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Файл:Self-management and self-development techniques. Training manual for students in the field of training 08.04.01 Construction
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1. How to organise your life so that there would be enough time for everything?
2. Where to draw energy to realise your “I want”?
3. How to understand what prevents you from achieving the desired?
4. What can support a person on a long way of self-development and self-education?
Sooner or later the moment will come when the process of self-education will become your vital
need, which no one has ever managed to satisfy. The need, if it has arisen, will never disappear, but it
may weaken, dim, fade. The primary motivation allows the fire to ignite, but it is not enough to keep
this fire burning for a long time. What can help in this case?
First, action: to learn, you need to act; to develop, you need to act.
Many people think that by listening to lectures, reading books, making a content, they are wor king
“for the future”, creating something that will come in handy later. Our brain will not absorb information, will not process and break down in it if it thinks that it is not important. And what is important
to it is only what is used “here and now”. Turn your knowledge into a problem-solving tool, try to create
something from it. Having a goal generates a need for knowledge as a means to achieve it.
Second, word: in order to learn, you have to explain.
Knowledge needs to be constantly “shuffled”, so retell what you learn to your friends. You’re
bound to discover a curious pattern: the more you retell, the better you understand. This is because
by explaining to someone else, you are expanding your space of knowledge to include new arguments,
associations, and examples.
Another effective way is to write down what you find curious. Writing down a thought triggers a process of reflection, but it’s not about taking notes. Many people assume that if they take
notes in a book, it means they have understood the material and can use those notes later. When you
start studying for exams, you’ll realise that it doesn’t work. Taking notes requires no mental effort,
and moreover, if you devote your resources to taking notes yourself rather than processing the information, that information simply does not get into your long-term memory. First, read the entire text (paragraph, chapter) and begin to retell, explaining to yourself that you have understood.
And only after you have been able to clearly explain what you have just read can you take notes.
Don’t be fooled — no one gets it right the first time.
Third, another person: it is important that someone supports and accompanyies you.
As you know, human is a social creature. We live in a society; we are part of it. Every society
has its own layers, communities, groups and factions. Professional community is not homogeneous,
and it differs first of all by the level of education. It is education that moves a person in the space of social interaction, and in this movement, you need someone meaningful to you: a friend, a rival, a critic, a mentor. And it does not necessarily have to be a real person. The ideals on which a person relies
for self-improvement can also be in his or her own imagination.
There are two concepts: Management and Self-management, which are known to everyone.
It is safe to assume that interest in these phenomena is also widespread, especially what concerns
the management of others. Scientists of various directions: social, humanitarian and even natural
sciences are studying these phenomena. One gets the impression that everything and everyone knows
about management. Many hundreds of scientific works have been written, numerous studies have
been conducted, but the work is actively going on.
Interest in the management of others exceeds interest in self-management many times over. Many
people believe that technologies of managing others are identical to technologies of self-management. If a person has mastered the technology of managing others, then he/she has also mastered selfmanagement. However, it is not so. The technologies of managing others and managing oneself coincide only partially.
The presence of people who are eng aged in ma nagement is a prerequ isit e for the org a n isation of group
work. It is believed that people were able to escape from the animal world thanks to collective work.
Thousands of years of experience have collected numerous techniques and ways of mana ging people,
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which have been passed down from generation to generation. And it was considered that the ability
to manage others is a special ability, it is not given to everyone. As a rule, the managers of the past managed people on the basis of life experience, traditions and religious commandments.
Management as a profession appeared at the end of the 19th century and demanded special professional education. Today this profession has become one of the most demanded and widespread.
For thousands of years, people have learned to control others by virtually ignoring them. “Black
box” was the name given to a person, to the specifics of his motivation, goals, values, that is,
to everything that could not simply be seen. There was no particular need to look into people and consider their personality. The work was done by low-skilled workers, who easily replaced each other at
the expense of the large number of those who needed work.
The last decades have been characterised by rapid changes in all spheres of life. These changes
are so tangible that they can no longer be ignored. People change slowly. Of course, the new generation has always been different from the previous one, but never so radically. Changes are fixed
at the deepest level of worldview and psychological attitudes, motivation and system of values,
forms and types of cognitive activity and thinking. Previously, the differences between the generations were leveled out as children grew up and entered professional life. But today professional
life as never before does not correspond to the past, and the new generation is adapted to this new
turn of life. Therefore, those technologies and methods of management that worked well in the past
are no longer effective.
Self-management as a type of managing others. Management by others is a complex process
that involves interrelated methods, tools, and techniques, and can be characterised as a set of technologies, methods, and techniques that leaders use to regulate behaviour, thoughts, and emotions, the application of which leads to success in personal affairs and in the profession. Such techniques are used
by those in leadership roles or who own businesses. These people do not only “administer” their responsibilities, but also manage others.
Traditionally, the managerial process is presented as a series of successive steps:
– goal setting;
– assessment of the situation;
– problem definition;
– development of management decisions;
– motivating executives to implement the planned actions and achieve the goals;
– control, which lies in the correlation of actually achieved results with those that were planned.
The management process consists of the alternation of certain stages and is manifested as a continuous sequence of purposeful actions of the management apparatus and manager to achieve certain results.
Similarly, the same stages can be traced in the process of self-management: selection of goals
and building an action plan to achieve them, formulation of tasks; decision-making and taking responsibility for oneself; self-motivation, self-control and self-evaluation.
The technologies developed for the organisation of managerial activity (goal-setting, planning,
motivation, control, and evaluation) are only partly suitable for self-management. Self-management
is a broader concept than the management of others.
Self-management as a mental regulation system. In psychology, the problem of self-management lies in the emotional sphere, at the heart of mental regulation. Self-management refers to self-adjustment, optimisation of the mental state, increase in the level and stability of a person’s mood.
The goal of self-management is aimed at maintaining mental health, personal harmony, the positive
dynamics of all processes, the coherence between them.
The state of harmony and mental health determines a number of interconnected components:
– conscious and unconscious needs, desires and aspirations of a person;
– capabilities: the presence of necessary abilities, hidden potential;
– environmental conditions: influence that is exerted on the person, subjective perception of this
influence, understanding: acceptance or rejection of the current situation.
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The tendency to change state or the change in mental state itself is expressed in a complex of different, sometimes contradictory feelings of the person.
On the one hand, the individual is a self-regulating system. It was supposed that energetic, dynamic and socio-content elements of psychic self-regulation are self-adjusting, without involving human consciousness. Of course, much depends on inborn peculiarities of nervous activity, its energetic
and dynamic elements. On the other hand, during readjustment, a person has to take into consideration the social situation, the importance of his or her own actions, possible consequences of his or her
actions, etc. In other words, a person has a possibility of choice, and this choice requires awareness.
Summary
1. A distinctive feature of self-development is that people themselves determine the whole
chain of the development process:
– their goals (what is needed for development);
– the specific tasks that need to be solved to make the development process take place;
– the conditions that are necessary for development;
– they take responsibility for the process and result of their work on self-development.
2. Mental development is not the result of the number of years lived, but the result of the content
that the years lived were filled with.
3. Everyone has the right to education. The state, organisations, family, and people themselves
take upon themselves to realise the individual’s right to education.
4. The education of an adult is subject to different laws than that of a child. It is desirable to take
these features into consideration when organising your own education.
5. Mechanisms supporting the processes of self-development and self-education are action, word
and other person.
6. The techniques developed for organising management activities: goal-setting, planning, motivation, control, evaluation, are only partly suitable for self-management. Self-management is a broader concept than the management of others.
Think about and answer these questions
1. What indicators characterise the results of the self-education process?
2. What do you think are the benefits of continuing education?
3. How do you feel about learning: as an adult or as a child?
4. What features of adult learning are you ready to use in the process of your self-education?
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Main aims and outcomes. As a result of studying this material, you will learn:
– what is the place of goal setting in management;
– what qualities of will are involved in goal setting;
– what are the rules for getting the objective right;
– which techniques help to formulate the objectives correctly;
– what are the key components of the goal fulfilment process;
– which techniques help to achieve a goal.
Keywords: management functions, purpose, goal-setting, will, goal-achievement.
The first and necessary condition for self-development is the ability to manage oneself. The management process has four interrelated functions: planning, organising, motivating and controlling.
Self-management works in almost the same way.
Planning involves goal setting and developing goal attainment procedures, or a system of actions
that have an order, a sequence and deadlines. They ensure optimal distribution of resources towards
the achievement of all goals. Indeed, the process of self-improvement is a purpose-oriented process! One’s
emotional state can serve as a criterion for achieving the goals. The goal of “getting along with others”
means self-cultivation. Any attempts to influence others, whose reactions are a mere reflection of our
own personalities, turn into cruel manipulations. Therefore, the emotional criterion is the state of satisfaction (joy, tranquility...), sense of collegiality, cooperation in the process of communication. Only thereafter it will be possible to observe a change in reactions from supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates.
Organisation has an appropriate holistic structure, or a set of elements of the whole, their internal
links and rules of operation. In the context of self-development, these elements (the leadership potential) include all resources. Resources should be understood as sources, opportunities, and means. After all, anything can serve as a resource, even those phenomena that are stereotypically disapproved
of by society. It is important to timely recognise them and intentionally use them for one’s own benefit, to focus them in the necessary direction. To manage them! This is where the ability to look at one
and the same thing from different angles is needed. Aggression, for example, is an indicator of energy. So is stress: body tension indicates mobilisation of power. On the contrary, laziness means that energy needs to be accumulated and restored.
Mental self-organisation is the ability of a person to organise his or her own activities on the basis of the resources available.
We have already mentioned the nature of motivation. It is important for people, drafting a self-development route , to focus on se l f - m o t iv a t io n , th at is t he abil it y to motiva t e the m selves to a ct . The a w a re ness of one’s values and their hierarchical structure will be helpful. Attention to one’s emotions can
help, as one can identify the reasons for a positive attitude. It is a reward for the work already done.
Control treated as observation, verification, comparison with the present-day standard (plan, template, course, set of rules...) allows evaluating and, if necessary, correcting the implementation of an
activity and the process of achieving the goal. Control of one’s own emotional state requires intrapersonal emotional competence, but the quality of established and maintained external social contacts
depends on the stage of its development. These are management communication, conflict management, team management, public speaking, persuasion and similar skills.
Managing yourself and your resources is at the heart of self-development, self-improvement.
Another important condition for self-improvement, directly related to adequacy, is the awareness of the presence of global processes, the scale of events, the variability of the world. The goals
are set for a long-term perspective, implemented through mental plasticity, adaptability under instable
and uncertain circumstances. It is possible to maneuver between the flows if one monitors everything
around and inside and generates appropriate reactions. This means a directed activity, or an action.
It prevents misalignment and enables the person to achieve and maintain the balance. In addition,
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self-improvement requires honesty with oneself. Then you can recognise gaps in your competences
and identify them as points of growth.
Note that management functions begin with planning and planning begins with goal-setting.
What is a goal? Psychologists say that “it is a conscious image of a foreseeable result towards
which one’s actions are directed”. Philosophers write that it is “what we strive for, what we seek, what
we want to get, what we want to succeed at”. It is compared to a target, an achievement, a meaning,
a dream, even an end.
The goal, indeed, is an image — an image of a desired future.
A goal can be understood as a material or mental result towards which human actions are directed.
In the definition itself, there is an ambivalent nature to the goal. On the one hand, it can be pragmatic.
For example, a good income, a spacious house, a nice car. On the other hand, it may be a spiritual product that has no material equivalent. It is a phenomenon that such results are sometimes valued above
the real. For example, a sense of satisfaction or specific emotions, emotional states: joy, happiness.
Confusion often arises because of the closely related concept of “task”. How do they differ from
each other?
In a narrow sense, a task may be called a goal itself, but this is not quite right, because a task
is characterised, apart from the expected result, by the conditions for achieving this result. At the same
time, the task implies finding a way of solving it, widely used in the learning process, when the student needs to find an answer, which is done to develop the creative and intellectual abilities of a person. The task has a more particular meaning. In performing, solving successive tasks, we go through
the path of goal-achievement.
Among the existing types of goals, the classification according to time is of practical importance
in the context of self-management and self-development. Here, short-term goals are distinguished,
which are set for up to 1 month, medium-term goals are limited to an implementation period of about
1–3 years, and long-term goals are limited to about 3–5 years.
The classic system of working with goals includes a number of very concrete steps. They are summarised as follows: formulating a goal; writing down the goal; making a plan to achieve the goal; implementing the first step; keeping your attention, monitoring the progress of the goal; fixing the moment when the goal is achieved.
The “Franklin Pyramid” method helps to identify your priorities in life.
The main feature of the Franklin pyramid is its focus on the result and systematic motion from
the general to the particular. The whole life routine is thus focused on the achievement of major life
goals. It is a tool used to translate these goals into specific actions. It is structured as follows (from
bottom to top): life values, global purpose, master plan, long-term plan, short-term plan, daily plan.
Life values are basic global values. They are the answer to the questions: “What am I living for?”,
“What is most important for me in my life?”
A global goal is based on declared life values. It is a “big” goal, as desirable as possible. For example, “to become president” (Franklin was the son of a soap-maker who became president).
A master plan is a major overall plan focused on the global goal. For example, to become president
you need good health, education (most often in economics, finance, management, but not necessarily), an excellent mentor, political acumen, analytical mind, high emotional intelligence, etc.
A long-term plan (outlined for several years) specifies goals, deadlines. A short-term plan (outlined for a few weeks to a few months). It is daily plan. Tasks from a weekly plan are broken down
into smaller tasks.
Working with goals is an element of personal self-organisation. The goal is the pivot that preserves
the integrity of the person, allowing him or her to be himself or herself in all circumstances. Purpose
creates man, it also preserves him.
The human psyche carries us through time, anticipating the future, to the point of reaching our
goals. We develop a programme of action by which we move forward. The strength to move forward,
the energy is provided by the motivation. But obstacles can arise along the way, and the volitional regulation of the individual can help us overcome them.
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The inducing forces can be weakened by obstacles, both external and internal. To overcome them,
man has the will to do so. The will is a person’s ability to consciously and purposefully regulate
and control his or her behaviour and activities. Will is expressed in the ability to mobilise mental
and physical capabilities to overcome difficulties and obstacles on the way to the goal.
The qualities of will include diligence, independence, organisation, self-control, courage, determination, initiative, perseverance, and discipline.
Performance is the ability to carry out tasks and duties on time.
Independence is the ability to resist the influence of various factors that distract from the goal;
to critically evaluate the advice of others, and to act on the basis of one’s own views and beliefs.
Organisation is the ability to intelligently plan and organise one’s own activities.
Self-control is the ability to put the brakes on actions, feelings and thoughts that interfere with
a decision.
Courage is the ability to overcome fear and take justifiable risks to achieve a goal, despite danger
to personal well-being or even life.
Purposefulness is the ability to subordinate one’s actions to one’s goals.
Determination is the ability to make and implement quick, informed and firm decisions.
Initiative is the ability to work creatively, taking action and acting on one’s own initiative.
Persistence is the ability to mobilise one’s abilities to overcome difficulties over a long period
of time.
Discipline is the ability to consciously conform one’s behaviour to generally accepted norms,
the established order.
Each volitional action passes through several stages: goal identification and awareness of the desire to achieve it; awareness of the range of possibilities to achieve the goal; the emergence of motives that support or refute these possibilities; the struggle and choice of motives, the adoption of one
of the possibilities as a solution; implementation of the decision.
Volitional regulation as a truly personal regulation is not a simple change of motivation systems,
attitudes, stereotypes of activity in accordance with some ideal projects. It is a holistic, day-to-day
self-creation, self-construction, a strenuous, constant effort to rebuild one’s life.
To develop the qualities of will, e.g. determination, initiative, discipline, one can use rather simple
exercises. It is important to perform them systematically, as in any training. The will, like a muscle,
gains strength through exercise.
Rules for good goal setting. Goal-setting is the process of generating new goals. It characterises the individual characteristics of goal setting and goal retention, and the level of awareness of these
processes in the individual. A person with a high level of goal-setting sets goals independently, organises their activities consciously, and their goals are realistic, detailed and stable. A person with a low
level of goal setting prefers not to think about his or her future, and sets goals ad hoc and usually not
independently. Their goals are poorly elaborated, unrealistic, subject to frequent changes, and therefore “big” goals are rarely achieved.
There is much debate about proper goal-setting. The most obvious rules are:
– realistic (understandably, human adequacy is relevant here, although everything is relative);
– specificity and measurability (“to be happy” is not a specific goal, but a vague one. Whose happiness is it? In what time frame? What is meant by happiness? Happiness can be described and measured through a state, an emotion. For example, happiness is when I feel lightness, joy and serenity.
There are a lot of variants. Everything is individual);
– positivity of wording (not by the rules: “I don’t want to be sick”, the right way is “I want to be
healthy”);
– the wording is “from yourself” (the goal should only be about the person, not about someone
else. Right: “I want to feel calm and confident while communicating”, not by the rules: “I don’t want
to be asked any questions”);
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– present tense (as if the goal has already been reached. This allows you to “try on” the goal
and determine how much of it is yours);
– context (where, when, and with whom. “I feel confident and calm when I answer the exam
to Ivan Ivanovich on June 2, 2025”);
– consideration of consequences (e.g. the option to “live on islands in the Pacific” may conflict
with the desire to see your parents more often. A contradiction that arises now, at the goal-setting
stage, and signals the occurrence of negative consequences later on).
Situation analysis is important. It characterises individual features of identification and analysis
of external and internal significant conditions of goal achievement, the degree of their awareness
and adequacy. People with good analytical abilities are able to identify significant conditions for
achieving the goals, both in the current situation and in the future, which allows to determine the direction of the activity and its stages in accordance with the adopted goals.
The low level of analytical activity manifests itself in imagination, sudden changes of attitude towards the development of the situation and the consequences of one’s actions. The inability to identify significant conditions for achieving the goal, as a rule, does not allow such people to make the next
step — to develop a realistic programme of action.
Goal-setting SMART. The acronym SMART is derived from the first letters of the rules of good
goal setting: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound.
According to various versions, the authorship of this methodology belongs either to George Doran,
who used the term in 1981, or to Paul Mair, who seems to have applied SMART goals a few decades
earlier. There are also those who associate the methodology with the concept of the famous management consultant Peter Drucker.
Specific. Specificity is the first attribute that helps to define SMART objectives. The fact is that
specific objectives are much easier to implement.
Measurable. Setting SMART goals is about being able to measure them. Let’s go back to the example of income. When an employee knows exactly how much he or she wants to earn, it is easier for
him or her to calculate the steps needed to get that income.
Achievable. Achievable is a necessary component in discovering a smart goal. In fact, it is its
main condition. There is no point in setting unachievable goals. There is no point in coming up with
objectives when you know in advance that they will not be achievable. Of course, it is always worth
striving for the best, but with a realistic assessment of your capabilities. The more realistic the plans
are, the better the chances of their implementation are.
Relevant. In addition to being achievable, the task must have meaning for the individual. If relevance is not obvious or minimal, the motivation to do it will be accordingly. A smart target should
include a mandatory item of importance for the performer. The higher the importance is, the greater the incentive to work is. This is why it is important to answer the question “Why?” and then plan
the work. If the benefit of the activity is not clear, it is a good reason to consider whether it makes
sense to begin.
Time bound. A SMART goal requires a time limit, i.e. a clearly defined time frame. This makes
important psychological sense. The point is that “vague” plans are easier to put off. If you set hard
limits, there is less chance of succumbing to laziness.
The advantages of the SMART method are obvious, but its effectiveness only shows itself when the initial conditions of goal setting are known, the objectives and motives of which
are very clear to the subject. In reality, the objective is often not formulated and the initial conditions change rapidly. The project method of goal setting, which consists of the following steps,
comes to the rescue:
First. The abstract “framework” of the goal is defined through: identifying clear values (meta-goals) and clarifying the system of priorities; defining the main areas of life influenced by these
values; and finding the patterns of influence.
Second. The goals are specified in such a way that they do not conflict with the values in the particular field of activity and the principles of life, and then compliance with these is ensured.
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Third. The goals are categorised into levels of achievement, and the current tasks are compared
with the values. In SMART technology, on the contrary, the original goal is broken down into individual objectives.
Fourth. A time frame is created within which the result is to be achieved (next year, month, current week, etc.). The SMART method, in contrast to this method, suggests defining an exact deadline.
Fifth. All tasks are divided into “soft” tasks, which are scheduled over a period of time and take
the context into account, and “hard” tasks, which are scheduled by specific dates and deadlines.
Sixth. Tasks are divided into levels of importance: strategic, tactical and operational. The levels
correspond to time ranges: year, week, day.
In psychology, it is believed that one always achieves what one wants. Therefore, the question rightly arises: “What prevents one from succeeding in attaining his or her goals?” It is external circumstances, weak will and lack of ability. The controversial approach to answering this question persists
today. One of the main obstacles is a lack of need (“didn’t really want to”), which prevents the process of achieving the goal from being saturated with the necessary energy. Another obstacle is the unformedness of thinking.
The main components of goal-achievement. So, the goal has been formulated. We move on to
the process of achieving the goal — the process of realising the formulated goal. Let’s highlight
and briefly describe its main components.
Create a bright and clear image of yourself in the future. Visualise the desired result. The more
specific, vivid and sensual will be your image, the faster your unconscious will work to achieve
the desired result.
The key to achieving the end result is to keep your goal in sight at all times. Think about what you
want, not what prevents you from having it.
Define the first steps and start taking action. Once a goal has been set, move on to planning concrete steps to achieve it. If the goal is too big and may be difficult to achieve immediately, break it
down into smaller, easily achievable goals. Ask yourself what prevents you from getting what you
want right away. The answer points listed are likely to turn out to be separate goals.
You can continue this process until you have goals that are easy to plan for. This will give you a list
of concrete actions that you can start with. Your actions should be internal (getting rid of aggressive
emotions, dealing with negative thoughts and beliefs) as well as external (concrete physical efforts,
meeting the right people, etc.).
Specify each of the actions and the whole goal in terms of a timeframe. It is always a good idea
to set a time frame: a deadline within which the final result is to be achieved. Specify each of the actions and the whole goal in relation to the amount of time needed and the maximum time allowed. If
the deadline is too short, you may feel that it is unrealistic and you may not take action at all.
On the other hand, a deadline that is too long will not motivate you to act immediately: it will feel
like there is enough time, and you will constantly postpone specific actions for later. Also, if you end
up not being able to meet your deadline for whatever reason, instead of giving up on your goal, it may
be enough to revise it and still achieve your goal.
The implementation of what you have set out to do. You need to be prepared for possible stoppages, difficulties, pauses. It happens to everyone; it is a necessary step that indicates that the plan needs
to be adjusted in some way.
That’s why you should not treat the plan you’ve made as something immutable: change and revise
it. Consider and adopt other, alternative solutions that may lead to the desired goal. It happens that
plans to achieve it change over time. It is not uncommon for new opportunities to arise or, conversely, for unexpected obstacles to arise. Analyse what is causing the failure, what is the reason, where
is the mistake that can be identified and corrected.
The same goal can usually be achieved in different ways. There is only one important condition:
changes must lead to the goal, i.e. be an action, not a reflection on why it will not be achieved. Choose
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different options and take action. The important thing to understand is that mistakes are inevitable
along the way. The problem is not making them, but dealing with them in the right way, where mistakes are analysed and used to move towards the goal.
When we give up after a failure or refuse to act for fear of making a mistake, we accumulate experience of failure. When we actively act, try, make mistakes and correct them, we gain important
experience in action. This experience is more important than the experience of achievement. Napoleon said: “There are more surrenderers than losers”.
To keep your goals in mind, you can use the following technique: write yourself notes and post
them so that they come up often. Write down the goal you are aiming for and the simple action you
will take today to achieve that goal.
Write down your goals. Reread them. Recite them. Review them. You will see them come true
in your life.
Goal-achievement by R. Weizman. Through research, the elements of successful goal-setting
have been identified. It makes sense to adopt them.
First. Make a step-by-step plan. You cannot reach Everest in one fell swoop; you must first take
a series of small steps. Successful participants in the experiment had a plan consisting of steps,
sub-goals. It is for sub-goals that SMART technology is very effective — the goal must be speci fic,
measurable, achievable, realistic and have a timeline.
Second. Tell other people about your goals. Successful participants have told friends, family
and colleagues about their goals. Often, if you keep your goals to yourself out of superstition or fear
of disapproval, or simply out of secrecy, there is the temptation to abandon the goal, the temptation to leave things as they are and not change anything. The psychological literature notes that people are more likely to hold on to attitudes and intentions that they have made public. Moreover, when
those around you know your plans, they will be willing to support you through the difficult road.
Third. Think about the positive changes that will happen when you reach your goal. Successful participants in the experiment often reminded themselves of the benefits they would receive by achieving
the goal. In doing so, they did not imagine an unattainable ideal, but rather made an objective “checklist” of what would change in life for the better. The less successful participants tended to speculate
about the negative events that would happen if they did not achieve the goal.
Fourth. Reward yourself for small achievements on the way to your goal. Incentives (something
to allow oneself, something to give oneself) play an important role. Successful participants have made
sure that each of their subgoals is rewarded. The reward should certainly not contradict the goal (if you
decide to lose weight, you should not binge on chocolate after losing 2 kg), but it should be something
that is guaranteed to make you feel good. Encouragement reinforces the feeling of success and motivates you further.
Fifth. Document progress in writing. Finally, successful participants have fleshed out plans,
progress, benefits and encouragement in writing. Many kept a diary. The very process of writing
or typing or drawing increases the chances of success.
The Kaizen step-by-step goal achievement system. It can be very difficult to achieve big
changes, to change something in ourselves or in the world around us. Psychologists believe that one
of the reasons why people are unable to make big changes is the fear of the new, of any change, which
is built into our instincts. It happens that the person is afraid of collapse of all their plans and hopes,
and therefore considers that it is better to do nothing at all.
However, a system of principles allows anyone to easily achieve the desired goal and to make it
in one small step and in spite of its natural fear and anxiety.
In Japan there is a step-by-step system for achieving goals, called the Kaizen system. Interestingly enough, the Kaizen system in Japan is followed by both ordinary people and large corporations,
such as Toyota.
The essence of the step-by-step goal-achievement system is that the goal should be achieved
by small but constant actions. The point of a step-by-step system of achieving goals is to continuously
take small steps that somehow lead to real improvements and the achievement of the intended goals.
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The magic of the Kaizen system is that any small improvements do not necessarily lead to insignificant results. The results, on the contrary, can be quite significant.
For example, the goal-setting method is a great help when learning a foreign language. Even if you
get tired of actively learning foreign words or abandon lessons with a tutor, simply listening to songs
in that language will still be an effective step towards the goal. The only prerequisite then is that you
regularly do at least a small but practical activity to learn the language.
Therefore, if you want to change something in your life but find it hard to decide or force yourself,
start with small but easy for you steps, even if they look small and insignificant. The important thing
is that once you get used to your new situation, you can easily take the next more serious step towards
achieving your intended results.
Self-confidence in oneself, one’s strength and the ability to succeed is related to self-esteem.
Self-esteem is a generalised attitude of a person towards himself, characterised by the ratio of his
actual achievements to his pretensions.
W. James proposed the following formula of self-esteem: self-esteem is equal to the ratio of success to pretensions. Thus, a person’s self-esteem is directly proportional to the amount of success he
or she has achieved and inversely proportional to the level of his or her pretensions.
A high level of self-esteem is characterised by the following: the higher the ambition is, the greater the achievement of the individual is. It follows that there are two ways to increase self-esteem:
in one case it is necessary to make maximum effort and achieve success, and this is a difficult task;
in the other case a person can lower the pretensions level and then, even with the most modest success, self-esteem will not be lost.
A high level of self-esteem gives a person a sense of comfort and stimulates the development
of pretensions level. Low self-esteem, on the other hand, leads to acute dissatisfaction with oneself
and provokes neurosis and depression.
But dissatisfaction with oneself and high self-criticism do not always indicate low self-esteem.
For example, intellectually advanced, creative people are acutely aware of the discrepancy between
the qualities they possess and those they would like to possess. This leads to dissatisfaction with oneself, which induces people to raise their aspirations, set themselves more challenging tasks, and strive
for self-improvement and self-actualisation.
Thus, it is important to make a decision, to be prepared to overcome both difficulties in general
and personal limitations. But this decision is an autonomous one, its own. Only you can be held responsible for it and its consequences. Emotions will serve as a signal: dissatisfaction will help us focus
on its causes; satisfaction will show the way of development is successfully overcome. Our well-being, as W. James said, depends on ourselves.
Summary
1. Planning, as part of governance and self-management, begins with working with objectives.
2. A goal is successfully realised if it is properly formulated.
3. The process of reaching a goal occurs with attention and control.
4. The success of overcoming personal limitations depends mainly on the characteristics of a per-
son’s self-concept.
Think about and answer these questions
1. What place would you identify for the goal in governance and self-governance?
2. What are the main obstacles you have encountered in achieving your goals?
3. For what reasons do you think people give up on their goals as they move towards them?
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