11
Personal
Development
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Knowing Oneself
Lesson
Personal Development:
1 Knowing Oneself
Personal Development, or PERDEV for short, is a very interesting course, and can
become the most personally rewarding subject for you, because the subject matter for this
course is YOURSELVES! As new senior high school students, you have now entered a new
educational level, as well as a new psychological and social level, called the middle and late
adolescence. You may feel that you are no longer the rapidly growing and awkward
teen-ager, but may also feel that you are not quite ready to call yourselves mature adults either.
This course shall make you take a deeper look at yourselves and analyze your developmental
changes, your skills and traits which can help you meet the various tasks that you must
undertake at this point in your lives. It shall provide you with some techniques to meet stress
and other mental health issues with your own strengths and coping powers. The module shall
also give you the chance to analyze your relationships with your family, friends and
significant others. Finally, the PERDEV course shall help you take stock of where you are in
your career development and how to get to where you want to be.
Activity 1. SELF-CONCEPT INVENTORY
Instruction: Take a look at your own self-concept and answer the following self- concept
inventory in your journal. Give yourself a rating using the scale: 0 = very weak; 1 = weak;
2 = somewhat weak/somewhat strong; 3 = strong; 4 = very strong
1. I have strong sex appeal.
2. I am proud of my physical figure.
3. I am physically attractive and beautiful/handsome.
4. I exude with charm and poise.
5. I can easily get along with.
6. I can adjust to different people and different situations.
7. I am approachable; other people are at ease and comfortable with me.
8. I am lovable and easy to love.
9. I am a fast learner, can understand instruction easily.
10. I am intelligent.
11. I have special talents and abilities.
12. I can easily analyze situations and make right judgments.
13. I can be trusted in any transaction.
14. I have a clear conscience and carry no guilty feeling.
15. I have integrity and good reputation.
16. My friends and classmates can look up to me as a model worth emulating.
17. I can express my ideas without difficulty.
18. I talk in a persuasive manner that I can easily get people to accept what I say.
19. I can express my ideas in writing without difficulty.
20. I am a good listener.
21. I am emotionally stable and not easily rattled when faced with trouble.
22. I I am logical and rational in my outlook and decisions.
23. I feel and act with confidence.
24. I am a mature person.
Scoring: Copy this table in your journal. Write tour score opposite each number and get the
subtotal.
Physical Appearance Human Relations Intelligence
9 10 11
1 5
12
2 6
3 7
4 Subtotal : 8 Subtotal:
Character Communications Maturity
13 16 21
14 18 22
15 19 23
16 Subtotal: 20 Subtotal: 24 Subtotal:
How do you perceive yourself?
Look at the results of your self-concept inventory and answer the following questions.
1. In what areas do you consider yourself strong (with score 14-16 or somewhat weak (score of
10-13) and very weak (below 10)?
2. Are there qualities you consider as your weakness but other people consider as your
strength? What are these?
3. Read and give your thoughts about this: A lady can say “I`m ugly” yet others consider her
very charming. Or conversely, one can have the illusion of saying “I am very intelligent or
competent” when most of his ideas sound unreasonable or illogical to most of the people.”
Activity 2. Paint Me a Picture
Instruction: Draw an object, animal or any representation of yourself. You may use coloring
materials to enhance your work. Make a short discussion about your output.
Title of the Output:
The above exercise is given, for you to see an image of yourself. Through this activity,
you will be able to realize how you actually see yourself in almost all aspects. In this module,
you will learn self- concept and its aspects.
Let us begin, with knowing the difference between the actual-self and the ideal –
self!
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. Self-
concept refers to your awareness of yourself. It is the construct that negotiates these
two selves. In other words, it connotes first the identification of the ideal self as
separate from others, and second, it encompasses all the behaviors evaluated in the
actual self that you engage in to reach the ideal self. 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. These
exchanges are exemplified in social roles that are adjusted and re-adjusted, and are
derived from outcomes of social interactions from infant to adult development.
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. The greater the level of
incongruence between the ideal self and real self, the greater the level of resulting
distress. Personal development modules ultimate aim is greater self-knowledge that
will lead to higher alignment between these two personality domains.
Source:http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-self-concept-in-psychology-definiti
on-lesson-quiz.html;
Questions
1. What is self- concept? Give its aspects.
2. Differentiate actual self and ideal self. Cite example to explain.
3. Explain the negotiation between the two selves.
Are you learning so far? Let us now dig deeper on acquiring necessary skills and attitudes in
order to enhance the strengths and manage the weaknesses in order to be an effective
individual.
But before that, let us review some related vocabularies on the next exercise.
Activity 3. Abtash cipher
Abtash cipher is a mono-alphabetic substitution cipher used for the Hebrew alphabet.
The Atbash Cipher simply reverses the plaintext alphabet to create the ciphertext alphabet.
Decipher the following terms that are associated with genetic engineering. Write your
answer on the blank and corresponding to your answer, write anything you know about the
word.
(Try to recall your prior knowledge and try not to cheat!
Example: WVEVOLKNVMG = DEVELOPMENT
1. GZOVMGH = =
2. XIVZGRERGA = =
3. KVIHRGVNXV = =
4. WVGVINRMZGRLM = =
5. VCKVIRVMWV = =
6. PMLDOVWTV = =
7. HPROOH = =
8. HGIVRR = =
9. RWVZH = =
10. XLMURWVWMV = =
That was quiet a brain teaser! Now, it is time to know more about personal
effectiveness.
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.). Experience includes knowledge and skills that we acquire in the process of cognitive
and practical activities. Knowledge is required for setting goals, defining an action plan to achieve
them and risk assessment. Skills also determine whether real actions are performed in accordance
with the plan. If the same ability is used many times in the same situation, then it becomes a habit
that runs automatically, subconsciously.
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. Self- confidence 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 self- discipline 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. It can lead to a decrease or an increase of costs, but usually the speed of
action is greatly increased when using creative tools.
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. For generating ideas you can use a method of mental maps,
which allows you to materialize, visualize and scrutinize all your ideas, which in turn
contributes to the emergence of new ideas.
These are just some, but the most important personal effectiveness skills which make
the achievement of any goal easier and less costly.
Questions:
1. What is personal effectiveness? How can you improve your personal effectiveness?
2. Give one example of your innate characteristics and discuss how it helped you improve
your personality.
3. Give one skill that you think is your greatest strength. Discuss how it helped you increase
your inefficiency.
What I Have Learned
Activity 4. MY BANNER – THE TREASURE WITHIN ME
Instruction: Fill in the spaces in your banner with word/words following the
description below.
In the spaces indicated by numbers, write down the following
1 and 2two things I do very well
3 and 4my two greatest achievements in life 5 what
in myself am I proudest of
6 my happiest moment
7positive words that my friends use to describe me 8 a
personal goal that I have already achieved
9 three blessings for which I am most thankful to God 10
three of my positive qualities
11 difficulties, challenges and problems that I was able to solve and overcome
BUILD ON YOUR STRENGTHS AND WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES
Most failures emanate from weaknesses that are not recognized or probably
recognized but not given appropriate attention or remedy. This could be a weakness in
communications, personality or ability.
Instead of giving up or indulging in self-pity, take action. Go for speech lessons, get
skills upgrading, attend personality development sessions or whatever appropriate remedies
to your perceived weakness. Instead of simply focusing on your weaknesses, recognize your
own talents and abilities, build on them, utilize them to your greatest advantage. This is where
you can build your name and popularity. Physically challenged people like Jose Feliciano and
other blind singers did not brood over their physical disabilities. They recognize that they
have a golden voice so they search for ways to enrich that talent and now they have won
international fame in the field of music.
Source: Roldan, Amelia S. 2003. On Becoming A Winner: A Workbook on Personality Development and Character
Building. AR Skills Development and Management Services (SDMS), Paranaque City, Metro Manila.
What I Can Do
Activity 5. STORY ANALYSIS
YOU NEED TO TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR FUTURE
by Bo Sanchez
There are three kinds of people in this world: The first is the Moviegoer. This person
watches the movie of their lives, admires some parts and criticizes others. Aside from that, they
do nothing else. All she says the whole day is, “I like this thing and but I don’t like that thing.”
The Moviegoer feels she has absolutely no control of their lives --- except to comment about it.
Moviegoers are the most pathetic, miserable people in the world.
The second is the Actor. This person does not only watch the movie of her life. She
actually realizes she’s the Actor – and can control a big part of her life. She can actually make
or break the movie – by how well she delivers her lines and how she portrays her character.
Actors are a happy bunch, realizing they’re the start of the show and enjoy some level of
control. But many times, they wish the movie would end in another way – but realize that they
have no say in such things.
The third is the Scriptwriter. This person does not only watch, and she doesn’t only
act, but she actually creates the entire movie from her mind. She determines what she will say,
what she will do, and how the movie will end. She
realizes she has enormous control over her life, and sees to it that the movie of her life will turn
out beautiful.
Source: Sanchez, Bo. (2006). Life Dreams Success Journal: Your Powerful Tool to Achieve and Surpass
Your Dreams One Step at a Time. Shepherd’s Voice Publishing.
Questions:
1. Who are you among these three people?
2. Do you merely watch your life goes by? Or do you act out a script that you feel has been
handed to you? Or do you write the script and make your life beautiful?
3. By the way, the Producer of the movie is God. He tells you, “Make the movie
beautiful, and I will give you all that you need for success.”
What are your thoughts about this?
Activity 6. MY STORY, MY SAY
Instruction. Share an event/s in your life where you were able to use your strengths and
manage and conquer your weakness. Discuss what you have learned from that experience/s.
Title:
Additional Activities
THE POWER OF JOURNAL WRITING: UNFOLDING YOUR PERSONAL JOURNEY
The purpose of journal writing is to help you become the Scriptwriter of your life. There are
four (4) practical reasons to maintain a journal:
1.It is cost-efficient and available. Emotional stress can be dealt in many ways like talking to a
friend over a cup of coffee, eating, travelling, shopping, painting and many more but writing is
the most inexpensive. Notebook and pens are easy to find, available and do not cost so much.
2.It is preventive and pro-active. Writing yields self-awareness. When you write, you can
discover your strengths and limitations. You will know what your reactions are in different
situations and what better ways to prevent, avoid, or face your fears.
3.It is creative and productive. Journal writing expounds your imagination. You can see various
dimensions of your problem, different points of view and better solutions.
4.Lastly, it is personal and private. Unless you want to share your stories, you have the choice to
keep them to yourself. Writing is your time alone. It is my way of loving yourself. You will not
be judged by your writing.
You just need one (1) notebook to maintain a personal journal. You may use these questions as
you write in your journal:
1.How do you find this day? What are the positive things that happened? What are those things
that made you irritated or upset?
2.As you reflect on the ups and downs of your day, what may be the greatest lesson you can
learn from them? What actions have you done well and what actions you can do better?
3.What do you really want in life? What do you want to achieve for yourself, your family, your
community, your country?
4.As you close the day, what are the small and big things you are thankful of? Who are the
people that made your day extra special?
PROCESSING: Write your answers in your personal journal:
1. What have you discovered in yourself?
2. What are your core strengths?
3. What are the qualities you want to hone and improve on?
