Jaffna Bankers' Forum:

Self-motivation and self-improvement

The Jaffna Bankers' Forum, an organisation set up to promote professionalism among the Bankers in the Peninsula, recently organised a one-day program on "Self-motivation, Self-Improvement and self development for higher productivity".

The program was conducted by CENLEAD, CEO Dr. K. Kuhathasan.

Here are excerpts from his address.

Self-development and self-improvement through self-motivation has become an essential feature of today's work - life.

Self-development is the process of improving yourself through a deliberate process of self-motivation. This definition includes a number of assumptions that are worth exploring.

It assumes that it is always possible to develop yourself, not just your outward behaviour but also your inner thought processes and feelings.

It assumes that you need to organize it for yourself rather than expecting other people to be responsible for your development.

It assumes that self-development needs to be undertaken deliberately rather than left to chance.

You are unique and you are the most important person in the world. If you don't take responsibility for your own development, who else will? Indeed, who else can? Nobody else, no matter how hard they try.

The door to development is with you. It is presumed that managers are responsible for developing people but closer examination reveals this is not true. Managers are responsible for providing their people with development opportunities, but it is always up to you to take advantage of those.

Four stages of self-motivation

There are four key steps you may have to implement to infuse self-motivation.

Personal audit - undertake an audit of where you are now, in terms of what you can do now.

Setting self-development objectives -setting aims and objectives in terms of what your want to achieve. These will be both work-related and personal goals.

Identifying developments needs - identifying the knowledge and skills that you will need to achieve your goals.

Constructing the development plan - analyzing the information that has been identified above, identifying the gaps. The gaps will form the basis of your development plan. Yourself-development plan will motivate you to carry out your development. Provide a tool to monitor and evaluate your achievements and provide a schedule to work to.

Setting self-development objectives

You are now ready to clarify your personal objectives. These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself.

* Where do I want to be in the future in the short and the long-terms?

* Will I remain a team leader forever?

* Do I want to continue to work for the same organization?

* Do I need to update my skills in the light of new technology?

* Do I need to learn new management techniques?

* Do I need to develop any personal skills?

* Do I have the right balance between work and home life?

* Do I spend enough time on my favourite leisure pursuits?

* Is there any thing I have always wanted to do and not done?

If so why haven't I done it?

* Do I need to undertake any further education?

For each of the gaps you have identified, set development objectives. Your development objectives need to be SMART like all objectives : -

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely

Translating the dream into reality

Having decided where you are and through visioning and mind-mapping where you want to be, you can now plan your journey from one to the other.

Creating a vision drawing

Creating a vision is about mentally putting yourself in the future and looking around you to see what you have in your life at the point in time. Think about everything you would like to have in your life and simply draw a picture of it. Don't worry about your ability to draw: that is not the object of the exercise. Your brain thinks faster than you can articulate the thought, so drawing is the quickest way to translate your ideas into something more tangible.

Self-development plan

Prepare a self-development plan. This is your action plan which will display how you intend to fill the gaps that you have identified, and when you will review your progress.

Constructing your self-development plan

The way to work out how you are going to fill your self-development gap and meet your self-development needs is to list your needs and match them with the most effective form of learning that will meet each need.

Your development plan should reflect your development objectives, what you intend to do to meet your development needs and when you will review your progress against your plans. Ideally your development plan should include a range of learning activities which suit your learning style, and include a balance of both formal and informal learning experience.

An action plan for self-motivation

Self-motivation demands the following five basic steps:

* A clear cut aim: What exactly do I want?

* A deep desire to achieve goals set is the foremost essential requirement to succeed.

But there is a need to 'deserve' before one 'desire'.

* A deep faith or belief in yourself and the higher self that you will definitely succeed is the next requirement. The faith reinforced by confidence is a power which will yield result

* To expect or visualize the successful outcome of the result, as an upshot of your 'burning desire' and unflinching faith is perhaps the most powerful ingredient of success.

* An expression of gratitude (in advance) for getting what you have desired earnestly.

Here is a list of a dozen things that self-developers tend to perform

* Put themselves first (and others a close second)

* Strive to improve their current performance

* Deliberately seek out opportunities to shine and excel.

* Get mileage out of changes (at work, home, sociality)

* Assess own needs.

* Set own self-development objectives.

Access own progress

* Experiment/try new or different things

* Review experiences

* Reach conclusions from experiences

* Plan to implement what has been learned.

* Tolerate short-term discomfort in the interests of longer term achievement.

Thus self-development, or personal development, is about development your own skills and knowledge so that you are continuously learning and developing yourself.

If you are to be committed to your self-development you need to take ownership of it by following the guidelines below:

Develop your Leadership

Be responsible for your own development

Establish your own needs for your development for personal growth and improved work performance

Use a range of motivational methods, formal and informal, as methods of self-development.

Learn how to apply the motivational techniques.

Avoid negative thinking

Why is negativity a demotivating factor? Firstly, because it demoralizes your efforts and it will act as a barrier towards continuous improvement. It drags us down emotionally, physically and mentally. It is, the single biggest destroyer of success and potential success.

Negative thinking destroys relationships, creativity and achievement and, ultimately, your own development, improvement and success.