Resilience is a term used in psychology to describe the capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe. It is also used to indicate a characteristic of resistance to future negative events. This psychological meaning of resilience is often contrasted with "risk factors". Moreover, resilience can be defined as the ability for an individual to bounce back with less stress and more quickly from school or work problem (Wilton 2011).
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant theories and concepts to support your answer)
Resilience is vital core skill to me because in the modern times, I have encountered many challenges, adversity, tragedy, problems in school and work and the ability for me to acquire this ineffable quality that allows me to have setback and to be knocked down by challenges in my daily life and come back stronger than ever has enable me to succeed and overcome many obstacles and down fall I have faced. The reason for selecting this skill to reflect on is because everyone has resilience but how well and how much individuals put it to good use really determines their come back or how well they adapt to the events in their lives. I have self-determination and the importance to stay focused. For example in self-determination theory, there exist a link in the human motivation, optimal functioning and personality. In addition, there are intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation. Majority of individual have extrinsic motivation, which is motivation that is driven by external sources such as employee evaluation, admiration and respect of other, and grading systems (Whetten " Cameron 2015) Conversely, for myself unlike other people, I possess intrinsic motivation, which is motivation that comes from within. This intrinsic motivation such as interest, personal sense of morality and core values enables me to be more resilient when I encounter challenges.
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)
This skill is important to me because when it is personal to me, I find myself absorbed in the work that needs to be done regardless of outside factors. My competence in resilience has been evident in how I have solely managed to come back from the challenges and setbacks I have encountered in life. For example, a year ago, I became ill for three weeks and this made me miss most of my classes, which also resulted to bad grades. I remained optimistic and improvised my studying methods where I requested one of my classmate to update and assist me with classroom notes and assignments in order for me to catch up with my studies. Since I was determined to bounce back and get good grade, this really motivated me to study hard and when I recovered it was already time for exams. I did the exams and managed to get an A in my class (Routledge " Carmichael 2007). Moreover, my peers describe me as a person that have strongly held values and beliefs, optimistic and that sometimes I disengage from outside activities until I achieve what I originally set out to do and this can sometimes make me feel under valued
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?
I believe there is a match in how others see me and how I see myself because what they say about me is a reflection of who I am. I mostly focus in the brighter side of any obstacle that comes my way and I believe I have strongly held values because I do not give up easily and I have a tendency to improvise and stay focussed so that I can achieve my set goals. Nevertheless, I lose focus once interrupted.
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument)
In the rapid growing business world, I believe resilience is an essential skill to me because I will be able to easily manage an organization or business in case of setbacks or disruptions in future and ensure its success.
What is the core skill to develop?
2. Focus and Attention
Focused attention is the brain's ability to concentrate its attention on a target stimulus for any period of time. Focused attention is a type of attention that makes it possible to quickly detect relevant stimuli. Moreover focus can be defined as the ability of an individual to pay particular attention to something such as studies.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant theories and concepts to support your answer)
This is important to me as I believe that I can be distracted very easily and this negatively affects me in attaining my goals. I have identified this skill as a vital skill that I lack at this particular period. Furthermore, attention is either controlled or automatic. In automatic processing cognition, attention occurs with little effort. Conversely, controlled processing is cognitively expensive because it primarily responsible for self-regulation and relies on serial processing (Mullins 2011). My ability to focus attention may be mostly affected by the presence of various external disruptions. Moreover, my ability to focus attention is limited and the more complex the environmental disruption are the harder it is for me to focus on a particular task. In addition, the amount of effort I require to complete a specific task such as studying is also essential when I considering the implication of the attentive process. I have assessed myself concerning the flaws I have with respect to this skill and identified that I am weak on focus and attention and this might adversely affect me gaining my full potential.
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)
I have identified that my lack of focus and attention has significantly affected on how I get tasks done such as my studies and assignments. I tend to take a lot of time to accomplish my assignments and sometimes I tend to forget easily. This has resulted to adverse effects on my overall studies thus requiring to build my focus and attention. My peers have severally state that I tend to easily lose focus especially during group study. Nonetheless, there are occasions such as when studying in the library where my friends keep alerting me to be attentive and focus on studying and this specifically happens when there are background noises or at times they say that I am day dreaming. Moreover, there are several occasions where my tutors have asked me to be more attentive and focused during class.
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?
I believe there is a match on how others see me and how I see myself because I know that I have a tendency of losing focus easily and there are occasions where I am not attentive specifically in my studies and assignments. Sometimes when I ask my peers to elaborate on my behaviour when they think that I am not attentive or focused, they give me precise answers such as I get easily distracted and that the reason I take a lot of time to finish my tasks.
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument)
Being more focused and attentive will assist me to be more controlled and positive in life. As a business student, being more attentive and focused in my studies will help me to reach my goals such as to excel well in academics. Moreover, since I know that my studies are crucial in my life, being focused and attentive will ensure I become more productive and achieve my dreams.
What is the core skill to develop?
3. Time-Management
The ability to use one's time effectively or productively, especially at work. Furthermore, time management is the key to efficient working and studying. Also time management can be defined as the process of planning and organizing how to divide ones time between specific activities.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant theories and concepts to support your answer)
Time management is a vital aspect especially in school and work. Proper management of my time will have some advantages to me such as greater productivity and efficiency, increased opportunity for advancement, and a greater opportunities to achieve vital career and life goals (Kiersley 2005). Nonetheless, I believe if I can improve my time management skill, I will be able to efficiently do my assignments and also attend to my studies accordingly.
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)
My peers have often inferred that I have appropriate time management skills because I precisely attend to my assignment on time and am never late for my lessons or discussion sessions. Moreover my tutors have in many occasions complemented for my timely submission of assignment and that I never get late for my lessons.
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?
I believe there is a match on the comments made by my tutor and my peers as well since I believe I am a good time keeper and I regularly attend to my assignments on time. Further, I seldom get late or miss my lessons except I situations such as when am ill.
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument)
Time management skill will assist me to attend to my studies effectively and also ensure that I do my assignments on time which will in return help me to successfully accomplish my educational goals. In addition, through appropriate time management, I can achieve my career objectives and be able to efficiently run my own business in the future.
What is the core skill to develop?
4. Written Communication
Written communication involves any type of message that makes use of the written word. Written communication is the most important and the most effective of any mode of business communication. Some of the various forms of written communication that are used internally for business operations include: Memos, reports, and business proposals.
Why is this core skill important?/ Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant theories and concepts to support your answer)
As this is my first year, I have realised that I am having learning difficulties especially in written communication. I struggle sometimes with written communication because my way of thinking and how I communicate my ideas through written communication is not in an orderly manner (Gallagher 2013). Moreover, I tend to lose focus when writing and this makes my writing look like I was throwing out all my thoughts on a painting and writing does not work like this. Besides writing communications entails three primarily elements such as structure, content and style. This element are crucial in ensuring that I express myself through written communication in a clear and precise manner.
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)
My tutor has regularly said that my written communication skill requires a lot of improvement. Additionally, most of my written assignments have been subjected to many correction from my tutor and this has proved that I need a lot of improvement on written communication. My peers have also told me to work on my writing skills since they have difficulty understanding the message conveyed through my writing.
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?
There is a match on how other comment on my written communication and how I perceive myself. I believe I have difficulty expressing myself through written communication and understand that I need a lot of improvement on this skill.
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument)
I believe in the rapid growing business world written communication is an essential skill because it assist in laying down apparent principle, rules and policies for running an organisation (Cross " Carbery 2016). Furthermore, effective written communication enhances and develops an organisation image.
References
Cross, C. " Carbery R. (eds) (2016) Organisational Behaviour. An Introduction London: Palgrave Macmillan
Gallagher, K. (2013). Skills Development for Business and Management Students (2nd ed) Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kiersley, M.A. (2005). Developing Effective Behaviour. Industrial and Commercial Training, 37(3) 150-153
Mullins, M.J. (2011). Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. (3rd ed.), Harlow: Pearson Education Limited
Routledge, C. " Carmichael, J. (2007) Personal Development and Management Skills London: CIPD
Whetten, D.A. " Cameron, K.S. (2015) Developing Management Skills (9th ed) New York: Pearson Education
Wilton, N. (2011) Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour market? The case of business and management graduates. Work, Employment and Society 25(1): 85-100
