Self-management: An essential life skill

Self-management is a concept of cognitive behavioral theory. At the core of this theory, lie three assumptions. These are as follows:

• A person’s behavior is influenced by his or her thinking.
• It is possible to monitor and change a person’s thinking.
• Through changes in thinking, it may be possible to affect desired behavior change.

Educators should empower students to manage their behavior on their own, instead of depending on external controls. Self-management skill equips students better to take more responsibility for their individual behavior, which ultimately provides them with a sense of ownership.

Self management can be of four types. These are as follows:

• Self-graphing: Students can form the visual representation of their acts.
• Self-reinforcement: Students can provide themselves with a positive outcome.
• Self-evaluation: Students can evaluate their performance on the basis of some criteria.
• Self-monitoring: Students get aware of their individual behavior and start monitoring it.

In addition to defining and evaluating all types of self-management, teachers should also demonstrate some meaningful examples. Besides, teachers should take initiatives to help students in each of the aforesaid types so that students can self-manage themselves better.

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