Personal and Professional Growth: Understanding Self and Others

This report explores the importance of self-understanding and interpersonal skills for career growth, focusing on key attributes like focus, attention, time management, teamwork, and research abilities. Each skill is defined, its relevance to the author's life and future career is discussed, and potential contradictions are identified. The report emphasizes the significance of these skills in achieving personal and professional success, highlighting how they contribute to improved performance, effective decision-making, and the ability to navigate challenging situations. The author reflects on their own development in these areas and how they can be further enhanced to achieve long-term goals. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this and other solved assignments.

Understanding self and others
Introduction
Self understanding is the way people can connect with the social world. It discusses about the
potential an individual can possess which can help him to make effective growth in his career. It
is not easy to understand ourselves and to know what you can become in future. Understanding
self is the practice that is achieved by hard work and by using extreme focus in life. Progress in
understanding self and others affects the career growth as it develops social understanding
among students. Being aware about the individual discipline contributes effectively in social
recognition of an individual (Gore and Cross, 2014). Understanding self and others is the
capability of an individual to understand how the other person is feeling, what are his perceptions
about life and how he could improve himself. Researchers say that training for personality
development should be attended by each and every individual to understand about the thoughts
of other people and themselves. Life becomes challenging when an individual does not able to
find relevant solutions to his problems. And when he finds the relevant solution and understands
the cause of problem, an individual is said to be knowing better about himself and others
(Nierenberg, 2017). This report will be based on the research that how I can add different skills
and develop my personality. This report will help me to judge myself about the strengths and
weaknesses I have and how to overcome them.
Journal
1. Focus and attention
Define and describe the core skill/attribute
Focus and attention- It is the ability of the mind to concentrate particularly on one thing. Our
mind possesses different thoughts which needs a direction to move. Focus is the concentration
human brain tends to have and attention is the ability of being active about what is happening
nearby. Focus de-clutters the negative thoughts our mind consumes from the outside world. Our
mind catches negative thoughts fast as compared to the state of being positive. Thus, I focus and

attention skill is required to sustain live well and to achieve ambitions in an effective manner
(Taylor, 2014).
Discuss why you might possess this skill/attribute
To stay stimulus for the activities that are going on currently, I require focus and attention. For
example, when I am in a lecture then, I must be able to concentrate on what I am being taught
and I should listen carefully about the lecture. The focus and attention skill is important for me to
achieve the desired task. If I will lose focus in some work, I may not be able to complete it
appropriately. With this skill I can analyze the barriers in my life and could concentrate on
finding an appropriate solution for all my problems.
Importance
This skill will help me attain knowledge about a subject. This skill improves performance under
the difficult circumstances. The advantage of this skill has been listed to many of the activities.
Some of these activities include sports, revising an academic subject or taking participation in a
group discussion. I can enhance my memory with the skill of focus and attention. I can make
better strategy when I will be playing a basketball match or trying to learn new thing.
Identify any contradictions with regard to this skill/attribute
Focus and attention is contradicted to the short-term goals that are necessary to achieve. For
example I will be more concentrated till my examinations will held. However, Focus and
attention skill should be permanently exhibited in humans, it is important to engage mind with
positive thoughts. Short-term goals are a part of life but for this, an individual should not lose the
skills he currently have. He should practice more and more about his skills and keep on
improving it.
Identify its relevance to your future career
This skill will be beneficial for my future as I could easily manage the tough conditions in my
life. The power of this skill will make me become a successful person. I will then be able to learn
things in a better way. Also, I could fine my skills in reasoning, resolving issues in life and I
could make effective decisions for my career. The power of focus and attention will allow me to

avoid distraction and to be stable in whatever I am doing currently. It will give me energy to stay
motivated for my career.
2. Time-management
Define and describe the core skill/attribute
Time management is defined as the process by which an individual can create appropriate
planning to achieve a target. Time is the continuous phenomenon in which events takes place
simultaneously without being affected by any internal or external factor of a human life. This
skill enables an individual to improve productivity in terms of career and self-growth. Those who
value time are the masters in their life. It is not easy to achieve this skill in a day. One has to
practice a lot in scheduling the days. An individual has enough time in a day if he plans so. Time
management skill is acquired by those who are responsible and are focused in their life (Skills
you need, n.d.).
Discuss why you might possess this skill/attribute
This skill is important for me to accomplish tasks in a better way and in the given duration. Time
–management skill is important for me to achieve long-term goals in life. My aim in life is to
become successful in the chosen field for which I have to value time. This will help me to be
sincere in my work. This will also upgrade my performance. Effective time management skills
will help me to organize my schedule on a daily basis. I should possess time management skills
to take advantage of the new opportunities that are coming in my life. This will also help in my
personality development and I can be the good competition among others (Appointmentplus,
2015).
Importance
When it comes to the development of personality of a student. Time management is really
important because their most of time is occupied in study related activities like completing
assignments. Time management is skill important to cope up with the regular activities like
living lifestyle, plan to meet friends and other personal activities. As a student, time management
skill is important for me to distress the burden of the daily routine activities. I want to manage

my time in completing the tasks in a day. This will make me organized and improve the career
opportunities in my life (Cyril, 2014).
Identify any contradictions with regard to this skill/attribute
Time management is contradicted to the skill of being efficient in work and to perform work
effectively. Both of these scenarios are necessary in life because efficient skill will prove that I
am intelligent enough to accomplish tasks. On the contrary, I can make effective decisions in my
life with the skill of time management. Although, I cannot become perfect in everything but at
most of the times I can perform tasks effectively and efficiently using time management skills
(Marie, 2017).
Identify its relevance to your future career
Time management can provide me the path to move in right direction. I will be able to utilize
time in performing productive activities like doing training for some academic courses rather
wasting my time. I can focus on my studies well. I can create a weekly activity plan which will
allow me to stay organised. I can manage my academics and can performed well in examinations
with the organized activities. This skill will help me to complete my work on time. I could
seriously work on my career by managing my syllabus.
3. Team-working
Define and describe the core skill/attribute
This is the ability to perform action using individual skills to accomplish a task by working
together being in a team. Individuals can provide their feedback according to the group
discussion. Being a good team member shows that a person has the leadership qualities. A
person has the ability to understand the requirements of a task and to think about different
productive ideas. The quality of accomplishing tasks effectively being in a team shows how
responsible an individual is in his life.
Discuss why you might possess this skill/attribute
I should have this skill to perform the duties well when I have to complete an academic project
within in a team. Teamwork always gives relevant results in completing a project. Importance of

teamworking skill is that I can represent my personality effectively among other students. I will
possess the capabilities to manage the team and deliver results as required. The team work skill
will be an addition with the other skills I posses like being focused in life (Doyle, 2017). It is
important for me to show that I am capable of doing tasks with focus and I can handle
responsibilities effectively. A good leader guides his team members and motivates them when
situations are difficult. Therefore, I must possess this attribute.
Identify any contradictions with regard to this skill/attribute
Teamwork is contradicted to the commitment that is made when working in team. This also
represents how social an individual is with the other people when working together.
Commitments should be according to the skills an individual has, otherwise the project will be
failed. To continue the procedures of a project, it is important to be a better team player. Trust is
the most important factor when talking about teamwork (Francis, 2003).
Identify its relevance to your future career
Being a team player is important for me when I will enter into the professional world. This skill
helps in learning business value where you have to deal with a large number of people.
Considering my academic year, teamwork will allow me to coordinate properly with my
classmates for any project. I can actively participate in the project activities and can effectively
utilize my skills. I will be able to generate new ideas regarding a project. I will be able to
understand the skills possessed by the other team members so that we can perform well being in
a team.
4. Researching & Information Finding
Discuss why you might possess this skill/attribute
Researching & Information Finding is an attribute which shows how an individual can gather
information that is available over the internet and offline medium like print media. There is vast
information available on the internet from which it is not easy to find the relevant information. A
person with such a skill can achieve success in completing the projects. To get knowledge about
various search engines and to retrieve information is not an easy work to do. An individual

should have skills to make effective use of keywords to make their search easier (Stokking et al.,
2004).
Importance
This is a tool by which I can enhance my learning skills. I can understand about a topic and then
I can write better on it. The most important thing is I will be able to find feasible solutions in my
life when I will face any difficulty. This skill will increase my knowledge about the subjects I
will research for. This skill is important to understand the reviews about any news, issues and
academic-related aspects in the world. Research is important to handle the competition going on
in the market. For me, this skill is important to compete with my classmates for the growth of my
academic career (Zarah, 2018).
Identify any contradictions with regard to this skill/attribute
Research skills makes an individual interactive and to connect socially with different people. As
an individual has knowledge about the aspects of the life, he can understand about the conditions
of other person easily. With this skill I can perform better being a team member to accomplish
any project. This skill is contradicted to my academic career as I have to develop skills that can
be useful for me to get good marks. I want the research skill to be added in my personality to
accept challenges in life and to make effective decisions in my life.
Identify its relevance to your future career
This skill will be beneficial for me to achieve long-term goals in my career. I can find relevant
job opportunities for me in future. Till the time I will be doing my degree research skills will
allow to know more about the things happening in the outside world. I can grasp more
knowledge about the courses that are there in my academic syllabus. Not only this, research
skills will also help me to achieve good grades in examinations.
Summary and Action Plan
The journal entries has described about the four different skills and why these are important for
my career. Each of these skills are important to understand ourself and others. These skills
represents the qualities I should possess as an individual and why these skills are important to

sustain life. This skills will also help me to build social relationships with people. I can utilize all
these skills to achieve my aims in life. According to the journal entries discussed above, I have
analyzed about my strengths and weakness which are described below.
Strengths
I have found out from these journal entries that I am good at time-management skill and I have
good focus and attention. Both of these skills allow me to overcome challenges that I face in my
life. I am a good team member as well. I can effectively lead the team and can generate ideas to
complete a project.
Weaknesses
My weakness is that my research skill is not fine. I find some issues in order to find information
from internet or other offline media. I have to work on improving this skill as it will be useful to
complete assignments. Also, research skill will help to create a better future. I can use this skill
in business or in any other industry I will apply for in future.
Besides these four skills described in the journal entries I think I should work on some more
personality development skills like written communication, public-speaking and
assertiveness/conflict resolution.
 Written communication- this skill is ability of an individual to express himself by using
appropriate words as a written document. This skill is usually required in a business
professional. Written communication skill is important to deal with different kinds of
people or customers when working in an industry. I need to develop this skill in me
because I can learn how I should respond to the queries and how I can express myself by
using a documentation. In my 2nd year of academic this skill will help me to create
documentation for the projects.
 Public-speaking- it is ability to interact with the audience mainly while conveying some
information to public. The audience can be of any social event, academic event or a
business event. I have found this skill to be an integral part of my personality
development process because I want to enhance my overall communication skills. I could
be able to understand the perspective of people and to know better about them.

 Assertiveness/conflict resolution- the ability of being assertive is to stand up for the rights
of an individual with a positive attitude. Being assertive does not mean that I have to be
aggressive or create conflict with people. It simply mean to be in favour of human rights
and duties (Skills you need, n.d.).
References
 Appointmentplus, (2015), Why Time Management Is Important, Available at:
https://www.appointmentplus.com/blog/why-time-management-is-important/, (accessed:
20/04/2018)
 Cyril, A.V., (2014), ‘Time Management and Academic Achievement of Higher
Secondary Students’. i-Manager's Journal on School Educational Technology, 10(3),
p.38.
 Doyle, A., (2017), List of Teamwork Skills, Available at:
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/list-of-teamwork-skills-2063773 , (accessed:
20/04/18)
 Francis, H., (2003), ‘Teamworking and change: managing the contradictions’. Human
Resource Management Journal, 13(3), pp.71-90.
 Gore, J.S. and Cross, S.E., (2014), ‘ Who am I becoming? A theoretical framework for
understanding self-concept change’. Self and Identity, 13(6), pp.740-764.
 Marie, N., (2017). Benefits of Time Management, Available at:
https://www.timecenter.com/articles/benefits-of-time-management/ , (accessed: 20/04/18)
 Nierenberg, C., (2017), Knowing Yourself: How To Improve Your Understanding of
Others, Available at: https://www.livescience.com/59349-knowing-yourself-helps-your-
understand-others.html , (accessed: 20/04/18)
 Skillsyouneed, (n.d.), Assertiveness- An Introduction, Available at:
https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/assertiveness.html , (accessed: 20/04/2018)
 Skillsyouneed, (n.d.), Time Management Skills, Available at:
https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/time-management.html, (accessed: 20/04/2018)
 Stokking*, K., Schaaf, M., Jaspers, J. and Erkens, G., (2004), ‘Teachers' assessment of
students' research skills’. British Educational Research Journal, 30(1), pp.93-116.

 Taylor, J., (2014), Focus is the Gateway to Business Success, Available at:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/focus-is-the-gateway-to-
b_b_4206552.html, (accessed: 20/04/2018)
 Zarah, L., (2018), 7 Reasons Why Research Is Important, Available at:
https://owlcation.com/academia/Why-Research-is-Important-Within-and-Beyond-the-
Academe , (accessed: 20/04/18)