PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT UNIT 1 : SELF-DEVELOPMENT
SELF-CONCEPT
Imagine yourself looking into a mirror. What do you see? Do you see your ideal self or your actual self?
Your ideal self is the self that you aspire to be. It is the one that you hope will possess characteristics
similar to that of a mentor or some other worldly figure.
Your actual self, however, is the one that you actually see. It is the self that has characteristics that you
were nurtured or, in some cases, born to have. The actual self and the ideal self are two broad
categories of self-concept.
The actual self is built on self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is derived from social interactions that provide
insight into how others react to you. The actual self is who we actually are. It is how we think, how we
feel, look, and act. The actual self can be seen by others, but because we have no way of truly knowing
how others view us, the actual self is our self-image. The ideal self, on the other hand, is how we want to
be. It is an idealized image that we have developed over time, based on what we have learned and
experienced. The ideal self could include components of what our parents have taught us, what we
admire in others, what our society promotes, and what we think is in our best interest.
There is negotiation that exists between the two selves which is complex because there are numerous
exchanges between the ideal and actual self. Alignment is important. If the way that I am (the actual self)
is aligned with the way that I want to be (the ideal self), then I will feel a sense of mental well-being or
peace of mind. If the way that I am is not aligned with how I want to be, the incongruence, or lack of
alignment, will result in mental distress or anxiety.
PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Personal effectiveness means making use of all the personal resources – talents, skills, energy and time,
to enable you to achieve life goals. Your knowledge of yourself and how you manage yourself impacts
directly on your personal effectiveness. Being self-aware, making the most of your strengths, learning
new skills and techniques and behavioral flexibility are all keys to improving your personal performance.
Our personal effectiveness depends on our innate characteristics – talent and experience accumulated in
the process of personal development. Talents first are needed to be identified and then developed to be
used in a particular subject area (science, literature, sports, politics, etc.).
Here are some skills that will greatly increase the efficiency of any person who owns them:
1. Determination. It allows you to focus only on achieving a specific goal without being distracted by less
important things or spontaneous desires. It may be developed with the help of self-discipline exercise.
2. Self-confidence. It appears in the process of personal development, as a result of getting aware of
yourself, your actions and their consequences. Selfconfidence is manifested in speech, appearance,
dressing, gait, and physical condition. To develop it, you need to learn yourself and your capabilities, gain
positive attitude and believe that by performing right actions and achieving right goals you will certainly
reach success.
3. Persistence. It makes you keep moving forward regardless of emerging obstacles – problems, laziness,
bad emotional state, etc. It reduces the costs of overcoming obstacles. It can also be developed with the
help of selfdiscipline exercise.
4. Managing stress. It helps combat stress that arises in daily life from the environment and other
people. Stress arises from the uncertainty in an unknown situation when a lack of information creates
the risk of negative consequences of your actions. It increases efficiency in the actively changing
environment.
5. Problem-solving skills. They help cope with the problems encountered with a lack of experience. It
increases efficiency by adopting new ways of achieving goals when obtaining a new experience.
6. Creativity. It allows you to find extraordinary ways to carry out a specific action that no one has tried
to use.
7. Generating ideas. It helps you achieve goals using new, original, unconventional ideas. Idea is a mental
image of an object formed by the human mind, which can be changed before being implemented in the
real world.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
S.Y. 2018-2019
Date: __________________
Name: _________________________________________________________
Grade and Section: ______________________________________________
AGREEMENT WITH MYSELF
This semester, these are the things that I want to learn...
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This semester, these are the things that I will change...
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From this day, I will start to...
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In the presence of my adviser and classmates as witnesses, I am hereby declaring to be resposible in
fulfilling the abovementioned things. This semester, I will allow challenges to develop my personality
towards self-discovery and self-acceptance. This letter serves as a proof of agreement with myself that I
will give my best to turn positive changes into reality. Henceforth, I hang on to this hope that I will grow
and be a better person for the rest of my life.
I surrender this personal development in the hands of God.
Signature Over Printed Name
Adviser's Signature Over Printed Name
