Self_Analysis

Rebecca Jimenez Comm 135, Mon/Wed 8:00 am Final Self Analysis Paper December 6, 2010 Who am I' Communication skills are vital for everyday life . Being able to communicate effectively is essential to ones being. You are communicating everyday with all different types of people, people you know, people you work with, and not having that skill will only cause issues for a person. Everyone needs to have an effective way in communicating with others in order to succeed in life. In this paper I am going to discuss both my communication strengths and my weaknesses and what I have learned over the past couple months being in a communication class. I believe one of my personal strengths in communication is that I can just talk to just about anyone. I enjoy talking with people. I not only can talk well with others but I am also a good listener. I think I have learned to communicate well with others because I am a very outgoing person, although I do still believe I communicate better on a one on one basis versus a large group. I believe a lot of the exercises and role playing we have done over the past semester has helped me tremendously break away from being so shy when it comes to speaking aloud. In the past I have tried to avoid those situations as much as possible, where now I find myself more at ease when presented with those type of situations now. Before I would get very nervous and most of the time my mind would go blank and I would just try and smile it off. My face used to get flush and I would even get anxiety. I would think people are staring at me rather than what I am actually talking about. I really feel that I have almost overcome this weakness all in part of actually having to act out situations or debates with my fellow peers. I also used to say I have a weakness in the fact that I may be too honest with my answers or my opinion on something and most of the time don't think about what I am saying before I say it. For the most, part I am a very logical thinker and usually try to think before I open up my mouth. Sometimes, I would tend to think I am right a lot of the time which is probably one of the worst flaws to have. Again, with the knowledge I have gained over these past few months it has helped me to think otherwise. I actually find myself wanting to call people out on their communication errors, not aloud all the time but sometimes just thinking about it in my head. I feel I can say now I know what is right and what is wrong 100% when dealing with how to speak to people and how to handle certain situations. I found myself saying before, with time that will fade, but who would have thought it would have only taken a few months. That had been one of my major downfalls over the years but I definitely can say I have gotten better. I used to get myself in trouble running off at the mouth to anybody and everyone not caring about what I was saying, where now I see I can avoid those sticky situations by simply reacting in the correct manner. You accomplish a lot more when you handle bad situations the appropriate way. I now have no problems admitting when I am wrong and usually do now with ease. Another weakness of mine was in my non verbal communication skills. I never realized how serious non verbal communication skills were until coming into this class. Sometimes my body language would give a different answer than what I would have said or what I was thinking. I didn't really know how bad of a habit this was. I now know something as simple as me crossing my arms or slouching over in class is rude and gives off the impression “I don't care,” where now I try to avoid those type of things. I now know my body language should not portray a different communication than what I am trying to intend. With the non verbal communication I have tried to give more eye contact when speaking with people and I also have picked up on nodding my head to show interest in a conversation. In this area I just try to focus more on what I can do well, as opposed to what my downfalls are. Another weakness I had before was that I can be a very argumentative person and that I tended to always think I was right. I would say that this had to have been the worst characteristic of my personality. I used to feel like I had no control over this, where now I feel like I have full control over myself. I used to not be able to walk away from situations which led me to more intense arguments. I have always been a strong headed person, which is okay, but now I know how to maintain myself when presented with an issue. I used to refuse to budge whenever an issue involved something I believe to be a matter of principle, where now I am able to let things go and I realized everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone isn't going to see eye to eye. I continue to manage this by giving myself the 3 second rule; I wait 3 seconds before responding to something to avoid confrontations. Shyness was another one of my weaknesses that I'm still learning to work on. I have always been a very outgoing person and everyone who knows me knows that. The exercises over the semester have helped me a lot to overcome my shyness but I'm still not quite all the way there. I feel like my shyness almost sets me back from a lot of things. I have learned to accept it and just try and manage with it. I have learned that shyness is a trait that doesn't go away. If you were born shy you will always be shy. I have just began utilizing what I have learned over these past few months being in a communication class to help better myself and help myself be able to manage it better. Like I have said before I can talk to just about anyone but to actually initiate a conversation is another thing. I have learned to deal with my shyness and take it as it comes. I have to reassure myself that it's possible other people feel the same way I do and that puts me at ease. Overall, I believe my few strengths and my weaknesses is what makes me me. I have enjoyed being in this communication class and I feel I have learned information that is useful for a lifetime. Its not stuff that I will forget. I feel I have grown tremendously as a person and have learned a ton of useful information that will better myself as a person. I love who I am as a person and what I have become. My overall communication skills have changed for the better. I'm not saying I'm a perfect person now, I still have a lot to learn and a lot to improve on before I become completely successful in the communication world. I do look forward to learning new techniques to better my communication skills. I will always keep telling myself that great communication skills is the key to success in one's life.