieve them the better.
M
Measurable
Make each goal measurable so you know how you are progressing.
You need to be able to see how you are progressing to reaching your goals. What metrics can you use to measure your progress?
A
Attainable
Don’t set impossible goals, make sure each goal and sub-goal is attainable.
The larger the goal the more impossible it may seem but if you split it down into simple sub-goals then you will find each step is more attainable.
R
Relevant
Make your goals relevant.
Ensure your sub-goals are relevant to your life goals. Try not to set goals that don't ultimately help you to achieve your overall life goals.
T
Timed
Set time-limits or deadlines for each goal and sub-goal.
If you can set and stick to realistic deadlines then you'll avoid too much distraction or procrastination and keep yourself motivated.
Reviewing your Life Goals
As with anything in life, just setting goals is not enough.
You have to review your goals regularly, perhaps every few months, and certainly every year, to make sure that:
The goals are still relevant to what you want to achieve; and
You are on track to achieve them.
If not, you need to revise them, in line with your current situation.
Your goals need to motivate you and excite you
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t had as much time as you would have liked to devote to learning to play the piano; it does matter if you haven’t done anything towards it because you’re really not that bothered about it.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Self-Motivation
Self-motivation is, in its simplest form, the force that drives you to do things.
Self-motivation is far from being a simple topic; there are many books, webpages and articles that attempt to explain self-motivation and some top academics have dedicated their life’s work to trying to understand, model and develop motivation theory.
Self-motivation is a key life skill and something that everybody interested in personal development should think carefully about. It is also a key part of emotional intelligence, one of the three areas of personal skills that are integral to the concept.
What is Motivation?
Motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve overall quality of life.
Daniel Goleman, the author of several seminal books on Emotional Intelligence, identified four elements that make up motivation:
Personal drive to achieve, the desire to improve or to meet certain standards;
Commitment to personal or organisational goals;
Initiative, which he defined as ‘readiness to act on opportunities’; and
Optimism, the ability to keep going and pursue goals in the face of setbacks.
There are many advantages to self-motivation. People who are self-motivated, for example, tend to be more organised, have good time management skills and more self-esteem and confidence.
Understanding and developing your self-motivation can help you to take control of many other aspects of your life.
What is Your Motive?
Fundamental to self-motivation is understanding what motivates you to do things.
This may sound straightforward but sometimes your motivation is hidden from your consciousness – your own personal hidden agenda. Your motivation may well change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day and through life. As this happens your needs, wants and goals change and evolve.
The Importance of Obligation
What about if a task has neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivators?
The obvious conclusion is that we are unlikely to do it, because it will be pointless.
We all know it doesn’t always work like that. There is a further issue: feelings of obligation.
Obligation motivators are not necessarily strictly intrinsic or extrinsic but can still be very powerful. Obligation comes from our personal ethics and sense of duty, what is right and what is wrong.
You may feel obliged to go to a party because you were invited by somebody you know – there will be no obvious extrinsic or intrinsic benefit to you attending but you may worry if you don’t go. You are more likely to enjoy the party you feel obliged to attend if you go with a positive and open attitude – this way you have also added an intrinsic motivator, fun and enjoyment.
Skills Involved in Self-Motivation
There are a number of skills involved in self-motivation.
These include:
Setting high but realistic goals.
For more about this, see our page on Setting Personal Goals.
Taking the right level of risk.
See our page on Risk Management for more about this.
Seeking constant feedback to work out how to improve.
For more, see our pages on Giving and Receiving Feedback and Dealing with Criticism.
Being committed to personal or organisational goals and going the ‘extra mile’ to achieve them.
See our pages on Setting Personal Goals and Effective Team-Working for more.
Actively seeking out opportunities and seizing them when they occur.
You may be interested in reading our pages on Courage and also on Personal Empowerment.
Being able to deal with setbacks and continue to pursue goals despite obstacles.
See our page on Resilience for more.
Those who are motivated also find it much easier to motivate others. This can be particularly important in leadership roles.
See our page on Motivation Skills for more.
Keep Motivated
Finally, it is important to keep track of what you want to achieve and stay motivated to do so. To keep your motivation levels up try to:
Learn and Acquire Knowledge
Read, study and talk to people – knowledge and information are key for feeding your mind and keeping you curious and motivated. See our pages What is Learning?, Lifelong Learning and our section: Study Skills for some tips on how to make your learning more effective.
Keep the Company of Enthusiastic People
Try to avoid negative people and seek out positive, well-motivated people. It is a lot easier to be motivated if the people around you are.
Keep Positive
Keep a positive attitude, see problems and set-backs as learning opportunities. For more about this, see our pages on Mindsets and Positive Thinking.
Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Work on ironing out your weaknesses and building on your strengths.
Do It
Try not to procrastinate, assess the risks but keep working towards your goals. See our pages Time Management and Minimising Distractions for more.
Get Help and Help Others
Don’t be afraid to ask other for help and don’t hold back if you can help them. Seeing other people succeed will help to motivate you to do the same.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Self-motivation is far from being a simple topic; there are many books, webpages and articles that attempt to explain self-motivation and some top academics have dedicated their life’s work to trying to understand, model and develop motivation theory.
Self-motivation is a key life skill and something that everybody interested in personal development should think carefully about. It is also a key part of emotional intelligence, one of the three areas of personal skills that are integral to the concept.
What is Motivation?
Motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve overall quality of life.
Daniel Goleman, the author of several seminal books on Emotional Intelligence, identified four elements that make up motivation:
Personal drive to achieve, the desire to improve or to meet certain standards;
Commitment to personal or organisational goals;
Initiative, which he defined as ‘readiness to act on opportunities’; and
Optimism, the ability to keep going and pursue goals in the face of setbacks.
There are many advantages to self-motivation. People who are self-motivated, for example, tend to be more organised, have good time management skills and more self-esteem and confidence.
Understanding and developing your self-motivation can help you to take control of many other aspects of your life.
What is Your Motive?
Fundamental to self-motivation is understanding what motivates you to do things.
This may sound straightforward but sometimes your motivation is hidden from your consciousness – your own personal hidden agenda. Your motivation may well change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day and through life. As this happens your needs, wants and goals change and evolve.
The Importance of Obligation
What about if a task has neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivators?
The obvious conclusion is that we are unlikely to do it, because it will be pointless.
We all know it doesn’t always work like that. There is a further issue: feelings of obligation.
Obligation motivators are not necessarily strictly intrinsic or extrinsic but can still be very powerful. Obligation comes from our personal ethics and sense of duty, what is right and what is wrong.
You may feel obliged to go to a party because you were invited by somebody you know – there will be no obvious extrinsic or intrinsic benefit to you attending but you may worry if you don’t go. You are more likely to enjoy the party you feel obliged to attend if you go with a positive and open attitude – this way you have also added an intrinsic motivator, fun and enjoyment.
Skills Involved in Self-Motivation
There are a number of skills involved in self-motivation.
These include:
Setting high but realistic goals.
For more about this, see our page on Setting Personal Goals.
Taking the right level of risk.
See our page on Risk Management for more about this.
Seeking constant feedback to work out how to improve.
For more, see our pages on Giving and Receiving Feedback and Dealing with Criticism.
Being committed to personal or organisational goals and going the ‘extra mile’ to achieve them.
See our pages on Setting Personal Goals and Effective Team-Working for more.
Actively seeking out opportunities and seizing them when they occur.
You may be interested in reading our pages on Courage and also on Personal Empowerment.
Being able to deal with setbacks and continue to pursue goals despite obstacles.
See our page on Resilience for more.
Those who are motivated also find it much easier to motivate others. This can be particularly important in leadership roles.
See our page on Motivation Skills for more.
Keep Motivated
Finally, it is important to keep track of what you want to achieve and stay motivated to do so. To keep your motivation levels up try to:
Learn and Acquire Knowledge
Read, study and talk to people – knowledge and information are key for feeding your mind and keeping you curious and motivated. See our pages What is Learning?, Lifelong Learning and our section: Study Skills for some tips on how to make your learning more effective.
Keep the Company of Enthusiastic People
Try to avoid negative people and seek out positive, well-motivated people. It is a lot easier to be motivated if the people around you are.
Keep Positive
Keep a positive attitude, see problems and set-backs as learning opportunities. For more about this, see our pages on Mindsets and Positive Thinking.
Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Work on ironing out your weaknesses and building on your strengths.
Do It
Try not to procrastinate, assess the risks but keep working towards your goals. See our pages Time Management and Minimising Distractions for more.
Get Help and Help Others
Don’t be afraid to ask other for help and don’t hold back if you can help them. Seeing other people succeed will help to motivate you to do the same.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
What is Reflective Practice?
Reflective practice is, in its simplest form, thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It is closely linked to the concept of learning from experience, in that you think about what you did, and what happened, and decide from that what you would do differently next time.
Thinking about what has happened is part of being human. However, the difference between casual ‘thinking’ and ‘reflective practice’ is that reflective practice requires a conscious effort to think about events, and develop insights into them. Once you get into the habit of using reflective practice, you will probably find it useful both at work and at home.
Reflective Practice as a Skill
Various academics have touched on reflective practice and experiential learning to a greater or lesser extent over the years, including Chris Argyris (the person who coined the term ‘double-loop learning’ to explain the idea that reflection allows you to step outside the ‘single loop’ of ‘Experience, Reflect, Conceptualise, Apply’ into a second loop to recognise a new paradigm and reframe your ideas in order to change what you do).
They all seem to agree that reflective practice is a skill which can be learned and honed, which is good news for most of us.
Developing and Using Reflective Practice
What can be done to help develop the critical, constructive and creative thinking that is necessary for reflective practice?
Neil Thompson, in his book People Skills, suggests that there are six steps:
Read - around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop
Ask - others about the way they do things and why
Watch - what is going on around you
Feel - pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones
Talk - share your views and experiences with others in your organisation
Think - learn to value time spent thinking about your work
In other words, it’s not just the thinking that’s important. You also have to develop an understanding of the theory and others’ practice too, and explore ideas with others. Reflective practice can be a shared activity: it doesn’t have to be done alone. Indeed, some social psychologists have suggested that learning only occurs when thought is put into language, either written or spoken. This may explain why we are motivated to announce a particular insight out loud, even when by ourselves! However, it also has implications for reflective practice, and means that thoughts not clearly articulated may not endure.
It can be difficult to find opportunities for shared reflective practice in a busy workplace. Of course there are some obvious ones, such as appraisal interviews, or reviews of particular events, but they don’t happen every day. So you need to find other ways of putting insights into words. Although it can feel a bit contrived, it can be helpful, especially at first, to keep a journal of learning experiences. This is not about documenting formal courses, but about taking everyday activities and events, and writing down what happened, then reflecting on them to consider what you have learned from them, and what you could or should have done differently. It’s not just about changing: a learning journal and reflective practice can also highlight when you’ve done something well. Take a look at our page What is Learning? to find out more about the cycle of learning (PACT) and the role that reflection (or ‘Considering’) plays in it.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Thinking about what has happened is part of being human. However, the difference between casual ‘thinking’ and ‘reflective practice’ is that reflective practice requires a conscious effort to think about events, and develop insights into them. Once you get into the habit of using reflective practice, you will probably find it useful both at work and at home.
Reflective Practice as a Skill
Various academics have touched on reflective practice and experiential learning to a greater or lesser extent over the years, including Chris Argyris (the person who coined the term ‘double-loop learning’ to explain the idea that reflection allows you to step outside the ‘single loop’ of ‘Experience, Reflect, Conceptualise, Apply’ into a second loop to recognise a new paradigm and reframe your ideas in order to change what you do).
They all seem to agree that reflective practice is a skill which can be learned and honed, which is good news for most of us.
Developing and Using Reflective Practice
What can be done to help develop the critical, constructive and creative thinking that is necessary for reflective practice?
Neil Thompson, in his book People Skills, suggests that there are six steps:
Read - around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop
Ask - others about the way they do things and why
Watch - what is going on around you
Feel - pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones
Talk - share your views and experiences with others in your organisation
Think - learn to value time spent thinking about your work
In other words, it’s not just the thinking that’s important. You also have to develop an understanding of the theory and others’ practice too, and explore ideas with others. Reflective practice can be a shared activity: it doesn’t have to be done alone. Indeed, some social psychologists have suggested that learning only occurs when thought is put into language, either written or spoken. This may explain why we are motivated to announce a particular insight out loud, even when by ourselves! However, it also has implications for reflective practice, and means that thoughts not clearly articulated may not endure.
It can be difficult to find opportunities for shared reflective practice in a busy workplace. Of course there are some obvious ones, such as appraisal interviews, or reviews of particular events, but they don’t happen every day. So you need to find other ways of putting insights into words. Although it can feel a bit contrived, it can be helpful, especially at first, to keep a journal of learning experiences. This is not about documenting formal courses, but about taking everyday activities and events, and writing down what happened, then reflecting on them to consider what you have learned from them, and what you could or should have done differently. It’s not just about changing: a learning journal and reflective practice can also highlight when you’ve done something well. Take a look at our page What is Learning? to find out more about the cycle of learning (PACT) and the role that reflection (or ‘Considering’) plays in it.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Chủ Nhật, 21 tháng 8, 2016
Personal Change Management Skills
Why do some people seem to sail gently through all the changes life throws at them, while others get upset if they have to change even their breakfast cereal?
The key is in how you view change, and your level of acceptance of uncertainty.
There is plenty of evidence that what we find most stressful as human beings is uncertainty, not change in itself. Even the most difficult life events, such as divorce or marital separation, can be more stressful in terms of the uncertainty.
Very often, it’s not the event, but the worry about ‘what will I do?’, or ‘how will the children cope?’ that people find hard. But there are some simple skills that you can develop that will help you to manage change in your own life, whether through work or life events.
Stress: Some Background
Our pages on stress management provide more information about understanding stress and stressful life events, but here it is worth repeating that stress is not all in the mind. Stress can cause genuine physical symptoms, including dizziness, tension headaches, diarrhoea and insomnia, which in turn can make you feel worse, and even more stressed.
This kind of ‘negative feedback loop’ is common in nature, and is designed to make you stop! Your body is trying to tell you something and, if you don’t listen to it, you could find yourself becoming very ill indeed.
Don’t be tempted to ignore the symptoms of stress, and hope that they go away by themselves. They won’t. Instead, you need to deal with the causes.
If you are struggling with stress and it's making you unwell you should seek professional help from a counsellor or health-care provider.
There is plenty of evidence that we all go through more or less the same process when dealing with change, although particular stages may take rather longer in some cases than others.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross looked at the way people come to terms with the news that they have a terminal illness, and developed a model called the Transition or Change Curve. Later studies showed that people react in similar ways to bereavement and also to changes at work.
The model shows that people start in a state of denial, with quite high levels of energy and confidence, but that confidence and energy then dip as they feel the need for support, and then become angry, asking questions like ‘Why me?’. They then start to move towards exploration of their condition and new options, and into acceptance.
The most important element to remember is that:
Once you have made your final decision about what you can and can’t change, and what you are going to do about it, stick to it.
Accept your decision and move on. Don’t constantly worry about ‘what if’, as that will undermine all your good work in parking the things that you can’t control. It doesn’t even matter if the reason that you can’t realistically do anything is ‘I have too much else on in my life to have time to deal with this’. It’s fine. Give yourself a break, and accept your own wisdom.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
The key is in how you view change, and your level of acceptance of uncertainty.
There is plenty of evidence that what we find most stressful as human beings is uncertainty, not change in itself. Even the most difficult life events, such as divorce or marital separation, can be more stressful in terms of the uncertainty.
Very often, it’s not the event, but the worry about ‘what will I do?’, or ‘how will the children cope?’ that people find hard. But there are some simple skills that you can develop that will help you to manage change in your own life, whether through work or life events.
Stress: Some Background
Our pages on stress management provide more information about understanding stress and stressful life events, but here it is worth repeating that stress is not all in the mind. Stress can cause genuine physical symptoms, including dizziness, tension headaches, diarrhoea and insomnia, which in turn can make you feel worse, and even more stressed.
This kind of ‘negative feedback loop’ is common in nature, and is designed to make you stop! Your body is trying to tell you something and, if you don’t listen to it, you could find yourself becoming very ill indeed.
Don’t be tempted to ignore the symptoms of stress, and hope that they go away by themselves. They won’t. Instead, you need to deal with the causes.
If you are struggling with stress and it's making you unwell you should seek professional help from a counsellor or health-care provider.
There is plenty of evidence that we all go through more or less the same process when dealing with change, although particular stages may take rather longer in some cases than others.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross looked at the way people come to terms with the news that they have a terminal illness, and developed a model called the Transition or Change Curve. Later studies showed that people react in similar ways to bereavement and also to changes at work.
The model shows that people start in a state of denial, with quite high levels of energy and confidence, but that confidence and energy then dip as they feel the need for support, and then become angry, asking questions like ‘Why me?’. They then start to move towards exploration of their condition and new options, and into acceptance.
The most important element to remember is that:
Once you have made your final decision about what you can and can’t change, and what you are going to do about it, stick to it.
Accept your decision and move on. Don’t constantly worry about ‘what if’, as that will undermine all your good work in parking the things that you can’t control. It doesn’t even matter if the reason that you can’t realistically do anything is ‘I have too much else on in my life to have time to deal with this’. It’s fine. Give yourself a break, and accept your own wisdom.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Lifelong Learning
Most people associate learning with formal education at school, college, university etc. We are all told, from an early age, that we should ‘get a good education’.
Generally speaking it is true that a formal education and the resulting qualifications are important. Education may maximise our potential to find better, more satisfying jobs, earn more and, perhaps, become more successful in our chosen career.
However, ‘schooling’ is only one type of learning. There are many other opportunities to further your knowledge and develop the skills you need throughout life.
Knowledge can be acquired and skill-sets developed anywhere – learning is unavoidable and happens all the time. However, lifelong learning is about creating and maintaining a positive attitude to learning both for personal and professional development.
Lifelong learners are motivated to learn and develop because they want to: it is a deliberate and voluntary act.
Lifelong learning can enhance our understanding of the world around us, provide us with more and better opportunities and improve our quality of life.
There are two main reasons for learning throughout life: for personal development and for professional development. These reasons may not necessarily be distinct as personal development can improve your employment opportunities and professional development can enable personal growth.
Learning for Personal Development
There does not need to be a specific reason for learning since learning for the sake of learning can in itself be a rewarding experience.
There is a common view that continuous learning and having an active mind throughout life may delay or halt the progress of some forms of dementia, although there is actually very little scientific evidence to support these claims. However, keeping the brain active does have advantages since learning can prevent you from becoming bored and thus enable a more fulfilling life at any age.
There are, of course, many reasons why people learn for personal development.
You may want to increase your knowledge or skills around a particular hobby or pastime that you enjoy.
Perhaps you want to develop some entirely new skill that will in some way enhance your life – take a pottery or car mechanic course for example.
Perhaps you want to research a medical condition or your ancestry.
Perhaps you’re planning a trip and want to learn more about the history and culture of your destination.
Maybe you will decide to take a degree course later in life simply because you enjoy your chosen subject and the challenges of academic study.
Learning for Professional Development
Being well-educated is not necessarily the key to employment.
Although qualifications may get you an interview, actually getting the job can take a lot more.
Employers are looking for well-balanced people with transferable skills. This includes the ability to be able to demonstrate that you are keen to learn and develop.
If you do find yourself unemployed then use the time wisely. Learning something new can pay-off with new opportunities which might not otherwise have arisen.
While you are employed, take advantage of training, coaching or mentoring opportunities and work on your continuous professional development as you will likely become better at what you do and more indispensable to your current or future employer.
Putting the time in for extra learning brings its own rewards.
It means we can get more personal satisfaction from our lives and jobs as we understand more about who we are and what we do. This can lead to better results and a more rewarding working day in turn. If you choose to learn about another complementary sector, this enables opportunities to specialise and potentially earn more or move to a connected industry. In turn this gives us wider experience on which to build our knowledge and more transferable skills in readiness for your next move.
From a financial point of view, a more highly skilled and knowledgeable worker is an asset to any company and can lead to faster promotion with associated salary increases.
Someone who can offer more expertise will be of more value not just to employers but also to customers. Expertise is also, often, a key quality of an effective leader.
If you are frustrated with your job, continuing to hone your skills will make it easier to find new ways out of a potentially stressful work situation. Keeping an open mind to learning and giving yourself room for flexibility is key to job satisfaction. Furthermore, potentially staying ahead of competitors for jobs by being more experienced or knowledgeable can give you an edge.
Learning Gives You Options
The bottom line is that, whatever your life path, there are a number of sometimes unanticipated benefits to continual personal and professional development.
Whatever your age, it's never too late to start.
Successfully changing career path in mid-life and spending time informally developing expertise is more common than ever, especially during rapidly changing market conditions.
Most people still rely on succeeding in employment for their ability to earn a living. The more flexible we can be about our direction, the easier we make our lives.
Our economy is shifting increasingly towards short-term and part-time contracts with more flexible work-patterns whilst old industries are shifting abroad. We have to adapt to changes going on in the work-world and make more of ourselves by stepping out of our comfort zones and ideas of how we believe our life is going.
Relying on job permanence for earnings and promotion is not as feasible as it once was.
Because of work-life instability, more people of all ages are turning their hobby into a business idea. Continually following one’s passion outside of work hours can lead you to get paid for doing what you love, and typically you will develop business and other transferable skills as you go along until the point that you can delegate your least favourite jobs.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Generally speaking it is true that a formal education and the resulting qualifications are important. Education may maximise our potential to find better, more satisfying jobs, earn more and, perhaps, become more successful in our chosen career.
However, ‘schooling’ is only one type of learning. There are many other opportunities to further your knowledge and develop the skills you need throughout life.
Knowledge can be acquired and skill-sets developed anywhere – learning is unavoidable and happens all the time. However, lifelong learning is about creating and maintaining a positive attitude to learning both for personal and professional development.
Lifelong learners are motivated to learn and develop because they want to: it is a deliberate and voluntary act.
Lifelong learning can enhance our understanding of the world around us, provide us with more and better opportunities and improve our quality of life.
There are two main reasons for learning throughout life: for personal development and for professional development. These reasons may not necessarily be distinct as personal development can improve your employment opportunities and professional development can enable personal growth.
Learning for Personal Development
There does not need to be a specific reason for learning since learning for the sake of learning can in itself be a rewarding experience.
There is a common view that continuous learning and having an active mind throughout life may delay or halt the progress of some forms of dementia, although there is actually very little scientific evidence to support these claims. However, keeping the brain active does have advantages since learning can prevent you from becoming bored and thus enable a more fulfilling life at any age.
There are, of course, many reasons why people learn for personal development.
You may want to increase your knowledge or skills around a particular hobby or pastime that you enjoy.
Perhaps you want to develop some entirely new skill that will in some way enhance your life – take a pottery or car mechanic course for example.
Perhaps you want to research a medical condition or your ancestry.
Perhaps you’re planning a trip and want to learn more about the history and culture of your destination.
Maybe you will decide to take a degree course later in life simply because you enjoy your chosen subject and the challenges of academic study.
Learning for Professional Development
Being well-educated is not necessarily the key to employment.
Although qualifications may get you an interview, actually getting the job can take a lot more.
Employers are looking for well-balanced people with transferable skills. This includes the ability to be able to demonstrate that you are keen to learn and develop.
If you do find yourself unemployed then use the time wisely. Learning something new can pay-off with new opportunities which might not otherwise have arisen.
While you are employed, take advantage of training, coaching or mentoring opportunities and work on your continuous professional development as you will likely become better at what you do and more indispensable to your current or future employer.
Putting the time in for extra learning brings its own rewards.
It means we can get more personal satisfaction from our lives and jobs as we understand more about who we are and what we do. This can lead to better results and a more rewarding working day in turn. If you choose to learn about another complementary sector, this enables opportunities to specialise and potentially earn more or move to a connected industry. In turn this gives us wider experience on which to build our knowledge and more transferable skills in readiness for your next move.
From a financial point of view, a more highly skilled and knowledgeable worker is an asset to any company and can lead to faster promotion with associated salary increases.
Someone who can offer more expertise will be of more value not just to employers but also to customers. Expertise is also, often, a key quality of an effective leader.
If you are frustrated with your job, continuing to hone your skills will make it easier to find new ways out of a potentially stressful work situation. Keeping an open mind to learning and giving yourself room for flexibility is key to job satisfaction. Furthermore, potentially staying ahead of competitors for jobs by being more experienced or knowledgeable can give you an edge.
Learning Gives You Options
The bottom line is that, whatever your life path, there are a number of sometimes unanticipated benefits to continual personal and professional development.
Whatever your age, it's never too late to start.
Successfully changing career path in mid-life and spending time informally developing expertise is more common than ever, especially during rapidly changing market conditions.
Most people still rely on succeeding in employment for their ability to earn a living. The more flexible we can be about our direction, the easier we make our lives.
Our economy is shifting increasingly towards short-term and part-time contracts with more flexible work-patterns whilst old industries are shifting abroad. We have to adapt to changes going on in the work-world and make more of ourselves by stepping out of our comfort zones and ideas of how we believe our life is going.
Relying on job permanence for earnings and promotion is not as feasible as it once was.
Because of work-life instability, more people of all ages are turning their hobby into a business idea. Continually following one’s passion outside of work hours can lead you to get paid for doing what you love, and typically you will develop business and other transferable skills as you go along until the point that you can delegate your least favourite jobs.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Personal Empowerment
Personal empowerment is about looking at who you are and becoming more aware of yourself as a unique individual.
Personal empowerment involves developing the confidence and strength to set realistic goals and fulfil your potential. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and a range of skills that are used in everyday situations, but all too often people remain unaware of, or undervalue, their true abilities.
A person aiming for empowerment is able to take control of their life by making positive choices and setting goals. Developing self-awareness, an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses - knowing your own limitations is key to personal empowerment.
Taking steps to set and achieve goals - both short and longer-term and developing new skills, acts to increase confidence which, in itself, is essential to self-empowerment.
What is Personal Empowerment?
At a basic level, the term 'empowerment' simply means 'becoming powerful'. Building personal empowerment involves reflecting on our personal values, skills and goals and being prepared to adjust our behaviour in order to achieve our goals. Personal empowerment also means being aware that other people have their own set of values and goals which may different to ours.
Many other, more detailed, definitions exist. These usually centre on the idea that personal empowerment gives an individual the ability to:
Take control of their circumstances and achieve their own goals in their personal and working life.
Become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and therefore be better equipped to deal with problems and achieve goals.
Enhance the contribution they make both as an individual and as a member of a team.
Take opportunities to enhance personal growth and a sense of fulfilment.
Developing personal empowerment usually involves making some fundamental changes in life, which is not always an easy process. The degree of change required will differ from person to person, depending on the individual starting point.
Dimensions of Personal Empowerment
The following ‘dimensions of personal empowerment’ are based on the belief that the greater the range of coping responses an individual develops, the greater their chance of coping effectively with diverse life situations. These dimensions are:
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness involves understanding our individual character and how we are likely to respond to situations. This enables us to build on our positive qualities and be aware of any negative traits which may reduce our effectiveness. Self-aware people make conscious decisions to enhance their lives whenever possible, learning from past experiences.
Values
Values are opinions or beliefs that are important to us but of which we are not always aware. They can be any kind of belief or perceived obligation, anything we prefer and for any reason. The reasons we may prefer one thing over another, or choose one course of action over another, may not always be obvious or known; there may be no apparent reason for our values. Nevertheless our values are important to us as individuals. In order to be self-aware it is necessary to be aware of our values, to critically examine them and to accept that our values may be different from those of others.
Skills
An individual's skills are the main resource which enables them to achieve their desired goals. Skills can be gained through experience, practice, education and training. It is only by developing such skills that individual values can be translated into action.
Information
Knowledge or information is necessary in the development of self-awareness and skills. It is an essential skill in itself to know where to find appropriate information. Without information, the choices open to people are limited, both in their personal and working lives. The internet has provided an easy way for everybody to access huge amounts of information very quickly and easily. The problem is then centred around the quality of the information found, and the skill set is concerned with finding accurate and reliable information.
Goals
Setting goals is a means by which an individual can take charge of his/her life. The process of setting a goal involves people thinking about their values and the direction that they would like their lives to follow. Choices are made through reflection followed by action. Goals should always be both specific and realistic. Setting personal goals gives us a sense of direction in life, this direction is essential to personal empowerment.
Language and Empowerment
Language is the main medium of human communication whether used in spoken or written form.
The use of language, how individuals express themselves verbally and non-verbally to others, can be empowering to both themselves and the people with whom they are communicating. Looking at how language is used is important in terms of self-empowerment and when attempting to empower other people.
The Use of Language for Personal Empowerment
In terms of personal empowerment and communication the following ideas are helpful and their use can be both self-affirming and positive:
Use Positive Language: Research into language suggests that a person's self-image is reflected in the words that they use. For example, people who say they 'should' behave in a certain way implies passivity and can detract from them seeming to be in control and taking responsibility for their actions. Talking about yourself in a positive way, acknowledging strengths and weaknesses, can be empowering.
Use Active Language: Use terms which imply positive action rather than making vague statements, particularly when talking about the future. For example, 'I will...' and 'I can...'.
Use Words to Define Your Own Space and Identity: If you fail to use words to define your own space and identity then others will tend to define you and set standards by which you evaluate yourself. Furthermore, they will try to persuade you to conform to their demands. Be clear about who you are and what your values and goals are – do not let others define you.
The Use of Language for Empowering Others
In order to use language to help empower others:
Do not use jargon or complex terminology: The use of jargon and complex terminology can be both alienating and dis-empowering. When working with others the use of jargon can create feelings of intimidation and inferiority. Without shared understanding of the words you use, effective and empowering communication cannot take place. Choose words with care, which give clarity to what you are trying to express.
Focus on the words people use: Mirror words people use, see our pages: Reflection and Clarification for more information. Using shared terminology appropriately can enable you appear more ‘in tune’ with the other person and what they are saying.
Choose positive words: Choosing positive or active words such as 'will' or 'can' indicates that you have control in your life and is more likely to induce positive action in others. Compare the use of these words with others such as ‘might' or 'maybe' which suggest hesitancy. Using words and statements which carry responsibility are empowering as they suggest a determined rather than a passive approach.
Avoid criticism and negativity: Criticism should always be given with extreme care and only when absolutely necessary. Once words have been spoken they cannot be easily taken back. If criticism is necessary then it can be given in a constructive way, through the use of positive and supporting words and phrases. Always attempt to cushion criticism with positive observations.
Use open questions when appropriate: The use of closed questions will restrict responses to 'yes' and 'no' answers. This type of question can leave people feeling powerless because there is no opportunity to explain their response. On the other hand, open questions give the person being asked the chance to explore the reasons behind their answers. Open questions encourage a person to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions and can therefore aid empowerment. Open questions can also help people to solve problems through their own devices, help them to set their own goals and work out an appropriate plan of action. See our pages: Questioning and Question Types for more information.
Developing Self-Empowerment
We all have opportunities to explore and develop new skills. In order to become more empowered we can, in our interactions with others, aim to:
Develop trust.
Understand our strengths, weaknesses and limits.
Develop confidence and self-esteem.
Developing Trust
Developing trust can be a difficult and lengthy process. In order to develop trust with others you may choose to:
Be Open: In the sharing of information, ideas and thoughts. When appropriate also sharing emotions, feelings and reactions. Also aim to reciprocate appropriately, when somebody shares their emotions, thoughts or feelings with you.
Share and Co-operate: Share resources and knowledge with others to help them to achieve their goals. Work together towards mutual goals.
Be Trustworthy: When other people place their trust in you, do your best to provide positive outcomes.
Be Accepting: Hold the values and views of others in high regard.
Be Supportive: Support others when necessary but also recognise their strengths - allowing them to work towards goals without your intervention as appropriate.
In the workplace, and in any professional working relationship there are three basic components of trust:
Trust in the integrity and goodwill between all workers, regardless of salary or status and whether paid or unpaid.
Trust that all workers within an organisation share the same objectives and are open with each other about any conflicting objectives.
Trust in each other's competence and to do what you promise to undertake.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Personal empowerment involves developing the confidence and strength to set realistic goals and fulfil your potential. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and a range of skills that are used in everyday situations, but all too often people remain unaware of, or undervalue, their true abilities.
A person aiming for empowerment is able to take control of their life by making positive choices and setting goals. Developing self-awareness, an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses - knowing your own limitations is key to personal empowerment.
Taking steps to set and achieve goals - both short and longer-term and developing new skills, acts to increase confidence which, in itself, is essential to self-empowerment.
What is Personal Empowerment?
At a basic level, the term 'empowerment' simply means 'becoming powerful'. Building personal empowerment involves reflecting on our personal values, skills and goals and being prepared to adjust our behaviour in order to achieve our goals. Personal empowerment also means being aware that other people have their own set of values and goals which may different to ours.
Many other, more detailed, definitions exist. These usually centre on the idea that personal empowerment gives an individual the ability to:
Take control of their circumstances and achieve their own goals in their personal and working life.
Become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and therefore be better equipped to deal with problems and achieve goals.
Enhance the contribution they make both as an individual and as a member of a team.
Take opportunities to enhance personal growth and a sense of fulfilment.
Developing personal empowerment usually involves making some fundamental changes in life, which is not always an easy process. The degree of change required will differ from person to person, depending on the individual starting point.
Dimensions of Personal Empowerment
The following ‘dimensions of personal empowerment’ are based on the belief that the greater the range of coping responses an individual develops, the greater their chance of coping effectively with diverse life situations. These dimensions are:
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness involves understanding our individual character and how we are likely to respond to situations. This enables us to build on our positive qualities and be aware of any negative traits which may reduce our effectiveness. Self-aware people make conscious decisions to enhance their lives whenever possible, learning from past experiences.
Values
Values are opinions or beliefs that are important to us but of which we are not always aware. They can be any kind of belief or perceived obligation, anything we prefer and for any reason. The reasons we may prefer one thing over another, or choose one course of action over another, may not always be obvious or known; there may be no apparent reason for our values. Nevertheless our values are important to us as individuals. In order to be self-aware it is necessary to be aware of our values, to critically examine them and to accept that our values may be different from those of others.
Skills
An individual's skills are the main resource which enables them to achieve their desired goals. Skills can be gained through experience, practice, education and training. It is only by developing such skills that individual values can be translated into action.
Information
Knowledge or information is necessary in the development of self-awareness and skills. It is an essential skill in itself to know where to find appropriate information. Without information, the choices open to people are limited, both in their personal and working lives. The internet has provided an easy way for everybody to access huge amounts of information very quickly and easily. The problem is then centred around the quality of the information found, and the skill set is concerned with finding accurate and reliable information.
Goals
Setting goals is a means by which an individual can take charge of his/her life. The process of setting a goal involves people thinking about their values and the direction that they would like their lives to follow. Choices are made through reflection followed by action. Goals should always be both specific and realistic. Setting personal goals gives us a sense of direction in life, this direction is essential to personal empowerment.
Language and Empowerment
Language is the main medium of human communication whether used in spoken or written form.
The use of language, how individuals express themselves verbally and non-verbally to others, can be empowering to both themselves and the people with whom they are communicating. Looking at how language is used is important in terms of self-empowerment and when attempting to empower other people.
The Use of Language for Personal Empowerment
In terms of personal empowerment and communication the following ideas are helpful and their use can be both self-affirming and positive:
Use Positive Language: Research into language suggests that a person's self-image is reflected in the words that they use. For example, people who say they 'should' behave in a certain way implies passivity and can detract from them seeming to be in control and taking responsibility for their actions. Talking about yourself in a positive way, acknowledging strengths and weaknesses, can be empowering.
Use Active Language: Use terms which imply positive action rather than making vague statements, particularly when talking about the future. For example, 'I will...' and 'I can...'.
Use Words to Define Your Own Space and Identity: If you fail to use words to define your own space and identity then others will tend to define you and set standards by which you evaluate yourself. Furthermore, they will try to persuade you to conform to their demands. Be clear about who you are and what your values and goals are – do not let others define you.
The Use of Language for Empowering Others
In order to use language to help empower others:
Do not use jargon or complex terminology: The use of jargon and complex terminology can be both alienating and dis-empowering. When working with others the use of jargon can create feelings of intimidation and inferiority. Without shared understanding of the words you use, effective and empowering communication cannot take place. Choose words with care, which give clarity to what you are trying to express.
Focus on the words people use: Mirror words people use, see our pages: Reflection and Clarification for more information. Using shared terminology appropriately can enable you appear more ‘in tune’ with the other person and what they are saying.
Choose positive words: Choosing positive or active words such as 'will' or 'can' indicates that you have control in your life and is more likely to induce positive action in others. Compare the use of these words with others such as ‘might' or 'maybe' which suggest hesitancy. Using words and statements which carry responsibility are empowering as they suggest a determined rather than a passive approach.
Avoid criticism and negativity: Criticism should always be given with extreme care and only when absolutely necessary. Once words have been spoken they cannot be easily taken back. If criticism is necessary then it can be given in a constructive way, through the use of positive and supporting words and phrases. Always attempt to cushion criticism with positive observations.
Use open questions when appropriate: The use of closed questions will restrict responses to 'yes' and 'no' answers. This type of question can leave people feeling powerless because there is no opportunity to explain their response. On the other hand, open questions give the person being asked the chance to explore the reasons behind their answers. Open questions encourage a person to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions and can therefore aid empowerment. Open questions can also help people to solve problems through their own devices, help them to set their own goals and work out an appropriate plan of action. See our pages: Questioning and Question Types for more information.
Developing Self-Empowerment
We all have opportunities to explore and develop new skills. In order to become more empowered we can, in our interactions with others, aim to:
Develop trust.
Understand our strengths, weaknesses and limits.
Develop confidence and self-esteem.
Developing Trust
Developing trust can be a difficult and lengthy process. In order to develop trust with others you may choose to:
Be Open: In the sharing of information, ideas and thoughts. When appropriate also sharing emotions, feelings and reactions. Also aim to reciprocate appropriately, when somebody shares their emotions, thoughts or feelings with you.
Share and Co-operate: Share resources and knowledge with others to help them to achieve their goals. Work together towards mutual goals.
Be Trustworthy: When other people place their trust in you, do your best to provide positive outcomes.
Be Accepting: Hold the values and views of others in high regard.
Be Supportive: Support others when necessary but also recognise their strengths - allowing them to work towards goals without your intervention as appropriate.
In the workplace, and in any professional working relationship there are three basic components of trust:
Trust in the integrity and goodwill between all workers, regardless of salary or status and whether paid or unpaid.
Trust that all workers within an organisation share the same objectives and are open with each other about any conflicting objectives.
Trust in each other's competence and to do what you promise to undertake.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Positive Thinking
Positive thinking is the idea that you can change your life by thinking positively about things.
This idea can sound a bit soft and fluffy, which is something of a problem for many people who recognise that just thinking good thoughts won’t change the world and therefore discard the whole idea.
However, research shows that positive thinking really does have a scientific basis. You can’t change the world, but you can change how you perceive it and how you react to it. And that can change the way that you feel about yourself and others, which can in turn have a huge effect on your well-being.
The Effect of Negative Thinking
To understand the effect of positive thinking, it’s helpful to think about negative thinking first.
Most negative emotions, such as fear or anger, are designed to help with survival. They cause us to take swift and effective action to save ourselves from whatever is threatening us. This means that they also prevent us from being distracted by other things around us.
So far, so good, in survival terms. If there’s a bear standing in front of you, you don’t want to stop to pick flowers.
But negative thinking is not so great in more modern settings. If you’ve got a lot to do, and you’re worried that you won’t get it all done, the last thing you need is for your brain to shut down and focus only on how long your ‘To Do’ list has got.
Negative thinking is a habit, something you can train your brain to avoid. Constant negative thinking can make you much more likely to be stressed and can lead to more serious problems, like depression.
See our pages: Avoiding Stress and What is Depression? for more information.
The Power of Positive Thinking
Barbara Fredrickson, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, carried out a classic experiment with five groups of people where she showed each group images designed to provoke a different emotional response.
Group 1 saw images designed to trigger feelings of joy;
Group 2’s images were selected to make them feel contented;
Group 3’s images were neutral;
Group 4 saw images to make them afraid; and
Group 5 saw a series of images designed to make them angry.
Each group was then asked to write down what actions they would take in a situation that created similar feelings.
Groups 4 and 5 wrote down significantly fewer actions than the other groups. Groups 1 and 2 wrote down the most actions.
In other words, feeling positive emotions helps you to identify more possibilities and options in your life.
But what is perhaps even more interesting is that these extra possibilities and options seem to translate into action.
People who think more positively are more likely to do things to deliver on those options. They build new skills and develop existing ones, so that they genuinely have more options in life.
Positive Thinking in Practice: The Placebo Effect
High quality trials for new medicines and therapies compare a treatment group, which receives the new treatment, with a ‘control group’ that does not.
But as a general rule, these control groups do not just have ‘no treatment’. Instead, they receive a ‘placebo’, that is, a treatment substitute which looks like the real thing, but has no physical effect. Examples of placebos include sugar pills or flavoured water instead of genuine tablets or medicines.
Why do they receive a placebo? Because of the power of positive thinking...
The ‘Placebo Effect’ is a well-documented phenomenon in medicine, in which those who think that they are being given a new and effective treatment are more likely to recover than those who know that their treatment is nothing new.
The placebo effect may sound extraordinary, but it has been seen time and time again in clinical trials.
The lessons are twofold:
New treatments have to ‘beat’ placebos to be sure that they have a real effect; and
The mind is an extremely powerful tool and, if at all possible, healthcare practitioners should help their patients to draw on it.
A positive attitude will probably not cure cancer in itself. But positive thinking will make it easier to manage your life, reduce stress, and also help you to take care of yourself better. And those things are important to help you recover from serious diseases.
Developing Habits of Positive Thinking
If you think about positive thinking as ‘being happy’, it is much easier to work out what you should do to develop habits based on it.
For example, what do you like doing? And with whom do you like spending time?
Research shows that there are three very good ways to build positive thinking skills:
1. Meditation
People who meditate every day show more positive thinking than those who do not.
Is that the meditation causing the positive thinking, or just having time to think? It’s hard to tell, but it’s also hard to argue with the science. People who meditate tend to show more mindfulness, or ability to live in the present, which is also associated with positive thinking.
2. Writing
A group of undergraduates were asked to write about an intensely positive experience every day for three days.
Amazingly, they had better moods and better physical health afterwards, and the effect lasted for quite a long time. This is a pretty easy thing to do: you could, for example, write a blog focusing on positive experiences, or keep a diary.
3. Play
It’s important to make time for yourself to have fun.
Sometimes you might need to actually put it into your diary to force yourself to make that time, whether it’s to meet a friend for coffee, or go out for a walk or a bike ride.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
This idea can sound a bit soft and fluffy, which is something of a problem for many people who recognise that just thinking good thoughts won’t change the world and therefore discard the whole idea.
However, research shows that positive thinking really does have a scientific basis. You can’t change the world, but you can change how you perceive it and how you react to it. And that can change the way that you feel about yourself and others, which can in turn have a huge effect on your well-being.
The Effect of Negative Thinking
To understand the effect of positive thinking, it’s helpful to think about negative thinking first.
Most negative emotions, such as fear or anger, are designed to help with survival. They cause us to take swift and effective action to save ourselves from whatever is threatening us. This means that they also prevent us from being distracted by other things around us.
So far, so good, in survival terms. If there’s a bear standing in front of you, you don’t want to stop to pick flowers.
But negative thinking is not so great in more modern settings. If you’ve got a lot to do, and you’re worried that you won’t get it all done, the last thing you need is for your brain to shut down and focus only on how long your ‘To Do’ list has got.
Negative thinking is a habit, something you can train your brain to avoid. Constant negative thinking can make you much more likely to be stressed and can lead to more serious problems, like depression.
See our pages: Avoiding Stress and What is Depression? for more information.
The Power of Positive Thinking
Barbara Fredrickson, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, carried out a classic experiment with five groups of people where she showed each group images designed to provoke a different emotional response.
Group 1 saw images designed to trigger feelings of joy;
Group 2’s images were selected to make them feel contented;
Group 3’s images were neutral;
Group 4 saw images to make them afraid; and
Group 5 saw a series of images designed to make them angry.
Each group was then asked to write down what actions they would take in a situation that created similar feelings.
Groups 4 and 5 wrote down significantly fewer actions than the other groups. Groups 1 and 2 wrote down the most actions.
In other words, feeling positive emotions helps you to identify more possibilities and options in your life.
But what is perhaps even more interesting is that these extra possibilities and options seem to translate into action.
People who think more positively are more likely to do things to deliver on those options. They build new skills and develop existing ones, so that they genuinely have more options in life.
Positive Thinking in Practice: The Placebo Effect
High quality trials for new medicines and therapies compare a treatment group, which receives the new treatment, with a ‘control group’ that does not.
But as a general rule, these control groups do not just have ‘no treatment’. Instead, they receive a ‘placebo’, that is, a treatment substitute which looks like the real thing, but has no physical effect. Examples of placebos include sugar pills or flavoured water instead of genuine tablets or medicines.
Why do they receive a placebo? Because of the power of positive thinking...
The ‘Placebo Effect’ is a well-documented phenomenon in medicine, in which those who think that they are being given a new and effective treatment are more likely to recover than those who know that their treatment is nothing new.
The placebo effect may sound extraordinary, but it has been seen time and time again in clinical trials.
The lessons are twofold:
New treatments have to ‘beat’ placebos to be sure that they have a real effect; and
The mind is an extremely powerful tool and, if at all possible, healthcare practitioners should help their patients to draw on it.
A positive attitude will probably not cure cancer in itself. But positive thinking will make it easier to manage your life, reduce stress, and also help you to take care of yourself better. And those things are important to help you recover from serious diseases.
Developing Habits of Positive Thinking
If you think about positive thinking as ‘being happy’, it is much easier to work out what you should do to develop habits based on it.
For example, what do you like doing? And with whom do you like spending time?
Research shows that there are three very good ways to build positive thinking skills:
1. Meditation
People who meditate every day show more positive thinking than those who do not.
Is that the meditation causing the positive thinking, or just having time to think? It’s hard to tell, but it’s also hard to argue with the science. People who meditate tend to show more mindfulness, or ability to live in the present, which is also associated with positive thinking.
2. Writing
A group of undergraduates were asked to write about an intensely positive experience every day for three days.
Amazingly, they had better moods and better physical health afterwards, and the effect lasted for quite a long time. This is a pretty easy thing to do: you could, for example, write a blog focusing on positive experiences, or keep a diary.
3. Play
It’s important to make time for yourself to have fun.
Sometimes you might need to actually put it into your diary to force yourself to make that time, whether it’s to meet a friend for coffee, or go out for a walk or a bike ride.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
The Importance of Mindset
Why is it that some people seem to shine in any sphere in which they choose to exert themselves, and others cannot manage even a glimmer despite obvious talent?
Research shows that it’s the way that they think about their ability that really counts.
Most of those who have achieved greatness, to use Shakespeare’s phrase, have worked extremely hard to get there. Many were told that they would never amount to anything. But they believed that they could achieve, and worked hard to do so.
Fixed or Growth Mindset?
There are two ways to view intelligence or ability:
Ability it is fixed or ingrained – in other words, we are born with a certain level of ability and we cannot change that. This is called a fixed mindset.
We can develop our ability through hard work and effort. This is called a growth mindset.
These two different beliefs lead to different behaviour, and also to different results. For example, students with a growth mindset were shown to increase their grades over time. Those who believed that their intelligence was ingrained did not; in fact, their grades got worse.
Having a growth mindset (the belief that you are in control of your own ability, and can learn and improve) is the key to success.
Yes, hard work, effort, and persistence are all important, but not as important as having that underlying belief that you are in control of your own destiny.
Mindset in Practice
People with these two mindsets actually think differently and also react to information differently.
In particular, they respond differently to information about performance.
In people with a fixed mindset, the brain is most active when they are being given information about how well they have done, for example, test results or grades.
In people with a growth mindset, the brain is most active when they are being told what they could do to improve.
It’s a very different approach: from ‘How did I do?’ to ‘What can I do better next time?’
One is about how they are perceived, and one is about how they can learn. You can see which one is likely to lead to better results in future.
Dealing with Setbacks
These mindsets also cause people to deal with setbacks differently.
People with a fixed mindset are very discouraged by setbacks, because a setback dents their belief in their ability. They tend to become uninterested and give up.
People with a growth mindset view a setback as an opportunity to learn. They tend to try harder in an effort to overcome the problem.
Neuroplasticity:
Did you know your brain can change?
The good news is that you can change your mindset.
Neuroscience shows that our brains continue to develop and change even as adults. Old dogs really can learn new tricks.
The brain is actually quite like plastic, and can be reshaped over time, forming new neural pathways. This has led neuroscientists to call this tendency neuroplasticity.
These neural pathways are developed by doing or thinking particular things. The things that we do or say more often become hard-wired into our brains as habits. These form defined ‘routes’ in our brain, which become easier to use.
But you can still change them. The first step is to realise that you need to, then to train your brain in the new skill. It may help to think about this learning as a cycle, and the competence cycle is described further on our page What is Coaching?.
There are three key things that you can do to develop a growth mindset:
You need to recognise that a growth mindset is not just good, but is also supported by science. In other words, you need to be committed to developing a growth mindset.
You can learn and teach others about how to develop and improve their abilities through adopting a growth mindset. This will help you to take control of your life, which is hugely empowering. Research shows that people who feel in control tend to perform better. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Listen out for your fixed mindset voice. When you hear that little critical voice in your head telling you that you can’t do something, reply with a growth mindset approach and tell it that you can learn.
Mindsets in Life
Mindsets are not just important for learning new skills. They can affect the way that we think about everything.
For example, a growth mindset can help you recover from illness because you believe that you can do something about the illness. They can help you achieve in sport, at work and can also help you grow and develop in relationships.
Cultivating a growth mindset could be the single most important thing you ever do to help you achieve success.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Research shows that it’s the way that they think about their ability that really counts.
Most of those who have achieved greatness, to use Shakespeare’s phrase, have worked extremely hard to get there. Many were told that they would never amount to anything. But they believed that they could achieve, and worked hard to do so.
Fixed or Growth Mindset?
There are two ways to view intelligence or ability:
Ability it is fixed or ingrained – in other words, we are born with a certain level of ability and we cannot change that. This is called a fixed mindset.
We can develop our ability through hard work and effort. This is called a growth mindset.
These two different beliefs lead to different behaviour, and also to different results. For example, students with a growth mindset were shown to increase their grades over time. Those who believed that their intelligence was ingrained did not; in fact, their grades got worse.
Having a growth mindset (the belief that you are in control of your own ability, and can learn and improve) is the key to success.
Yes, hard work, effort, and persistence are all important, but not as important as having that underlying belief that you are in control of your own destiny.
Mindset in Practice
People with these two mindsets actually think differently and also react to information differently.
In particular, they respond differently to information about performance.
In people with a fixed mindset, the brain is most active when they are being given information about how well they have done, for example, test results or grades.
In people with a growth mindset, the brain is most active when they are being told what they could do to improve.
It’s a very different approach: from ‘How did I do?’ to ‘What can I do better next time?’
One is about how they are perceived, and one is about how they can learn. You can see which one is likely to lead to better results in future.
Dealing with Setbacks
These mindsets also cause people to deal with setbacks differently.
People with a fixed mindset are very discouraged by setbacks, because a setback dents their belief in their ability. They tend to become uninterested and give up.
People with a growth mindset view a setback as an opportunity to learn. They tend to try harder in an effort to overcome the problem.
Neuroplasticity:
Did you know your brain can change?
The good news is that you can change your mindset.
Neuroscience shows that our brains continue to develop and change even as adults. Old dogs really can learn new tricks.
The brain is actually quite like plastic, and can be reshaped over time, forming new neural pathways. This has led neuroscientists to call this tendency neuroplasticity.
These neural pathways are developed by doing or thinking particular things. The things that we do or say more often become hard-wired into our brains as habits. These form defined ‘routes’ in our brain, which become easier to use.
But you can still change them. The first step is to realise that you need to, then to train your brain in the new skill. It may help to think about this learning as a cycle, and the competence cycle is described further on our page What is Coaching?.
There are three key things that you can do to develop a growth mindset:
You need to recognise that a growth mindset is not just good, but is also supported by science. In other words, you need to be committed to developing a growth mindset.
You can learn and teach others about how to develop and improve their abilities through adopting a growth mindset. This will help you to take control of your life, which is hugely empowering. Research shows that people who feel in control tend to perform better. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Listen out for your fixed mindset voice. When you hear that little critical voice in your head telling you that you can’t do something, reply with a growth mindset approach and tell it that you can learn.
Mindsets in Life
Mindsets are not just important for learning new skills. They can affect the way that we think about everything.
For example, a growth mindset can help you recover from illness because you believe that you can do something about the illness. They can help you achieve in sport, at work and can also help you grow and develop in relationships.
Cultivating a growth mindset could be the single most important thing you ever do to help you achieve success.
Resource: skillsyouneed.com
Thứ Ba, 9 tháng 8, 2016
How Can I Improve My Listening Skills?
The lack of an ability to listen well stems from either the lack of a decent attention span or the desire to actually pay attention. Since you want to change and concentrate on what people say, let's assume you do care about the words that come out of other people's mouths. When other people talk, the mind has an opportunity to wander because it doesn't have to process any specific actions. You have to trick it into believing it actually has something to do. That takes some work, but a few tricks can help you out.
Look Invested
People who listen well look a certain way. They appear engaged by making eye contact. They communicate listening mode with body language that covers their mouth (e.g. steepled fingers or just a hand placed gently in front of it). You want to fake this body language as naturally as possible. You want to make eye contact, but don't give the speaker a death stare. You don't want to look like you've trained your eyes on them. If you can't make constant eye contact right away, just look at the bridge of their nose or a little below. You can also get away with looking at their mouth because they're talking. Eyes move naturally all the time, so look at them for most of the conversation but feel free to momentarily break contact now and again.
While it helps to cover your mouth a little to communicate your "listening mode," you don't want to go in and out of this body language like a robot. If you stare at them when you listen and immediately cover your mouth, you'll look like a machine. The listener probably won't realize your goal and just think you have some peculiar mannerisms. Let them start, and if you think they'll talk for awhile just shift your weight a little like you're seeking a more comfortable position. When doing this, you can cover your mouth to demonstrate interest and lack of desire to interrupt. If you have trouble integrating this right away, put your focus on not fidgeting first. That'll help you gain some concentration that you can put towards better body language.
This may seem like advice to a sociopath who needs to learn how to pass as a regular human being, but everyone has a few social skills that leave a little (or a lot) of room for improvement. When you don't really know what to do or how to act, you have to fake it. Eventually you'll get used to it and become it, downplaying any anxiety listening had caused. It seems kind of ridiculous, but it really helps. Once you start to act like a good listener, you will come to believe you are a good listener.
Watch the Speaker's Body Language
Your body language matters to the speaker, but you have to watch them as well. Most of our communication comes from our bodies, so when you fail to actively listen it helps to understand body language cues so at least you'll gain some context.
What do you want to watch out for? Start with the facial expression, because that's easy. It'll give you a road map of the speaker's emotional state and you won't have to hear a word. We all understand the basics: smiles and laughs point to joy, frowns don't, and averted eyes signal discomfort. Closed body language (e.g. crossed arms) also disclose discomfort. Watch people as they talk without listening and you'll start to get used to hearing with your eyes. These clues make it easier to figure out what you missed in a conversation, so practice looking for them. When you make a habit of it, you'll naturally pick up on body language and won't have to try anymore.
Learn to Speed-Listen
Speed readers blow through paragraphs using a pretty specific technique. They start in the middle of a sentence and read every third word or so. How are they able to skip so much text and still comprehend what's going on? Thanks to our peripheral vision and a little fill-in-the-blanks trick our brains naturally provide, we can glean the meaning from text without reading most of it. Try reading this sentence in full:
I can raed tinghs out of oderr.
You most likely understood that sentence says "I can read things out of order" even though the letters in many of the words sit in the wrong position. When we read, we really only look at the first and last letters of a word and our brain assumes the rest based on what we sort of see. We also fill in words based on other words in a sentence. This causes mistakes from time to time, but usually it works so well we never even notice it.
So what does this have to do with listening better? While you can't employ your peripheral vision to hear better, you can let your brain fill in the blanks. You'll need to practice in order to get better, but once you do you won't need to pay attention to everything a person says to understand them properly. You'll only need to listen to the first sentence, the last sentence, and chunks of words in between. With that small amount of information you'll know the following:
- The topic the speaker brought up and what to expect as they continue to talk
- Key words relating to their overall points
- What they expect from you when they finish talking.
You obviously can't do this in a lecture or anywhere that requires you to listen to lots of details, but you can pull it off in a conversation. To accomplish this, you'll need to practice these things:
- Put all your concentration into hearing the first sentence and understand what was said. In the beginning, you may want to try and keep your mind invested in a little bit of what comes after, too.
- Allow your mind to wander, but bring it back to the conversation whenever possible. Most people think the way they speak, so you'll likely have pauses between thoughts and can quickly tune back into the conversation. You have to train yourself to pay attention briefly during these pauses. Even if you struggle to control your attention, your mind wanders because it enjoys that fragmentation. Use that to your advantage and switch out of your thoughts to focus on the speaker's whenever you have a chance. Eventually it will become second nature.
- Use the eye contact you developed in the previous section to watch for changes in body language. When people get ready to wrap up their point and expect a response, they have a tell. That tell varies between people, but in my experience it regularly involves a slight shift in weight and attention directed back at themselves. For example, this can manifest itself as a scratch on the head (or elsewhere on the body). Watch people as they talk and you'll start to notice when they're finishing their final lap. When you do, start to focus and make sure you hear the last sentence. This sentence will tell you how they want you to respond.
You will make a lot of mistakes learning to do this, but you can recover easily. Keep these phrases in mind as you fail:
- "I'm so sorry, my brain just went on autopilot and I completely spaced out there for a second. What was the last thing you just said?" You don't have to ask them to repeat everything, just the tail end. You'll get enough from that to provide a response to move the conversation forward.
- "Sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you. There's a lot of noise right behind me. Can you say that again?" Obviously you need a noisy environment to make this one believable.
- "Sorry, I don't think I understood that last part. Sometimes my brain jumbles things up for no reason. Try me again?" Use this if you missed a lot and they'll give you a quick summary. It helps a lot with people who tend to go on and on with minute detail (e.g. people like me).
As you get better at speed listening, you won't need to bother with these recovery statements too often. When you gain the ability to listen selectively—yet still productively—despite your poor focus, you can use a better recovery method: ask a question. If someone decides to launch into a monologue about how they adopted a dog and the resulting stress, listen for those key words and the closing sentence. They may expect a statement out of you, but that doesn't mean you can't ask them a related question. For example, you could say this:
"Wow, that does sound stressful. What do you think you're going to do about it?"
With that, you barely used any information they gave you but you responded to the emotional core of their speech. They feel stressed out, so you justified their feelings with an agreement. Most people crave this and will overlook the vagueness of a response because they essentially got what they wanted anyway.
Asking a followup question—one that doesn't even have to directly relate to anything they said—helps in two significant ways. First, it redirects the topic to them so they have to think about what they just said. (Therapists use this all the time to help you make self discoveries, so why not pass that benefit along to your friends?) If you have them thinking about themselves and not your incredibly vague question, they won't consider that you probably didn't pick up much of what they said. Furthermore, they'll actually repeat a lot of the information you missed as they give you an answer. You can use their answer to fill in more blanks and make it look like you heard what they said as the conversation continues.
Once you get these skills down you'll just keep getting better and better at gleaning information from conversations you only listen to in part. While that may seem kind of horrible on the surface, as these methods allow you to mostly ignore people and let your minder wander instead, we're trying to solve an unfortunate problem here. Your mind will wander anyway, whether you like it to or not, so you have to make the best of the situation and get as much information as you can despite your lack of listening ability. I've found that I can concentrate a lot more in a conversation now because I've employed these techniques, so your listening skills may actually improve anyway. If you want to listen better, you have to take baby steps—even ones that might seem a little unfair to the people talking to you.
Resource: lifehacker.com
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