Life Skills & Effective

Communication
Lecture-2
22B12HS111
On a big mountain side there laid a nest with four big eagle eggs. One fine day, mountain was
rocked with an earthquake and one of the eggs tumbled down the mountain, down the valley to a
poultry farm. Chickens noticed this big egg and they decided to take care of the egg knowing the
egg will soon hatch. Then one day the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle came out. The eagle soon
realized that something was different but all eagle saw around was chickens. One day, eagle saw
other eagles flying high in the sky and it said to the chickens “I wish I could fly”, all the chickens
burst into laughter and said to him “behave like a chicken”. The eagle stopped trying and behaved
like a chicken forgetting about its capabilities. Finally the eagle died like a chicken not even
knowing it was an eagle.

“Outside voices force us to become chickens, each one of us has an eagle inside us”

LET US BE SELF-AWARE
Dimensions of Self

• Cognitive self
• Self as feelings
• Body image
• Vocal image
• Relations with others’ image
 Profile of Spheres of Life
Evaluate yourself objectively on the following dimensions (from 1 to10):

• Intellectual life 1-----------------------------10

• Emotional life 1-----------------------------10
• Family life 1----------------------------------10
• Health 1-------------------------------------10
• Social life 1-------------------------------------10
• General achievements 1-------------------10
• Spiritual life 1---------------------------------10
 ‘Stones and dung you throw can’t stop me’
Savitribai Phule

In Maharashtra, Savitribai Phule did some pioneering work about women’s

education and started a school for girls in Pune. People were totally against
it and wanted to discourage her. When Savitribai Phule went to school, the
villagers used to throw stones and dung at her. Savitribai paused and said
politely- ‘Brother, I am doing a good job educating your sisters. The stones
and dung you throw can’t stop me, but they inspire me. It is as if you are
showering flowers. I will definitely continue my work. ” It was difficult to
maintain motivation but she continued the noble work.

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 JOHARI WINDOW

• Johari Window is a technique for improving self-awareness within an

individual. It helps in understanding your relationship with yourself and
others. Johari Window model can be a useful tool if you want to improve
your communication skills.
• It was developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry
Ingham in 1955, hence the name Johari. Johari Window is generally used
in Self-help groups in exercises which help a person to learn and discover
things about themselves, like heuristic exercise.
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JOHARI WINDOW
1 2
OPEN SELF BLIND SELF

3 4
HIDDEN SELF UNKNOWN SELF
 JOHARI WINDOW

• Johari Window Quadrant 1: Open Area or Arena: This area or pane is called
open area because the information in this pane about the behavior, feelings,
emotions about the person is known to that person itself as well as the other
members in this group.
• Johari Window Quadrant 2: Blindspot or Blind Self: Blindspot is the area in
which the certain information on your personality is known to others but that
information is not known to you. In simple terms, other people may interpret your
personality different than you might have expected. For efficient communication,
this area must be reduced.

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 JOHARI WINDOW

• Johari Window Quadrant 3: Hidden Area or Hidden Self: Hidden area is the
information that you hide from others. Here, the information is known to you but the
others are unknown to this information. The reason for this may be the information
might be personal to you so that you are reluctant to share it with others.
• Johari Window Quadrant 4: Unknown Areas or Unknown Self: In this area, the
information is unknown to you as well as the others. Generally, certain feelings,
talents, information, etc fall in this area. The reason for this might be some traumatic
experience in the past about a particular event or experiences which might be
unknown for your ever.

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IMPROVEMENT UNDERSTANDING

SELF

ACCEPTANCE
Evaluation of Perceived Self
• Careless(-3)--------------------------(3)careful
• Brave (3)----------------------------(-3)coward
• Lazy(-3)------------------------(3)hard working
• Talkative(3)------------------------------(-3)quiet
• Affectionate(3)-------------------------(-3)cold
• Thoughtless(-3)------------------------(3)thoughtful
• Polite(3)---------------------------------(-3)rude
• Unforgiving(-3)--------------------------(3)forgiving
Resultants of Positive Self-talk

Improved self Positive self

confidence talk

Rewarding High
relationships achievement

Positive self
perception
Positive Self-concept
• Improves interpersonal relations
• Improves personal and professional life
• Improves problem-solving
• Reduces hopelessness, guilt, and shame
• Increases assertiveness
• Increases happiness and satisfaction
• Increases feeling of security and honesty
• Less critical about self
• Decreases anxiety, depression, and abuse.
Interpersonal Relations
Effective interpersonal relations depend on
• Communication
• Self-awareness
• Self-acceptance
• Motivation
• Trust
• Self-discloser
• Conflict management
 Questions to Reflect

1. Enumerate various factors that a student should understand about self before taking
a decision regarding career choice.
2. Select a few of your friends and ask them for feedback about you as a person, your
strong qualities, and areas where you need to improve yourself.
3. In which sphere of life do you think you have to improve a lot?
 MCQ

1. In the Johari Window, the information about yourself that you don't know but others do is your
a) Bind Self
b) Unknown Self
c) Hidden Self
d) Open Self

2. When you move information from the hidden self into the open self, you’re
e) Depressed
f) Self-disclosing
g) Empowering
h) Affirming
 References

• Carnegie Dale, Become an Effective Leader, New Delhi: Amaryllis, 2012

• Payal Mehra, Business Communication for Managers, Pearson, Delhi, 2012.
• Harold R. Wallace et. al, Personality Development, Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd; New Delhi, 2006
• Barun K. Mitra, Personality Development & Soft Skills, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2012.
• Mark G. Frank, David Matsumoto, Hyi Sung Hwang, Nonverbal Communication: Science
• and Applications, 2012, 1st Edition, Sage Publications, New York.
• William S. Pfeiffer, Public Speaking, Pearson, Delhi, 2012.
• Human Values, A.N. Tripathi, New Age International Pvt. Ltd. Publishers New Delhi ,2005
• Shiv Khera, You Can Win , Macmillan Books, New York, 2003.
• S. Kumar and PushpLata, Communication Skills, Oxford University Press,1st, Ed. 2011
• Raman M. and S. Sharma, Technical Communication: Principles & Practices, 29th Impression, Oxford University
Press, New Delhi, 2009
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