MDI GURGAON

Learning Journal
Pre Mid-Term
Submitted to: Sivia Goyal

Submitted By:
Sivia Goyal 11PGHR50

19th Sep, 2011

Session 1

We got an introduction into the Journey to self course Outline, Objectives and the importance of introspection. Achieving the Objectives: (The Process)

1. I have learnt that looking inwards (Introspecting and Reflecting) over something that has already happened forms the basis. 2. Looking outwards involves seeking and giving feedback: - It has to be an ongoing Process. - Intentions should be clear - I have to avoid comparisons with others and be focused on who I am . 3. I have to learn to accept myself as I am and be content with my strengths and weaknesses. 4. There is a dire need to develop sensitivity towards others and their behaviours and choices. 5. Exploring and experimenting with new behavior patterns should be dealt with cautiously: If the people Important and close to me are affected then I need to look into refraining from such behaviors. 6. The final step involves Developing an Action Plan : I should look towards strengthening my Core competencies . Identify the areas of improvement and make conscious efforts by targeting one area at a time. Other Major Learnings: In the Journey to self, the end result and the process are equally important : Thus, I should look for the reasons for failure. I also learnt that not many things about the journey are certain and can be planned and there can be various hurdles and difficulties. So, I have to gear myself for dealing with such complications.

 However, What I make out of the journey is in my hands whether I want to make it a memorable as well as a learning experience or not. Thus, My contribution to the journey is the base and will serve the purpose more rather than the others contributions. Others can facilitate or inhibit it. In order to overcome difficulties and hurdles, I should not lose sight of Destination or Goal.

Then further I learnt about the concept of Self and different perspectives on self . The past , present and the future of self : Present : As I am Past : My experiences Future : My Aspirations

Being clear about the past, present and the future is very important for a constructive self Analysis.

Perspective on Self:

- It is very important to know the facts regarding me as a person, I Know: Rules to conduct in a given situation . I Feel: Happiness and misery, resulting from a cause of action I Act: to be able to achieve an intended result

- I am responsible for keeping myself informed - I am responsible for my own feelings and nobody else . - I am responsible for my own decisions and actions and thus should be ready to face the outcome.

21st Sep, 2011

Session 2

Importance of Taking Ownership for self : My behaviors and actions have impact not only on myself but also on others thinking and behavior. Others have an impact on me, my thinking and my behavior and actions. Others can positively and negatively influence me. The perception depends on me, how I take the feedback and behaviors of others. I should focus on helping my friends and family in order to make a positive influence on them. Throughout my life, my friends have had an strong impact me, my thinking and have been instrumental in shaping my personality. I also have the ability to influence others. I have to take care that the influence is always positive. If its negative influence, I should look towards changing my path. My actions should in no way exhibit negativity to others. As it is, I am accountable for all my actions. My Intentions should be seen by other person as Honest and sincere.

Understanding Self: Freuds View of Human Mind: 3 levels of Awareness: -

1. Conscious Mind: This is the first level of awareness. My conscious mind consists of my thoughts, feelings and actions of which people or the outer world is aware of. It also includes the perceptions that I have about others. The current contents of my mind and all the things I can think of also form a part of the Conscious Mind and is also known as the Working Memory. I can easily access it all the time.

2. Pre- Conscious Mind: The second level of awareness consisting of my mental strengths. It consists of the parts of mind lying between the conscious and the unconscious mind. It contains information, thoughts, memories, wishes and feelings that I am currently not aware of but can readily be brought into the conscious mind by attending to them. All the stored information and

knowledge in my mind forms part of this. It is available for access whenever needed.

3. Unconscious Mind: The third level of awareness, which consists of the mental activities beyond peoples normal awareness. It consists of the thoughts that the outer world and sometimes even I am not aware of. The Unconscious mind works at all the time sub consciously.

For Eg: My fears and unpleasant experiences.

Self Concept : It consists of how I view or feel about myself. This concept is learned as I have experienced the world through sense and perception. It involves recognizing both my strengths and weaknesses in order to delve on them. I should be aware the self-concept to know about my relationships with others, my behaviors and in order to move ahead in life and be successful . Formation of self- concept : It has been formed through, information from myself, information from others and how I view others and the way others view you. Once a Self concept is formed it is difficult to change. For eg: My belief that people like me will remain the same untill something very drastic happens that suggests utherwise . In order to change myself concept, I have to indulge in strong self talk. I will have to ask myself questions regarding my behaviours, its impact on others, others behaviours towards me etc. Self concept influences personality . A person with positive self concept is always pleasant , secure and content yet dynamic . the self concept may not remain the same forever . My self concept about my being an acheiver changes from time to time depending on the situations and the taskls on hand . whenever my self concept has improved , my personality and performance

have invariably improved . Thus my self concept has been the most important factor that has made me believe that I am a good Human being and an acheiver and thus has been instrumental in my success so far . My Belief in myself has led me to cater respect from others at various levels of my life. Ingredients of Self Concept : Self Esteem is the overall self appraisal of my own worth . Self Image is a mental picture of myslef . It relates to my self acceptance . Self Confidence is my belief in myself . Self Determination involves motivation from within to remain focused. Self- Responsibility is the ability to accept consequences for any effort be it good , bad or utherwise . My being resilient adds to my being self responsible. We determine whether we are on the right path or not, we take responsibility for the consequences of our efforts.

28th Sep, 2011

Session 3

My Personality profile Here I got a chance of introspecting or self-delving into my strengths and weaknesses. On thorough analysis of these, the following results showed:

Popular Sanguine Strengths Weaknesses Total 12 8 20

Powerful Choleric 0 4 4

Perfect Melancholy 5 4 9

Peaceful Phlegmatic 3 4 7

This analysis suggest that I have scored low on Popular Choleric and comparatively high on Popular Sanguine A popular sanguine person has an appealing personality, is talkative, life of the party, and has a good sense of humor, is emotional, enthusiastic, cheerful, has changeable disposition and lives in the present. Analyzing all these strengths I have realized that I love being among the people and be full of life. A Popular Sanguine is talkative to which I can relate quite easily as I love talking a lot being a prerogative I have belonging to a talkative family. I have a quite flexible personality and can adjust well to change. That brings in an inherent quality of making friends easily and also clinching on to them for a long time. But as everything has a flip side, here being emotional at times becomes a hindrance in dealing with people, as I tend to take even little things to my heart. This weakness, I need to work on and be a bit more practical rather than emotional when dealing with people who dont matter to me or care for me. Being low on Powerful Choleric makes me a less proactive person when it comes to taking the lead and making quick decision. I am a hard worker

when it comes to performing in teams but may not prove to be a great leader at times. But this also brings in the quality of being ready to help others and be a good team worker as I quickly get along with people well . This analysis has helped me in deeply knowing about the weaknesses I need to work on. In order to be successful in life , in the long run I need to be a good and quick decision maker , be more competitive and less reliance on others and be more self appraising .

29th Sep, 2011

Session 4

Self Development In this lecture I learnt the concept of self-development, which included many concepts and analyzed various facets of my personality. I learnt that the most important development in ones life is self-development as it is self-initiated. No one else but I have the onus to change the things around me and what is happening inside. In order to follow the path of self-development and be successful on it I need to be fully and wholly aware of my strong points and points where I lack. I have scored average on almost all components of self-development. Goal clarity (11), Initiative (11), Confidence (14), Focused approach (10), Openness (13), Perseverance (10) and Optimism (13). The total score 82 is relatively quite high which means a balanced personality with required focus and perseverance towards lifes goals and achievement and most importantly on my inner self. Self Development is a way to introspect too. In order to be on the right path of Self Development I need to know myself extremely well. It is said nobody knows you better than your own self. But at times introspection leads to realizations that even you may not be aware of. Thus introspection and reflection both are the essential parts of the self-development process. They bring me face to face with the strengths and weaknesses that are otherwise hidden deep inside somewhere. Effective self-development needs clarity of thought and the goal in mind. During my CAT preparation I was clear about the goal in mind, which indeed led to my performing decently well in the exam. With which I can also conclude that if there is a lack of direction , then the motivation in

doing or performing is also lost at times . Thus having a clear goal and direction are the biggest motivators to perform and be successful in life. Another important facet that helps is the adaptability to change and be flexible . This has been my biggest strength throughout the life . My father being in the transferable job, we had travel a lot which led to my changing different schools . This foundation has made me adaptable and quite flexible to changes and people with varied backgrounds and cultures. Being adaptable to external change is different from being able to bring in change internally . self development involves change in your inner self based on the experiences that you might have had . I believe self development for me has been quite instrumental in shaping the person I am today as I have a noticed a considerable change in myself over the years probably having learnt from the past happenings and implementing the change to turn things around for the next time. Self confidence is required to jump all the hurdles in life . I have the faith the confidence in my capabilities and competence that I can achieve and reach the level I want to see myslf at . Without confidence, the process of self development is totally incomplete as the implementation of the process requires the belief that yes it is possible and that comes from immense self belief in your own abilities . I know that I myself am responsible for whatever comes my way . My actions and thoughts can not be governed any anyone but me thus being cautious and owing upto the responsibility is very essential .

5th Oct, 2011

Session 5

Thoughts and feedback for the entire class:

In this session I got a chance to express my views about each and every member of the class. We were asked to write some positives and not so positives for the entire class based on our interaction with them so far. This exercise made me reflect on the time I have spent with each of them and also led me to know few people I had little or no interaction with. This made me delve into the Myriad experiences I have had since my first day here . writing good and positive things was easy but finding the behaviors or traits of others which needed some improvement was a big ask . One most interesting outcome of this session will be the complied document that will be provided to us which will consist of a write-up about my personality based on the observations made by others about me . This compilation will prove to be an invaluable asset to me as it will give me a deep insight into my classmates thoughts and perceptions about me . Some expected and unexpected observations will come out of it which will be contributory to my self development and make me realize the points that I might need to work on and improve in order to gain acceptability and positive reviews from my peers .

But keeping all the factors in mind one important thing is that I should not be very much concerned about the negative things people have to say about me which could be a manifest of the wrong impression or perception that someone might be having and thus not letting it having an adverse effect on myself. Thus striking a balance to learn from the negatives while not affecting my self-belief and confidence is the key.

6th Oct, 2011

Session 6

Strength of character Assessment :

In this session I learnt about the prominence of the strength of character has in todays world. My Character is a differentiator that marks me as an distinctive individual from others and defines a separate identity for me. All of us differ in our degrees of the strength of character that we possess. This may manifest itself in many different ways. Like for me being able to come out of the most adverse situations and still keep going with a strong will defines my strength of character. Strength of character gives me the strong foothold and helps me overcome the hurdles if any that may come in my journey of life. Strong character and Goal clarity go hand in hand and only a robust character can give oneself a motivation and power to excel and achieve at all the tasks in hand and be successful in life. But on the other hand , People with high strength of character may become frustrated and unhappy in case of their inability to achieve their targets. While a less strong strength of character indicates lack of confidence and doubt in ones own abilities. I scored 33 in the instrument for the strength of Character, which is considered to be an above average score. Some of the key elements of my strength of character were identified as knowledgeable, upbeat, emphatic, influential and wholehearted. All these elements have been a manifestation of my character, which are formed on the basis of my past experiences, and the childhood that I have had. My having a balanced strength of character makes me supportive of others and makes me an excellent team player who knows what I want from life subsequently accepting the inevitable ups and downs being thrown upon me by Life. A balanced character also makes me stand up for my own deeds and makes me ready to be able to face to repercussions if any and not look for escape routes in case of problem situations.

Success Factor Assessment:

It is believed that there is no single secret to success as it comes as a result of the combination of many factors and its definition and meaning also varies from person to person based on an individuals perceptions and priorities in life . For me, success factor is to be able to lead a satisfied, healthy life where I am contented with the work that I have been doing which is meaningful and rewarding. For me money has never been a criteria to define success . personal and professional growth and satisfaction finds more relevance in my way to do things and in my meaning for success . To be successful, I have set certain long term and short term goals in life , my being happy and contend largely depends on the degree of their being achieved and accomplished . The goals I have set though can only be effective if I am truly aware of what I want from Life and where I wish to see myself at the end of the road. Maintaining a balance and not overdoing anything is quite essential here to be able to fully enjoy the essence of life. Flexibility to be able change what I am doing at times is required in order to be able to achieve the set objectives which is an asset of my personality and has been foundation and a pillar of strength for making me successful so far in life. My score in calculating the Success factor came out to be above average (30) which reflects a balanced approach. This instrument helped me in identifying factors which are important to me. Persistence is a factor I believe which is instrumental in achieving success at all levels and stages of life . I have realized that success is quite significant to me and I strive hard to be successful at each and every task that I take in hand. My belief also implies that I am learning from the lifes various tests and which is evolving me as a human being and making me mentally tougher day by day. I believe that being motivated by own inner beliefs and aspirations is equally important as being motivated by my desire to succeed. My belief

also underlies the fact that there is no substitute to hard work in whichever field or profession one is.

19th Oct, 2011

Session 7

Emotional Quotient
Emotional Intelligence, or EI, describes an ability or capacity to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, and of others. My EQ, or Emotional Quotient, is a measure of my Emotional Intelligence. In this session we took a measure of our Emotional Quotient through the instrument named The Barons emotional quotient inventory (EQ-I). The results for the instrument for the various factors that form my EQ were as follows: Intrapersonal factor : Emotional self awareness (34/40= 85%), Assertiveness (22/35=63%), Self Esteem ( 39/45=87% ), Self actualization (43/45= 96% ), Independence (23/35= 66% ) Total : 161/200 = 80.5% Interpersonal Factor : Empathy (36/40= 90%), Social responsibility (42/50= 84%), Interpersonal relation (51/55= 93%) Total : 129/145 = 89% Adaptability : Problem solving (31/40=77.5%), Reality testing (37/50= 74%), Flexibility (33/40= 82.5%) Total : 101/130 = 78% Stress Management : Impulse control (27/45= 60%) and Stress tolerance (28/45= 63%) Total : 55/90 = 62% General State Of Mind : Happiness (41/45= 91%) and Optimism (34/40=85%). Total : 74/85 = 87% This Analysis reveals that the most dominant component of My emotional Intelligence is Interpersonal component (89%) and I have a peaceful and placid General state of mind (87%). The implications are that I am good when it comes to dealing with the people and the outside world . I try and maintain cordial and long lasting relationships with everyone and value

relationships . I love being surrounded with like minded people with whom I can discuss and have knowledge exchange interactions too .

My life so far has been quite fulfilling as is suggested by the high score in the general state of mind . Future holds a lot of positives and will be for my betterment is my belief as I am always optimistic about what life has in store for me . Even through the toughest times, I have tried to look for the affirmatives and stayed sanguine . Though my stress management needs improvement as sometimes I tend to stretch myself beyond limits and end up garnering unrequired stress and tension having wrong implications on my health . One incident illustrating this is when I was preparing for my Engg. Entrance exams , as I had brought in unneccessary internal pressure in order to be able to replicate my brothers success who had got admission in the most prestigious institute i.e. IIT Delhi . On the way I lost myself and could even justify my own potential , though eventually setteled with an above avg. college but the stress and pressure took its toll on my health.

I have learnt that I need to handle pressure and channelize stress in order to improve efficiency. I should work towards not being too harsh on myself and taking it easy at times. I love to work but sometimes overdoing that is not required and I should look towards taking regular breaks in order to be more satisfied and content with my life and keep the near and dear ones happy by staying healthy and wise. Self Analysis making choices in life: It is said that making right choices in life are the quintessential prerequisites for being happy and successful. Different people have different criteria to make their choices that define their path in their journey of life. My criteria for making choices in life are: 1. To have belief in my potential, 2. To prove myself, 3. Look for Experimentation/Exploration, 4. Having a Long term Perspective, 5. Comfort level, 6. Scope for taking up challenge, 7. Easy to follow, 8. Risk avoidance, 9. Quick results and 10. Conformance.

This analysis is quite close to the way it should be preferably. My criteria that cater the utmost importance are the ones that should be given emphasis while making choices in ones life. I wish to adhere to the above criteria throughout my life in order to have a fulfilling life and be satisfied whenever I look back and delve on the path I chose to follow .

21st Oct, 2011 GOAL ORIENTATION and SELF DEVELOPMENT :

Session 8

In this session I understood the importance and concomitance Goal Orientation and Self Development. Goal Orientation and Self Development complement each other and both go hand in hand. Being Oriented towards my Goal is very essential for my self development and vice-a versa . I need to wholly committed towards my goal and work with proper timelines etc. which in reality is a path to self development. Hurdles in the path of our goal achievement lead to development of a higher level. Overcoming them while continuously embarking on the path of goal orientation develops my self as challenges and difficulties breeds the best out of me as the limits are pushed . My Personal Growth and Development gets affected because I draw boundaries of: Capabilities Possibilities for Improvement and thereby do not get the benefits/rewards

The ten step approach to my Self Development: 1. I need to Set a Goal worth pursuing 2. I need to focus on setting a reasonable Time frame 3. Developing a workable strategy is importance 4. I need to identify impediments to achieving the goal 5. I should make a detailed Action Plan 6. I should be committed to the goal and action plan. 7. I have to review the progress made (results achieved) at frequent intervals 8. I must identify shortfall and the reasons thereof 9. I need to take corrective actions 10. Towards the end I should reward self

This has made me realize that I should ever be baffled by any difficulty as it is an opportunity for me to push myself to bring the best out of me and overcome my weaknesses in order to gain strength and embark on a journey towards my Goal. I think I have been doing that now and do not let setbacks affect me and emerge a winner out everytime downfall is there.

2nd Nov, 2011 MANAGING SELF

Session 8

Managing self in the wake of being successful and motivated in life is utmost important. If I can manage myself well then my half battle is already won. There are various dimensions to managing self which include : Physiologically( Health ) Psychologically ( Self concept ) Emotionally Professionally Relationships Time (Priorities) Change Stress

Managing all the above factors forms the basis of my self management . If I can manage my relationships well and the degree of management determines my ability to be successful and content in life . Self management implies: - Self Responsibility: I am responsible for what I do - Self Direction: I direct myself on the right path to achieve what I desire and aim towards . - Self Discipline through Self Regulation: Building restrictions around me such as not being influenced by ill company ever and setting my priorities clear . In order to manage myself and the relationships being it personal or professional , I have to keep one thing in mind that I may have great intentions towards everybody but it needs to be reflected in my behavior utherwise it could leed to undue misunderstandings : My intentions are known only to me but it is my behaviour that is seen by others. Thus in order to manage myself , managing my behavior is very important .

I learnt this lesson Through the class feedback that was done in the class too . there in my negative points people have written that pretend to be sweet . Now this is a perception that is formed because of those people having little or no interaction with me . Thus through my behavior it might have been reflected while my intentions have always been good . This is an example of miscommunication leading to wrong perceptions . Thus I need to openly communicate my intentions in order to not being misinterpreted and forming strong relationships with my peer at work and utherwise .