The importance of Self-Management

Logically self-awareness comes before self-management. When you are aware of your thoughts and emotions, you will probably act consciously and make informed decisions.
Self-management builds upon self-awareness, you can only act on your emotion if you are aware of its existence. Being aware and in charge of your emotions during difficult situations, it will help you be calm under pressure and act positively and proactively rather than buckle under challenges.
Self-awareness is important, but I choose to write more on the concept of self-management because it is what you do with your emotional awareness that makes the difference in life. The awareness of your emotions aids you to consciously choose what you will or will not do.

To achieve your goals, be responsible and successful in life, you need to cultivate the art of self-management skills.

Self-management skills will help you manage your activities, enables you to hold yourself accountable for your work and words. Without self-management, many of us may lose sight of our goals or cannot prioritize our activities. self-management skills are a crucial and necessary set of skills to build a productive and efficient lifestyle in professional and personal relationships.

 What Are Self-Management Skills?

Self-management skills are those abilities that help you to control your feelings, emotions, and actions. They play a major role in your personal and work life because those abilities aid you to become more productive and proactive in decision making. With Self-management skills, you can improve on how your communication with others, plan your time more effectively, handle responsibility efficiently and make better choices that will improve both your personal and professional life.

Self-management skills

Accountability/Responsibility skill

Accountability is the act of being responsible for your thoughts and actions. When you say yes, you should mean it and work in a committed way to deliver what you have accepted to do.

Accountability and responsibility are similar but they don’t mean the same thing. If you say to yourself that you are accountable, it means you’re answerable to your actions and decisions.
Being responsible means doing what is expected of you and accepting whatever mistakes that come from your action. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake, it is meant to teach you a valuable lesson, accept it, learn from it and moved forward. When you take responsibility for a task, it means you’re in charge and have to determine the best way to proceed.
Taking responsibility for your actions is a bold step towards true self-management.

Goal setting skill

Goal setting is the ability to determine what you want to achieve in a clear and well-defined manner. Goal setting helps you to decide on what’s important and how to create action plans that will align your goals with your values. This skill is necessary because it enables you to manage your time, actions. physical space, energy and mental capabilities towards achieving success in the future.

Self-management will only go as far as your personal goals allow it. Set long-term and short-term goals and plan your day-to-day to revolve around activities that can help you achieve these goals.

Time management skill

Time is a finite resource that can never be recovered once used. It’s important you learn how to use it wisely. Because time is valuable you have to learn how to distinguish between Urgent and Important things in your life..

Effective time management skills allow you to prioritize tasks, avoid distractions and maintain focus. Managing your time is an essential part of managing yourself. Find effective methods that help you manage your time, streamline your daily activities and effort efficiently. Learn to say no to unreasonable request or activities.

Focus your time, energy and abilities on a single activity. Don’t clutter your life with so many tasks at the same time. Complete each task fully before moving on to another.

Proper planning and time management are the keys to getting the most out of your day.

Good time management helps you to set and prioritize your goals, it also enables you to balance your work and leisure time.

Organizational Skill

Organisational skill means planning your time and the things you have to do. Creating a schedule of what is most important and what is not. It’s also about being prepared and having ready the things you need when you need them to implement a plan or complete a task.

To become an organized person, you have to pay attention to details, be an active listener, set a goal and work consistently towards the achievement of your goal.

Organizational skills are valuable and important for success, especially in the business world.

Stress management skill

At times stress can overwhelm you and override your best intentions, it is hard to think clearly or make a rational decision. When you are overstressed, your ability to think clearly and accurately becomes compromised.

With stress management skill you can stay emotionally calm, to control impulsive feelings and behaviours, manage your emotions in healthy ways, take initiative, follow through on commitments, and focus on your goals and make choices that allow you progress forward in the workplace and in your relationships. you need to learn how to overcome stress in order to remain emotionally balanced.

Managing stress helps you self-manage your emotions and maintain a healthy lifestyle. To relieve stress, use humour and laughter, they are natural antidotes to stress. They lessen your burdens and help you keep things in perspective. Laughter brings your nervous system into balance and calms you down. Stress can make you lose control of your emotions and rob you of the ability to act thoughtfully and reasonably.

Stress management skills are among the most important in self-management skills. It is impossible to find a completely stress-free work and life environment, stress situations are everywhere. Learn to manage pressures and to cope with problems when they pop up in life and not allow them to overwhelm you,

Unmanaged stress can increase your blood pressure and affect your health and wellness. To improve your emotional intelligence you must learn how to manage stress.

Communication skill and conflict management skill

No man is an island. Your ability to exist, to grow and to live harmoniously with others depends on your capability to communicate effectively with them. This means being able to articulate what you have in mind concisely. People are not mind readers, nor can they guess what’s in your mind based on your behaviour. Tell them exactly what you need or expected of them. Good communication foster a stronger relationship. Effective communication will save you a lot of misunderstanding that can lead to conflict.

Disagreements are certain to arise in every human relationship from time to time. People don’t have the same values, needs, opinions, and expectations at all times. Conflict management skill helps you resolve such disagreements in healthy and constructive ways that will build trust and strengthen your relationship. When conflict is resolved amicably, it creates stronger bonds in relationships. Learn to see conflict as an opportunity to get closer to others.

When conflicts arise try to maintain a sense of calm so you can think clearly and objectively. Do not give people, places or situations the power to knock you off your emotional footing.

 

Self-management skills will help set your heart, thought and action in the right direction and other things in your life will follow suit.

LIVING A SUCCESSFUL LIFE.

Success is a journey. Living a successful life is a dream of anyone. Every achievement recorded on this planet earth is a product of successful living. A person who succeeds in life is admired, he becomes a role model and he is respected. From the beginning, God designed us to become a successful personality. God from creation instructed man in the Holy Bible to go into the world and become fruitful. Fruitfulness means to live a life of purpose vide life of accomplishments and successes.
A successful life can be achieved by developing a vision and working on the vision. In addition, to succeed in life we must develop a heart of prayer to enable us to have conquering spirits. Seeking information is also a sure way to achieve greatness. Success comes also through locating a mentor; this is what raised James Owen to a greater height in sports. Many years ago, James Owen wanted to become a great athlete in Europe. He sought the view of his coach; who gave him four keys to stardom: Determination, Dedication, Discipline and Attitude. James Owen started working on them. At the 1923 Berlin Olympics, he got four gold medals and his record in long jump lasted for 25 years unbroken. He did not just have a goal, but he applied himself to the four vital keys for success.
Therefore, living a successful life is a combination of many values amongst which is a relationship with God, developing a vision, reading books, talents development, identifying a mentor, attending seminars/ conferences and taking action.

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: Abraham Lincoln a former United States of America president. stated “Without the assistance of a Divine being, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail”. Developing a relationship with God includes reading and meditating on God’s words and praying to God which builds a strong relationship with God. Through a relationship with God, inspirations are developed, knowledge and wisdom developed at the same time.

A right relationship with God gives us a conquering spirit to face life challenges and pursue our goals towards living a successful life. A prayerful relationship with God equips us with the fruit of the spirit- love, peace, right temperance, gentleness, faith and meekness (Galatians 5:22), these are positive traits that help us to succeed in life; successes are not achieved in bitterness and rancour.

VISION: To live a successful life, one should develop a vision of what a person is desirous of achieving in life. One’s vision must be in line with one’s purpose on this planet earth. The place of God in discovering one’s vision is important. If one’s vision is developed early in life, one’s success story starts early as well. Vision could also be developed later in life and pursued. The most important thing is to develop a vision. The vision should be backed by a working plan. Vision developed and pursued leads to destiny fulfilment in life.

Chinedu Nsofor graduated from the University of Nigeria, Enugu State Eastern Nigeria. He is 30 years old as of 2020. Chinedu Nsofor set his vision to impact life in his environment, he identified his goals and pursue it. While at the University he developed his dream project-WORK WHILE IN SCHOOL; a programme designed to encourage undergraduates to start early to think on their future plan of life. As at present, he has secured a partnership with the National Commission of Colleges of Education (in Nigeria). His vision has made an impact in the Nigerian Society.


RENDER SERVICES: Some persons on this plant have impacted society and improve themselves through rendering services. Our Lord Jesus rendered great and mighty services to the people; the services he rendered are still being discussed positively. Mother Teresa is noted for her services which she rendered to the people, thus she gained world recognition. Mahatma Gandhi rendered services which earned him high regards by his Indian people and the world many years after his demise. Gani Fawehinmi a Nigerian lawyer was known for tremendous legal services he rendered to the people including the needy through which he became an outstanding personality admired by all. Thus, they all lived a successful life.

READ BOOKS: Francis Bacon the great French author said that reading makes a man. This is true. Every reader attests that reading moulds a personality. Successful personalities have admitted continuously that reading shaped their lives towards their accomplishments. Reading quality books and periodicals is a sure way to excel in life as books reading equipped one with the right values of life. Many persons including Dr Ben Carson, John Maxwell, Brian Tracy and Ogbo Awoke Ogo have all attested to the fact that they excelled in their career through reading. Ogbo Awoke Ogbo; a Nigerian and founder of Giant thoughts International once said: “I literally fall sick any day I do not read for a minimum of two hours”. Also, reading books played great roles in my humble achievements including developing my website ( http://www.inspireforgreatness.com/), publication of my five e-books, online leadership and mentorship academy, championing reading culture etc.

DEVELOP YOUR TALENTS: One sure way to become successful in life is for one to discover and develop his talents. These talents include potentials, skills, gifts, abilities etc. They are heavenly deposits in one. They must be developed and put into the right use. Many have developed their talents and succeeded in business, sports, writing, governance, motivational/ public speaking etc. When you mention persons like Daniel Ally (Founder of Ally Way International), Preston Vander van, Dr Linus Okorie (President of Guardian International) etc, the mind runs to persons that are making waves in motivational, leadership, public and conference speaking sphere. Mention Joyce Meyer, she is remembered as an Author, Bible Teacher, Preacher and Conference Speaker.
Mention Donald Trump, Tony Elumelu, Charles Schwab and Aliko Dangote, you remember them because of their exploits in the business world.

HAVE A MENTOR: Another way for one to live a successful life is to have a mentor. A mentor is a guide, a counsellor. If one locates a mentor, his life would be guided early in life. Parents are mentors. Friends and relatives are also mentors. Authors and speakers also serve as mentors. Leaders are also mentors. The primary role of a mentor is to bring the mentees to the original purpose of their life as to live a destiny fulfilled life.
The role of Sonya Carson is a typical role a parent plays in the life of their children. Dr Ben Carson has severally written on the role the mother who encouraged him to read books early in life played over him towards his accomplishment in life.

ATTEND SEMINARS/CONFERENCES: To further excel in life we need to attend conferences/seminars which build our minds for life pursuits and greatness.
Inspiring conferences have also become a great way to influence one positively. The thoughts shared at such gatherings shape one’s mindsets towards accomplishments. Pastor C. Maxwell; an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker and author in his book the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership stated that several years ago while teaching leadership to a group of people in Denver U.S.A., he noticed the activities of a nineteen-year-old named Brian, who he said he spoke to and encouraged him in his life pursuits. Today, Brian Tracy is an accomplished author, leadership expert and motivator.

TAKE ACTION: Preston Vanderveen said, “A dream with no action is just a wish”. To excel you must take action in any identified activity. If we develop a vision plan, read books, attend seminars/conferences, have talents etc, without taking action, all is in vain. Taking action would manifest who we are before the people. What we manifest will be a measure of value people and society will place on us. If the persons mentioned above never took action, history would not have recorded them positively.
Therefore, we should employ the BASATA SUCCESS PRINCIPLE as espoused by my humble self, James Okere.  BASATA SUCCESS PRINCIPLE; Begin Action/ Activity. Start Action/ Activity. Take Action/ Activity. This is one sure way of moving towards life accomplishments.

---- By James Okere

James Okere is a political scientist, an author, public speaker, social entrepreneur and inspirational blogger- http://www.inspireforgreatness.com/

Action: The key to success

Visualise your success, that’s the dream. Believe in it, that’s the mindset. Work towards achieving it, that’s action. Dream, mindset and action equal success. Very simple, right?

We all have dreams of succeeding in life. Dreaming is easy, believing in that dream and working towards actualising it is a different ball game altogether.

If you can visualise it, believe in it; with determination, you can make it come true. This is what success is all about.


You want to be successful in life? Then have a success mindset and a set down goal (s) you want to achieve. Good, now you need to take action to set your goals in motion. You need to think of how to actualise your vision to make your success come true. 

The execution of your goal is the most critical part. It is crucial to the achieving or failing of your dream and your success. If you want to achieve success, then you need to learn how to execute your plans. To do this, you need a strategy.