Self-Reflective Journal on Communication Skills

This journal is a self-analysis of personal and professional development to analyse challenges while recognising personal or professional weaknesses. It includes SWOT analysis and SMART goals analysis to address weaknesses and strengthen strengths.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS 0
Self-Reflective Journal
Communication Skills
(Student Details:)
10/14/2018

Communication Skills 1
Communication Skills
This Journal is a self-analysis of mine on my personal as well as professional development to
analyse challenges while recognising personal or professional weaknesses. As we know that
by doing self-analysis an individual can minimize his or her weakness hindering their
personal and or professional development (Cherry, 2018).
Using Cattel’s traits model, I am introducing my personality, as I am a person with versatile
personality with full of abstractedness, as I am more practical than imaginative or theory
oriented. I do things confidently except in some rare situations. Moreover, I am a having
flexible personality while, situations demand to be adaptively react. Being an emotionally
unstable person, I think that I loss in many cases where I am expected to be practical rather
than emotional. Conversely, I am not a dependent kind of person, as I am having a quality of
self-reliance. According to me and my friends, I need to be more socially bold because of my
shy nature. Moreover, during some professional hectic situations I react impatiently in order
to gain perfectionism in each and everything I do. Whenever I meet some relatives, family
members or close friends, they can feel my warmth and liveliness. I believe in honesty and
my personality contains this quality as a key element.
To identify my foremost strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in personal as well
as professional context, I am doing SWOT analysis (Cattell & Mead, 2008). My key
strengths are:
 Honesty
 Openness to environment
 Positive attitude
 High confidence
 Practicality
My openness to environment gives me a sense of free and innovative thinking and keeps me
happy in my routine life. Additionally I am having highly confident and practical person.
My foremost weaknesses are as follows:
 Emotional instability
 Sensitivity
 Less social-boldness

Communication Skills 2
 Impatience during critical situations
 Easily manipulated
As an opportunity, through my positive values I can absorb some flaws of me and become an
ideal asset for family as well as my organization. Present market demands highly efficient
work which results in so much stress, hence stress handling is a threat for me as of now and
in future also. Additionally, I get easily manipulated by people, which can cause any
problematic situation at work or personal end for me.
Based on SWOT analysis, I can conclude that my two strengths are honesty and positive
attitude. An honest personality of mine gives me authenticity in workplace and daily life with
creating a group of affectionate people around me. Further, I am having a positive attitude
which helps me in easy and critical problem solving, critical decision-making and working in
a team at workplace. Positive behavioural actions help me in my regular personal life, as I
solve each personal problem very easily and happily. My positive attitude also helps me in
spreading happiness around me, whether it is my professional place or personal place. My
two weaknesses are less social boldness, and bad stress management. As I mentioned above I
am socially weak person, hence in spite of having rich knowledge set sometimes I am unable
to interact with some socially active personalities, which causes lag in my personality.
Socially boldness also help in getting own rights and appreciation from juniors as well as
seniors. Additionally, my panic attitude in critical situations gives me stress and tension that
decrease my aura as well as work efficiency. If I can learn handling of critical situations at
work and in life, then my efficacy to both will boost considerably. Thus, I am working on my
weaknesses and strengthening of my strengths.
In order to address my weaknesses, I will apply SMART goals analysis (Conzemius &
O'neill, 2009), hence application of the SMART Goals model on my weaknesses are:
Specific goals: To resolve my Emotional instability problem, I will modify my thinking
through learning ways to compartmentalize my emotional thoughts (Gravagna, 2018).
Further, for dealing with tension and stress, I will practice yoga as well as regularly an active
listening and empathic listening (Mind Tools, 2018).
Measurable goals: by next six months, I have set goal of getting my both issues resolved half
way at least through replacing my mindfulness and questioning my thoughts as well as
assumptions.

Communication Skills 3
Achievable goals: yoga practice, anger management techniques, and ‘I am a perfectionist’
thought will help me to achieve my specific goals.
Result-focused goals: I will learn to manage my stress in order to work efficiently at
workplace and to be happy in life. Emotional stability will help me in gaining heights in
professional life and develop my personal as well as work environment.
Time-bound goals: On regular basis, I will practice emotions control exercises and yoga so
that measurable effects can be found weekly basis. Stress is a daily routine factor of life;
hence I will reduce it through practice real-time activities and analysis as well as actions at
work and at home.
Thus, through this SWOT self-evaluation (Helms & Nixon, 2010), I can identify the actual
requirements and qualities to face the whole career. Further, I can easily enhance the skill set
and desired talents by positive attributes and eliminate weaknesses through setting SMART
goals.
References
Cattell, H.E. & Mead, A.D., 2008. The sixteen personality factor questionnaire (16PF). The
SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment, 2, pp.135-78.
Cherry, , 2018. Cattell's 16 Personality Factors. [Online] Available at:
https://www.verywellmind.com/cattells-16-personality-factors-2795977 [Accessed 14
October 2018].
Conzemius, A. & O'neill, J., 2009. The power of SMART goals: Using goals to improve
student learning. London: Solution Tree Press.
Gravagna, , 2018. How to Cultivate Emotional Stability. [Online] Available at:
https://www.inc.com/quora/how-to-cultivate-emotional-stability-even-when-life-gets-
crazy.html [Accessed 14 October 2018].
Helms, M.M. & Nixon, J., 2010. Exploring SWOT analysis–where are we now? A review of
academic research from the last decade. Journal of strategy and management, 3(3), pp.215-
51.

Communication Skills 4
Mind Tools, 2018. How to Be Patient Staying Calm Under Pressure. [Online] Available at:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_78.htm [Accessed 14 October 2018].