Personal Development: Self-Management

Category: Self-Management

Number of Hours: 1 Hour

Date: February 04, 2021

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The self-management workshop highlighted techniques and strategies to accomplish goals that align with my personal values. This workshop went over how to create and prioritize strategic goals, manage time effectively, and take action to implement goals. We discussed four key ideas: how does goal setting clarify daily life, what are some tools to keep myself accountable, what are my priorities, and how to be productive daily.

A quote that stood out to me was:

Clarity is essential. Knowing exactly what you want builds your self-confidence immeasurably.

It is important to create goals for both professional and personal desires. These goals keep us motivated to fulfill and to complete long-term missions while going through struggle throughout the day. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and targeting a deadline (SMART) to be motivating and effective. SMART goals should also align with values, match my efforts, and make sure that I'm the right person to accomplish the goal.

A couple of SMART goals that I created during the workshop revolved around relaxation and health.

1. I will take at least an hour a day to listen to my audio book/watch TV/call my family or friends after my classes to decompress for this semester.

2. I will participate in yoga/Pilates class at least 4 days a week for the next month in the middle of the day between classes or after classes.

Although creating SMART goals is a great start to becoming more efficient and productive, to further improve on self-management, you must eat your frog in the morning. This means accomplish the most daunting task first thing in the morning. The rest of the day will be more positive as you feel more energized by performing the most difficult task first thing. My frog is typically procrastinating on studying until the last minute. This includes participating more in class, and going to office hours to ask clarifying questions.

Lastly, this workshop went over some techniques on how to stay motivated and on top of our SMART goals. Two great techniques are to make to-do lists for each day for a week and keeping up-to-date with my schedule. The software's I use are Notion, where I keep my to-do lists, and apple/google calendar, where I keep my commitments and set reminders for each day. Both techniques allow you to stay organized, remember important tasks, and remain motivated to accomplish your goals.

After this workshop, I am able to understand my weaknesses in organization and productivity as well as how to stay on top of each task. By understanding techniques to become more productive, I feel more confident in identifying concrete goals, planning and acting accordingly. These techniques will allow me to be focused on my leadership journey through school, and later at my full-time position by keeping on track with important deadlines for myself and when others rely on me to finish. As a result of obtaining more self-management knowledge, starting tomorrow I am able to be more accountable to myself with studying, exercise, and relaxation by identifying my frog and the SMART goals I outlined in the workshop. By practicing these techniques now, I know I will have better self-management in my future endeavors.