The improvement of skills and knowledge is important for every business success. However, there are some skills that needs to be prioritized. Self-management skills definitely are one of them.
Developing self-management skills is an on-going process that is both interesting and equally challenging. It would be great if a teenager first learn what are self-management skills, and then followed up by understanding the ways on how to develop these set of skills.
Defining Self-Management Skills
Teens probably think that possessing self-management skills means being able to be your own boss. However, that’s only one part. It actually means that you are capable to take responsibilities for your own life. Some of the self-management skills are:
• Stress Management
• Time Management
• Organizing Skills
• Decision-Making Skills
• Problem-Solving Skills
• Health Management.
As you can see, self-management skills won’t only help teens become successful entrepreneurs. It will allow them to improve their entire life.
Benefits of Developing Self-Management Skills
You are probably asking now “how can self-management skills improve my life”. The advantages of self-management are motivational and that is the reason why we want to talk about them.
• Independence
Teenagers will finally have the opportunity to be independent. More precisely, self-management skills will help them make the right decisions independently from their parents. This includes independent time management, problem-solving, money-making, etc.
In other words, independence means freedom. A youngster will realize in early ages how their life should look in the future. This is something most grownups have forgotten.
• Self-Confidence
Having self-management skills will help you achieve your goals one-by-one. When you make a few successful moves, you start feeling more confident. Adolescents have a problem with a lack of life experience when they graduate.
They don’t have any difficult challenges until that moment. We already said before, the entire process of developing self-management skills is challenging. It will teach kids how to become true fighters.
• Self-Awareness
A small number of teenagers is truly aware of their own possibilities. It seems like they do not understand how powerful they actually are. Developing self-management skills won’t just improve your confidence. You will see a clear picture of your talents and special skills. Despite that, you will know in which direction your life might go. That could help you make better decisions in the future.
We explained what is “self-management skills” and its benefits. Now is the right time to hear good ways to develop self-management skills.
Powerful Ways to Develop Self-Management Skills
Each skill we mentioned above is equally important for our life. Do not think that skipping one is not a big deal. All these skills are somehow connected to each other. They are like part of the puzzle. In this case, the puzzle is the success and happiness of our life.
• Surround Yourself with Positivity (Stress Management)
Parents sometimes forget that they were kids. It is logical that youngsters mostly do not have the reason to be stressful. More precisely, those reasons are usually silly. However, we can’t forget that these problems are the biggest one they have. Sometimes they make them feel nervous and stressful.
Self-management skills will help you learn how to avoid negativity in your life. Youngsters should discipline themselves only for positivity. For instance, a teenager wants to become an entrepreneur. He wants to run an online retail business.
Yet, friends around him are not ambitious at all. They tell him that he will fail and that he is not capable enough to become successful. Their influence can have a negative impact on his confidence. So, he starts to believe in negative comments that he gets. After some period of time, he decides to quit everything and stay in his comfort zone.
Kid with stress management skills would find a way to reduce the stress that he feels because of others. He would be too confident in his own skills and other comments would not mean anything to him. Instead of thinking only about failure, he would start making plans for the future. When the tough moments come, he would meditate, spend time with negative people, and things like that.
Even grownups do not know how to control the stress they feel. Stress usually controls their lives. That’s why their mind is not clear and they make some bad decisions. You see why it would be good to develop self-management skills since the early ages.
• Make a “To-Do” List (Time Management)
You can often hear youngsters complaining about their lack of time. Day has 24 hours, but it sometimes looks like it has only 4. However, time is not a problem. The problem is time management. Zig Zigler said once – “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24 hour days.”
Lack of self-discipline is one of the main problems of teenagers. They like to delay things. For instance, they plan to start learning at 8 AM. Still, that rarely happens because they are preoccupied with social media. So, they usually start learning around 11 AM. Self-management skills won’t allow something like this to happen. They will completely change your daily routine.
Time is priceless, and it would be good to spend it on relevant things. Making a “to-do” list will improve our time management on another level. The list needs to contain mini-goal that you achieve on a daily basis. For example, you will get up at 8 AM. After that, you will learn new things related to your industry from 9 AM to 5 PM. When you finish learning, you will go to the gym, and so on.
It doesn’t matter how you will design your “to-do” list. Respecting everything that is written on that list is something that is more important. By respecting your time, you are actually developing your self-management skills. It may be tough in the first few weeks, but things will change after that.
• Start Changing Things Around You (Organizing skills)
Time management is one important organizing skill. Yet, it is not the only one. Kids also like to wait for things to change on their own. They hope that their business will make progress without their hard work. But, our life is never going to organize by itself. This includes every area of life.
Students should start with small changes. For instance, they do not like the color of their room. Working room is messy and it doesn’t motivate them to work. You will feel better when you make those small changes. One day you will ask yourself – “Why shouldn’t I make some bigger changes? How good would I feel then?”
It is good if kid feels the responsibility to change his life. That means he will be motivated to work hard until he achieves his own goals.
• Take Risks When It’s Necessary (Decision-Making Skills)
It is logical that parents worry about their kids. When they need to go out, they tell them to bring a jacket because it might get cold later. There are many examples of parental care that we experienced. Parents remain parents forever and they will do that even when you are 40 years old.
Still, there is a negative side as well. Young adults do not have the right opportunity to make some important decisions. For instance, they are not sure which college is good for them. In most cases, they listen to their parents. If the father is a lawyer, there is a big chance the kid will go to the University of Law. However, kids need to take responsibility for their lives. The earlier they start doing it – the better for them.
A teen should once again start small. For example, they should decide alone who will their friends be. If they want to become an entrepreneur, parents should support them. There is a big chance they will make a mistake. Still, that is all part of gaining life experience.
Make every decision alone because that is the best way to improve your self-management skills. Do not be afraid of mistakes; they are parts of every success. These decisions can be irrelevant in the beginning. But, one-by-one, small decisions will encourage you to make the more important ones.
• Look for Solutions, Not for Excuses (Problem-Solving Skills)
Majority of youngsters would rather choose to look for excuses. For instance, they will always find the right reason why they did not become successful. In addition to that, they will always look for someone to blame. Teens usually blame parents because they were not able to afford them everything. The development of social media definitely has some negative effects on children.
Youngsters with high-level self-management skills do not have these sort of habits. They always take responsibility for their own failures. As we said, failing is not even stressful for them. The things will be better in the future and that’s something they believe in.
Let’s say that you got a bad mark in school. You start complaining that you did not have time or that you were not able to sleep. Maybe you are not lying, but the method you use is bad anyway. Instead, you should find a way to get better marks in the future. You will sit down and learn lessons that you skipped.
Teen entrepreneurs also need to know how to solve problems. Many of them would say “I don’t have luck”. Luck doesn’t have anything to do with it. In case your friend is successful, do not envy him. Do not look for excuses on why he made better results. Try to learn from him and look for reasons why you did not become as successful as he.
• Live Healthy and Be Happy (Health Management)
Here comes the part that makes self-management skills even more important. People generally do not think about their health. When kids are little, they usually imitate grownups. So, it won’t be a surprise if there are a lot of kids that leads unhealthy lifestyle.
When you look closer, the main characteristic of people with this sort of skills is responsibility. This doesn’t just include finishing our duties successfully and on time. Our health is the biggest wealth we have. That means it is also the biggest responsibility we have.
Parents usually need to remind kids to live healthily. For instance, kids usually like to eat food full of sugar or fat. They usually eat a hamburger and drink cola when they are at school. Instead, youngsters should focus their meals on vegetables and fruit. We do not want to say that each child needs to become a vegetarian.
This is a matter of choice that each individual should make independently. But, unhealthy food leads to unproductivity and ineffectiveness. Our body spends too much energy on those things.
“To-do” list is not the only list you should make. You can also make a “Meal List”. More precisely, make a list of meals that you will have each day. Every day you should eat three times. Try to put different food on the list. The same food or drinks will make your health management monotonous.
Moreover, physical activity is equally important. For instance, you are fully committed to your business, and you spend 10 hours per day sitting in front of your laptop. Spending too much time working is definitely not going to bring you success. You can use some easy methods such as going for a walk, visiting parks, etc. Going to the gym is also one of the choices you have. It will take you an hour and a half to finish your exercising. If somehow you don’t have enough time, exercise at home.
P.S. Exercising is something you should definitely put on your “to-do” list.
Conclusion
What is “self-management skills” is no longer a secret. You now know which methods you can use to become a better version of yourself. Isn’t that the point? Well, this set of skills will ensure that. The question is – are you ready to improve them?
