What is self-

management?
Self-management is the ability to regulate your behavior,
thoughts, emotions, and activities to help you become more
productive and efficient This means excelling in both personal and
professional responsibilities for the benefit of yourself and your team.
It’s about taking charge of your personal and professional journey
by consciously directing yourself towards achieving your goals.

This is crucial because no matter which tool or platform you use

to manage your work habits or projects, the ultimate factor that will
determine productivity is your focus or dedication toward a task.

Thus, strong self-management skills are the foundation for success

for any individual or team. Self-management empowers you
to become the architect of your professional success. By honing
these skills, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the demands of your
workday and achieve remarkable results.

Effective self-management leads to better emotional intelligence by supporting

your self-awareness and well being. This means staying on top of social cues and
respecting your own personal needs.
Self-management is an important leadership quality that doesn’t always come
naturally, but with the right tools and practice, you can develop. Let’s dive into the
top seven self-management skills to develop.
Self-management techniques involve developing skills to effectively manage
one's own behaviors, emotions, and actions to achieve goals and improve
well-being. These skills include self-awareness, time management, goal
setting, and stress management.

Key Self-Management Techniques:

 Self-Awareness: Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, values, and emotional
responses.
 Time Management: Planning, prioritizing, and allocating time effectively to achieve
goals.
 Goal Setting: Defining clear, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-
bound (SMART) goals.
 Stress Management: Identifying stressors, developing coping mechanisms, and
practicing relaxation techniques.
 Emotional Regulation: Understanding and managing emotions effectively, including
anger, anxiety, and frustration.
 Self-Discipline: Developing the ability to control impulses, resist distractions, and stay
focused on goals.
 Adaptability: Adjusting to changes in circumstances and maintaining composure under
pressure.
 Problem-Solving: Identifying problems, analyzing situations, and developing effective
solutions.
 Decision-Making: Making sound judgments based on available information and
considering potential consequences.
 Self-Motivation: Finding internal drive and staying motivated to achieve goals.
 Resilience: Recovering from setbacks and challenges, and learning from experiences.
How to Improve Self-Management Skills:
 Practice mindfulness and self-reflection: Regularly examine your thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors.
 Set realistic goals and create a plan of action: Break down large goals into smaller,
manageable steps.
 Develop positive habits: Engage in regular exercise, healthy eating, and sufficient
sleep.
 Seek feedback from others: Ask for constructive criticism and insights to identify areas
for improvement.
 Embrace challenges and learn from mistakes: View setbacks as opportunities for
growth and development.
 Build a support system: Surround yourself with positive and supportive individuals
who can help you stay on track.
 Practice self-compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and understanding, especially
when facing difficulties.
 Use time management tools: Utilize calendars, to-do lists, and productivity apps to
organize your tasks and schedule.
 Prioritize tasks and avoid distractions: Focus on the most important tasks and
minimize interruptions.
 Delegate tasks when appropriate: Don't be afraid to ask for help when needed.

What are the 7 self-

management skills?
Developing self-management skills requires a certain level of self-awareness—you
need to know yourself before you can regulate yourself. Start slow and embrace the
process, remembering that these skills are ongoing.

Skill 1. Time management

The first step to self-management is managing your time.
Remember that we all get 24 hours a day, and how we manage our
time will determine how productive or successful we are. Self-
managed people are good at prioritizing their activities to make
the best use of their time. This helps them accomplish more and
coach others to manage their time better.

Time management is when you control how you use your time. This means
prioritizing your most important tasks first and managing your daily to-do list. A
leader who has good time management skills can manage their time effectively
without the need for external help.
Having good time management skills can help you stay engaged and avoid
procrastination. As a leader, time management allows you enough time to both
stay on top of your own work and empower others to do the same.
Read: 18 time management tips, strategies, and quick wins to get your best work done

Skill 2. Self motivation

Self-awareness is one thing, but self-motivation is critical for any
productive day. We often set huge expectations for ourselves,
leading to not meeting those goals. That’s why set realistic goals
and instill the confidence to achieve them. Strong self-motivation is
essential for sustained productivity and achieving your goals. To
motivate yourself, find work and activities that engage and excite
you.
Self motivation is your ability to get motivated and proactively accomplish daily
tasks. It takes a certain level of personal responsibility, but practicing self motivation
can help you become more self-aware and prioritize what's important to you.

This is similar to intrinsic motivation, which is motivation that comes from within.
Like self motivation, intrinsic motivation stems from a variety of personal factors. For
example, your internal motivator for volunteering could be that it makes you feel
fulfilled. External motivators, on the other hand, are influenced by factors outside
yourself. For example, working faster because you’re scared of the repercussions if
you work slower.
Enjoying the work you do is an important part of staying motivated and engaged
throughout your workday. Plus, liking the work you do can help you inspire your
team to do their very best. To practice internal motivation, work towards goals that
excite you and fuel your sense of purpose.

Skill 3. Stress management

Stress is a natural human response to pressure, but chronic stress
can harm your well-being, productivity, and even your mental
health. Effective stress management helps you to stay calm and
focused and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Self-
management requires having a healthy way of dealing with stress
and having good coping skills. Leaders often deal with stress, but to be good
at self-management you need to embody healthy stress management. Without
stress management, you can suffer from overwork and, eventually, burnout.
Leaders with good stress management skills approach work in a focused manner by
connecting their initiatives to larger goals. When you know which task is most
important and how project deliverables are tied to team goals, you can better
prioritize work and will likely feel more fulfilled doing it. Engaging with your work in
this way is a form of self-care, and it can help reduce your stress levels and keep
you level headed.
Skill 4. Adaptability
Adaptability is another essential skill of self-management. It means
you can change your stride and alter your approach as needed. For
instance, while a project is underway, you may find that conditions
have changed and a new approach is required. Being adaptable
makes you open to pivoting in response to such a change.
Adaptability is a crucial skill that can help you thrive in an ever-
evolving environment
Being adaptable means you have the confidence and ability to pivot when changes
arise. This is especially important for leaders who work in a fast-paced environment
where project changes occur often.
For example, imagine a new project comes up that’s a higher priority than the one
you’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks. Instead of becoming stressed
or frustrated, you can adapt to this change and move forward with openness and
curiosity. This is an important skill to have to maintain flexibility.
While being adaptable may be uncomfortable at times, it can make you a great
leader as you have the ability to tackle anything that comes your way. It also
empowers your team to do the same.

Skill 5. Decision making

Making effective decisions is a cornerstone of self-management and
a key driver of success in any professional setting. From prioritizing
tasks to navigating complex projects, weighing options objectively
and choosing the best course of action is essential. Effective
decision-making also includes the ability to think critically and solve
problems.

To be effective, it’s essential for leaders to develop decision-making skills that

reduce confusion and increase team empowerment. Problem solving and
addressing issues can help you grow your decision-making skills.
Like all the skills we’ve looked at so far, decision making is something you can
learn. Start by sharpening your critical thinking skills and learning how to analyze
key information when problems arise. And use data-driven decision making to
ensure your actions come from data rather than guesswork, so fewer issues will
arise down the road.
Skill 6. Goal alignment
In addition to setting goals, self-management requires ensuring your
daily tasks and activities are aligned with your long-term
aspirations. This concept, known as goal alignment, ensures your
efforts contribute meaningfully to achieving your bigger picture.
Goal alignment involves setting goals that match longer-term
objectives, sharing them with stakeholders to get their alignment,
and then working towards them consistently.

Setting goals means you prioritize the most important projects that have the highest
impact on your business.
This means being able to see the bigger picture and knowing what’s best for your
team members and organization. In the long run, this will generate better results
and boost team morale.
Goal alignment consists of three main skills:
 Goal setting. When goal setting, be sure to identify current pain points,
forecast growth objectives, and analyze your current resource allocation
plans—all of which can help you set informed goals. Use the SMART
goals framework to make sure your goal is specific, measurable, achievable,
realistic, and time-bound.
 Goal communication. Not only does this involve managing your team’s
goals, but it always involves aligning them to your organization’s overall
goals. That way, your team members understand how their work ladders up
to larger objectives. This requires transparent communication and aligned
teamwork.
 Goal tracking. Not only is it important to set and communicate goals, but it’s
also important to track them. This is critical for connecting daily work to larger
goals and seeing how your team is progressing over time.

Skill 7. Personal development

While self-management can improve your productivity and make
you a more efficient team player, it must be accompanied by
intentional efforts toward personal development. By actively
investing in personal development, you can refine your existing
skills, acquire new ones, and stay adaptable in an ever-changing
work environment.
Personal development is key for all team members, but especially for leaders. In
order to build your team’s knowledge, you first need to build your own. This means
taking the time to attend workshops, take courses, and connect with industry
experts to develop your management skills.
This means taking the time to attend workshops, take courses, and connect with
industry experts—all of which can help you develop your management skills.
By continuing to develop your skills, you can empower your team to do the same.
Not only does this mean individual career development, but it also means growth for
the good of the company.

Examples of self-
management
Analyzing examples of self-management in the workplace can help you understand
the skills you need to develop and embody healthy self-management.
These examples involve refining the way you see yourself in order to develop strong
self-esteem. Here are some examples of self-management to better understand how
you can empower yourself to be a better leader in the workplace:

Example 1: Setting goals and

aligning them to the larger
picture.
Team lead Daniela Vargas wants to increase returning customers by 10%
this year in order to meet her organization’s growth goals. To start, she
writes up a business case and schedules a meeting with the head of
operations and product development. During that meeting, Daniela walks
the department heads through her plan to rebrand an existing product
line that hasn’t performed well in the past. The leaders agree to the plan
and Daniela gets to work to develop a detailed work breakdown structure.
Example 2: Stress management
and time allocation.
Ray Brooks starts his day by going through his daily to-do list. He notices
he has a few tasks that need to be completed and an overdue task that
he didn’t get to yesterday. He also gets a meeting invite for a new project
that is flagged as a top priority. Instead of becoming overwhelmed and
frustrated with the tasks on his plate, Ray goes to work to reorganize his
schedule. Critically, Ray realizes that he can’t get everything done that
day. To get his best work done, he prioritizes the new project meeting,
since it’s a top priority. He then spends the rest of his day tackling his
high priority tasks while maintaining the quality of his work. Instead of
working all night, which Ray knows will stress him out and take away from
his family time, he decides that his least important tasks will need to wait
until the next day.
In both of these situations, the leader made rational decisions based on what was
best for themselves and their teams. They were quick to make intelligent decisions
while considering their own well-being in order to get good results.

Managing your
behaviors and
emotions
Managing your thoughts and behaviors can help you become better at self-
management and, in turn, stronger as a leader. By streamlining your individual
organizational systems, you’re proactively working towards becoming the best
leader that you can be.
Learn additional ways to support your team with work management software. From
increased productivity to team visibility, effectively managing your work doesn’t
have to be challenging.
Benefits of Self-
Management
Effective self-management can help you crush your workday and
navigate challenges in day-to-day routines. However, the benefits of
self-management don’t just focus on productivity. It can go beyond
that, teaching you about self-discipline, time management, self-
awareness, and even managing stress. This helps you in both your
professional and personal life by enabling you to:

 Increase productivity and efficiency: Self-management

empowers you to prioritize tasks, manage time effectively, and
minimize distractions. This translates to getting more done in
less time, allowing you to achieve a healthy work-life balance
 Reduce stress and improve well-being: Self-management
skills like self-awareness, goal setting, and time management
equip you to handle challenges calmly and efficiently, reducing
stress and anxiety
 Enhance decision-making: Self-management fosters critical
thinking skills and self-awareness, allowing you to weigh
options objectively and make well-informed decisions that
benefit you and your team
 Gain confidence and self-esteem: Successfully managing
your workload and achieving your goals creates a sense of
accomplishment and boosts your confidence in your abilities.
This improved self-confidence allows you to tackle new
challenges with a positive and proactive mindset
 Improve communication and collaboration: Effective self-
management involves clear communication with yourself and
others. This translates to better communication with
colleagues, leading to stronger relationships and more
successful collaborations
 Unlock new career opportunities: Employers highly value
employees who can manage their time effectively, prioritize
tasks independently, and take ownership of their work. Strong
self-management skills make you a more attractive candidate
and open doors to exciting career opportunities