Introduction: Developing intrapersonal skills has become a well-discussed topic nowadays. Our internal instincts, emotions, and feelings and how we control and effectively use these are vital for success. Examples of Intrapersonal skills address how to manage these internal factors and elements of a person.
Job requirements today are so complex and all-inclusive that only professional expertise is not enough to survive there. Most of us want training, professional degrees, and certifications. They are busy building interpersonal relationships, developing interpersonal communication, teamwork, etc. They prefer mentioning these in their CVs. But besides these, certain things are related totally to one’s inner self and are much more critical to the development of one’s professional life.
What is an intrapersonal skill, examples of intrapersonal skills, how to build and improve them, and Why are strong Intrapersonal skills vital for career development? In this article, you will see a bit of detail.
What is intrapersonal skill?
Intrapersonal skill is the internal ability of a person to know and discover himself. It deals with how you handle your emotions, frustrations, excitement, behavior under stress, etc. It is related to a person’s internal elements.
Examples of Intrapersonal skills
A person’s Intrapersonal skills are critical to conducting everyday activities effectively. Whatever profession you are from, if you have some intrapersonal skills, it will reflect how you work, behave with others, maintain relationships, and teamwork. A few examples of intrapersonal skills are given below:
1. Maintaining focus and attention to a subject
In our everyday life, whether it be personal or professional, we are confronted with various issues and problems one after another.
Many times we need to deal with several issues simultaneously. However, each case requires some time to ponder over it.
Most people start dealing with a problem with great interest but can not keep the same until the case’s settlement. Humans usually tend to give attention to a topic initially, and the same declines with time.
But a professional must not lose attention until a proper solution is found; otherwise, an effective solution will not be reached, or the matter may end in vain.
2. Creativity and insight
Intrapersonal skills can enable access to instant insights and creativity. We often are used to formulating solutions to problems that have an instance to occur earlier. In case of any trouble that doesn’t have a previous example, most of us find it challenging to plan a solution. In this regard, a true professional is unique. He can make the right decision in a new situation using his creativity. He can look for insight into an incident and guess what’s happening next.
3. Critical thinking
Applying a Critical thinking approach in the workplace is vital for an effective solution to a problem. Critical thinking is a skill that lets one understand and evaluate an issue or situation logically.
We can apply critical thinking in every sphere of our life. Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, Politicians, and Business Professionals use a Critical thinking approach. Critical thinking can check the authenticity of online news, assess risk and plan for risk mitigation, and make a decision under a particular situation.
There are some more examples of Intrapersonal Skills. Such as-
- self-esteem
- open-mindedness
- being aware of your thinking
- the ability to learn
- being able to understand and manage your own emotions
- self-confidence
- self-discipline
- self-motivation
- being able to overcome boredom
- being patient
- being a self-starter
- being able to take the initiative
- working independently
- being persistent
- having a positive attitude, and
- being a good manager of time etc.
What is the difference between Intrapersonal and Interpersonal skills?
Intrapersonal skills reveal how skillful you handle your inner thoughts, feelings, and urges. In contrast, interpersonal skills represent your ways of dealing with and understanding other people’s feelings and motivations.
‘Intrapersonal’ and ‘interpersonal’ sound similar and sometimes are confused as being the same.
But in fact, they are opposite in meaning.
Intra means within, and inter means between; intrapersonal denotes things an individual contains in himself, while interpersonal denotes items involving two or more people.
For example, prudence is intrapersonal, and friendship is an interpersonal attribute. Intrapersonal skills demonstrate how a person manages his inner thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
In contrast, interpersonal skills show how a person understands other people’s thoughts and feelings and interacts with them.
How to build Intrapersonal skills?
We already understand the importance of intrapersonal skills in our life. But if one doesn’t hold these skills in him, then what to do?
We need not be worried because We can learn intra-personal skills like we learn math and language skills. And they are the absolute foundation of everyday life. We can cultivate these skills within us quickly if we follow a few tips.
1. Maintaining a schedule
Intrapersonal skills are mostly related to our self-awareness and self-regulation. If we keep a schedule of our daily tasks and appointment, this can significantly enhance our self-awareness and self-regulation.
We often get overwhelmed by responsibilities and tasks, which badly influence our performance. We forget commitments, miss deadlines, and get distracted if we don’t have a schedule.
By maintaining a schedule, we can get reminders of everything we need to complete, and it helps keep us on track. It can help us manage our time and task effectively.
2. Giving attention to natural talent
Each person is blessed with a specific type of ability naturally. You probably have some particular strength, and even you don’t recognize them yet. Try to discover your talents and nourish them to use them more fruitful ways.
3. Try meditation
Meditation can help you practice mindfulness or focus your mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness. It’s an effective way to increase emotional awareness.
Benefits of meditation include- Relaxation, stress relief, sound sleep, etc. It can help one focus attention more effectively.
4. Keep time for self-reflection
Self-reflection involves close monitoring and thinking over your actions, habits, and improvement. Most of us work hard and always remain busy with completing work. But once completed, we never look behind a job to think it over.
We can perform the job with improved efficiency if we think about how we completed the job most effectively, what mistakes we made, and what obstacles or complexities can be avoided if we repeat the job.
Self-reflection enables you to understand what habits work well for you and where you experience challenges.
5. Practice positive self-talk
If you have the habit of talking to yourself and thinking about yourself, this can help you develop your internal experience.
We should be careful so that our thinking is more positive than negative. Negative thoughts and harsh self-criticism may have the opposite impact instead of developing yourself.
Frequently noticing your failure puts you in an inferiority complex; try looking at where you succeeded. Think over the point where you might have room to grow.
How to improve Intrapersonal skills?
Whatever intrapersonal skills we have, we should try to improve these. We can improve these skills by practicing a few habits. These are mainly to enhance the self-awareness of a person.
1. Develop beneficial habits
Habits are an essential factor in building a good personality. Your life can be easier if you cultivate a few good habits. Early rising, Cleanliness, physical and mental exercise, or Gardening, whatever habits you develop, will improve your internal skills.
2. Good Working environment
Our mood to work varies from time to time and from place to place. You may work well in a place where everyone works. It may not be accurate for others who prefer working in a quiet, empty place. Whatever your case, you must try to choose the appropriate environment.
3. Keep time for yourself
You might be too busy with daily activities, meetings, or appointments. But despite this, you should allocate a few times, say, one or half of an hour for yourself. Use this time for self-examination, i.e., analyze yourself, learn yourself, and discover yourself.
Intrapersonal skill list
Intrapersonal skills refer to a wide range of skills. The essential intrapersonal skill is listed below.
- Self-Confidence
- Self-Management
- Self-Motivation
- Self-Reflection
- Introspection
- Commitment
- Concentration
- Problem Solving
- Adaptability
- Stability
- Intuition
- Creativity
- Decision Making
- Morality
- Punctuality
Why are strong Intrapersonal skills vital for career development?
Today’s workplace is challenging and competitive. Whichever type of workplace you work in, you must have skills if you want to keep yourself ahead of others. And only one or two skills are insufficient there; you need multi-type skills. Moreover, intrapersonal skills come first when talking about skills.
Because interpersonal skill shows how skillful you are in managing your internal resources, this should be of prime concern as this is related to yourself.
If you can’t utilize your resources, how could it be possible for you to use others’ resources? If you cannot control yourself, how can you manage others?
For example, if you are disciplined and hardworking, you can expect your coworkers to be at your disposal.
Researchers found two intrapersonal skills are most needed in the workplace: adaptability and self-management. Adaptability is the ability of a person to work under pressure, with different personalities, in a challenging environment, cope with new responsibilities, adjust to recent techniques and changes, etc.
Self-management is a person’s ability to work spontaneously without any external force, motivate himself, and learn new things.
Your intrapersonal skills make you survive in the workplace, and other skills help you reach a higher workplace level.
Conclusion: Knowing our inner self is more important for our success. The more you think, know, and understand yourself, the more you can use your internal ability. Intrapersonal skills concentrate on internal development.
We should make emphasize it first. It is vital for enhancing internal development and provides ground for developing interpersonal relationships like mutual understanding, communication, negotiation, teamwork, etc.
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