Understanding Self and Others

This assignment explores the concept of understanding self and others, focusing on the importance of developing core skills such as focus and attention, time management, giving and receiving feedback, and team working. The author reflects on their current competence in these skills and identifies contradictions between their self-perception and how others perceive them. The skills discussed are essential for personal development and future success.

Understanding Self
and Others

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA....................................................................................4
What is the core skill to develop?............................................................................................................4
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant theories and
concepts to support your answer)............................................................................................................4
Reflect on your current competence regarding this skill. How did you assess your competence? (use
your self-assessment findings, feedback from peers and your tutor, plus your own reflections on your
thoughts, feelings and behaviours to answer this question).....................................................................6
Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above? For example, is there a match between
how you see yourself and how others see you, or not?............................................................................8
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument)..........................8
Summary.................................................................................................................................................9
Personal development..............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Understanding self and others can be defined as ways in which individual can judge
oneself and others on basis of certain points like attitude, knowledge, skills and many others
(Tennant, 2012). This will help individual to know more about themselves, by which they can
acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses. This assignment is based on different skills which
should be possessed by individual, why they are required, assessment from others and
contradiction with what other thinks about individual and what individual thinks about
themselves. Furthermore, summary is presented which describes strengths and weaknesses of
skills and what all skills are must to be developed.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA

What is the core skill to develop?
There are different skills which must be developed before entering into a professional world
so that individual can have competitive edge. As per me I would like to develop following
skills:
 Focus and attention: This is important skill as without focus nothing can be attained
in life and for this it is mandatory to have some goal towards which I can work with
all my efforts. When goal is clear then it becomes easy to focus and all my attention
will be on its achievement.
 Time management: Nothing can be attained if time is not managed properly suppose
after completing my education I want to give entrance exam to enter into Google, but
if I am not prepared within certain time limit then I won’t be able to get into that
position and after some time I may not be eligible for same profile. I have to learn
time management skill so that I can attain my goal. This also indicates that I lack focus
and attention (Baron-Cohen, Tager-Flusberg and Lombardo, 2013).
 Giving and receiving feedback: I hardly give feedback as I don’ want offend anyone
as I know that people do not like when anyone interrupts them or tell them about their
weaknesses. I am not open to feedback I don’t like when someone points out at me but
sometimes it seems that if I will listen what other says about me then it will help me to
grow in a better.
 Team working: Sometimes it feels like it is better to work alone as I can work on my
own terms and conditions and with my own ideas. But sometimes it becomes difficult
as no one can find flaws in their work and it becomes difficult to identify whether it is
feasible to attain definite goal by certain method or not. For this I need to develop this
skill by which I will gain knowledge in other perspectives also (Baumeister, 2013).
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant
theories and concepts to support your answer)
There is a reason behind each skill I have chosen to develop. I know my flaws and know what
I have to develop by which I will be able to attain my goals after my studies. These skills are

essential for me as focus and attention will provide me where I want to go and what can be
done to attain that. Time management will assist me to manage my skills in a way that after
completion of my studies I can grab my goal. Receiving feedback will let me to acknowledge
my weaknesses by which I can know what needs to be improved. By team work I can
understand that how to work in a team, it will also assist me to learn skills like cooperation,
coordination and knowledge with respect to different aspects (Dzhogleva and Lamberton,
2014).
I know that at one moment of time these skills will assist me in future. They will help me to
grow as individual. Team work will help me to work with different people who may be from
different cultures, countries or many more, this will also help me to grow, like become a team
leader within short interval of time. Giving feedback will assist me to find flaws in people and
help them to overcome those this will also help me to identify whether I need to improve that
point in myself or not. Focus and attention is crucial as without this nothing can be attained.
An example can be taken to understand this perspective. Like being a student, many things
influences and goals changes like if a new technology comes within market, my goal changes
like I want to become a python developer when android came my goal was to become
Android developer and when there was growth in other sectors I wanted to get into that
sector. This means there is no stability and focus which can be seen from example that there is
fluctuation in goals. For this it is mandatory to be focused so that I can work from this
moment to attain particular goal (Foucault, Davidson and Burchell, 2010).

Reflect on your current competence regarding this skill. How did you assess your
competence? (use your self-assessment findings, feedback from peers and your tutor, plus
your own reflections on your thoughts, feelings and behaviours to answer this question)
At present as per my views and others reflection is provided on basis of these skills.
Skills Feedback
Tutors Peers Me
Focus & attention Careless attitude
towards different
activities.
Not focused,
remains confused
with respect to
future.
Focused for few
days but again goal
changes if any
problem arises.
Time management Works on deadline,
but need start working
with time so that at
end moment any
problem do not occur.
Works at last
moment which
creates lots of stress.
I like to work within
time but it is not like
that I start working
from starting but I
think work must be
completed doesn’t
matter when it was
started and end. It
should be before
deadline.
Giving and
receiving feedback
Hardly to talks with
other and when it
comes to own listens
to tutors but
sometimes gather had
certain good things
and more often
ignored.
Not open to negative
comments. It is not
harmful but still
thinks how they
pointed out at me
and thinks that they
are my biggest
enemy.
It’s true I am not
optimistic. I don’t
like when someone
says that you don’t
listen. I think its my
own life and I know
which way to go.
But at certain
moment of time I
feel that they are

right and they are
saying for my own
good.
Team work He has knowledge
about different
perspectives and when
he will work within
team those ideas can
give enhanced results
as his ideas can be
polished by others.
He can work within
a team effectively
but only drawback is
that he wants to
work on his own
terms and conditions
which is always not
possible.
I like to work with
my own ideas, terms
and conditions that
is the reason I hardly
work within a team
as there are certain
rules and regulations
which I don’t think
should be followed
when you want to
grow as experiments
needs to be done,
then only one can
know about practical
feasibility.

Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above? For example, is there a match
between how you see yourself and how others see you, or not?
Perspectives vary from individual to individual. Everyone has their own point of view either
its related with person or some situation (Komives and Wagner, 2016). Similarly people had
made their own perceptions about me. I won’t say that they are completely wrong or right but
rather I would say I know myself better than anyone else and I know where I have to improve
and where not. Still then I will consider point of view of others and will identify whether it is
so or not as it will lead to make improvement in myself as it is good for me at some or other
time. I am considered as careless by my tutor but I think that it’s not carelessness, its
confusions as I don’t know how to react at certain moment of time as I get confused. As per
peers I can work within team but on my conditions. It does not means that I don’t want to
work in a team or I don’t enjoy it. I just want that my point of view must be considered rather
than imposing someone else idea without listening to all team members (Sammut, Daanen and
Moghaddam, 2013). I don’t ignore feedback given by my tutors it’s like everything is not
possible to implement and when it comes to giving feedback I know I am not open to them
then how can I expect same from others. That is the reason why I don’t give but when its
about my friends then I make sure that if they do any wrong then I interrupt them.
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument).
I think by gaining knowledge of different aspects do not harm anyone, at one or other point its
going to give you benefit. When you have time it’s good to learn something. I think by
attaining these skills I can easily grab job in future. As per me these are the essential skills
which individual must possess to adapt into any working culture. I can work alone and
complete my work within time either it may be at last moment but it is completed. If I will be
able to work within team then I can also work in future and this will assist me to how
cooperate with others and definitely I can get assistance. It’s not bad to acquire these skills.
By time management I can complete my targets within time or before it. By focus and
attention I will be able to concentrate on my goal or team goal which will assist me to attain
my goals (Pizzolato and et. al, 2012).

Summary
Till now four skills have been discussed, they are focus and attention, time management,
giving and receiving feedback and team working. They have their own strengths and
disadvantages. Focus and attention assist in focusing on individuals or team goals. It assists in
concentrating on one rather them diverting to what others are doing and how they are doing.
Team working assist in working with different people whose objective is same and they work as
a single unit for attaining their goals. Time management skill will aid to complete goal in
required time duration which will also result in high efficiency. While working within a team
giving and receiving feedback assists a lot as by giving a feedback other person can change their
way of working and by receiving a feedback individual can overcome their own weakness which
will assist complete team to accomplish their goals. As such there are no disadvantages but still
then there are some while working within a team. Like if a single ingle individual is not focused
towards their own job role then it will become difficult for entire team to complete their project.
Conflicts can arise within a team if mutual decision will not occur.
Personal development
Skills How to develop Who will assess Time required
Team work Working with a team to
complete assigned
projects and tasks. Focus
will be attain knowledge
from ideas given by
others and also develop
analytical skills through
that.
Tutor, peers 6 months
Time management By working within a
team, work will be
divided and time will be
allocated for different
tasks, focus will be to
Team members and
tutor
8

complete that within time
and also assist other team
members to complete
their part.
Focus and
attention
Attending different
classes to gain
knowledge about
different aspects and then
analyse what is my goal.
By identifying goal
working with a team and
taking assistance to attain
that goal.
Tutor and team
members
10 months
CONCLUSION
From above it can be concluded that, it is essential for individual to understand
themselves and others. This will assist them to know them and simultaneously develop what they
lack. For this individual need to communicate with others by which they can receive feedback
and review, this will aid them to acknowledge their weak points and develop them in themselves
effectively. Furthermore, assistance can be taken from people surrounding them to know more
about them and gain knowledge about various aspects.

REFERENCES
Books &Journals
Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H. and Lombardo, M. eds., 2013. Understanding other minds:
Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience. Oxford University Press.
Baumeister, R. F. ed., 2013. Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard. Springer Science &
Business Media.
Dzhogleva, H. and Lamberton, C. P., 2014. Should birds of a feather flock together?
Understanding self-control decisions in dyads. Journal of Consumer Research. 41(2). pp.361-
380.
Foucault, M., Davidson, A. I. and Burchell, G., 2010. The government of self and others:
Lectures at the Collège de France 1982–1983. Springer.
Komives, S. R. and Wagner, W. eds., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the
social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Pizzolato, J. E. and et. al, 2012. Understanding context: Cultural, relational, & psychological
interactions in self-authorship development. Journal of College Student Development. 53(5).
pp.656-679.
Sammut, G., Daanen, P. and Moghaddam, F. M. eds., 2013. Understanding the self and others:
Explorations in intersubjectivity and interobjectivity. Routledge.
Tennant, M., 2012. The learning self: Understanding the potential for transformation. John
Wiley & Sons.
Todorov, A., Fiske, S. and Prentice, D. eds., 2011. Social neuroscience: Toward understanding
the underpinnings of the social mind. Oxford University Press.