Personal Development, Self-Management and Reflection Essay

Personal Development, Self-Management and Reflection - Essay Example Introduction Part 1: Self-Evaluation, Essential Skills As described by the Applied Personal and Professional Development Module, a skill is something one can learn, and then develop with further practice, reflection and refinement. While talent is something people are born with, skills are learned throughout the course of one’s life, and then further refined down the road. An individual talented in a certain field can quite easily excel there in no time flat, and may in fact go on to dominate that field completely. Both of these are definitely assets in any field, and HE training is no exception. Given proper training, even an otherwise unremarkable individual can surpass someone who is talented but lazy. Former US President Calvin Coolidge (n.d.) said it best when he said that ‘nothing in the world can take the place of persistence’, and that nothing is more common than someone who is talented yet unsuccessful. And in this regard, I for one am proud to say that w hile my own talent may yet be questioned, my persistence and drive have always been beyond reproach. Not only do I possess ample quantities of persistence and determination, I can also say that I have other virtues such as determination and commitment in spades. As I’m sure I’ve displayed at various points throughout the course, I’ve consistently remained on task no matter what happened, and rarely ever coasted. On the flip side, my time management leaves a lot to be desired, and I may not always be objective when it comes to self-evaluation – that is, at times I tend to either deemphasize or overemphasize my achievements. Procrastination is also another habitual problem for me, especially since I often find it hard to get anything done without a healthy (sometimes even beyond healthy) amount of time pressure to get my heart racing. And as for technical skills, I possess the skills highlighted by Steven and Fallows (1998) as being among the most important , such as skills in problem-solving, planning, and communication. These are said to be among the most important of all. All other important skills one will use in his school life as well as his career are rooted on these. Part 2: Action Plan One of my shortcomings when it comes to academic skills is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in general, something cited by the UK Department for Employment and Learning (2011) to be among the essential skills for adults. As stated by its spokesperson Deidre McGill, the literacy and numeracy problems experienced by some adults have prevented them from reaching their full potential – which is exactly why they are problems within myself that need to be addressed the most. This being the case, I intend to sharpen my proficiency in making use of ICT, and am willing to take related crash courses should the need arise. Aside from this, I myself admit that I have some problems where information handling is concerned. Shei la Corrall (1998) of the University of Reading defines this as a set of skills including information sources, evaluation criteria, navigation methods, manipulation techniques and presentation issues – which is to say that I have difficulty at times in discerning which particular bits of information should be given greater emphasis, and how best to present them. That