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Intrapersonal Intelligence & Intrapersonal skills got special attention after the theory of Multiple Intelligence by Howard Gardner. In this guide, we are going to discuss how we can use an increase in one type of intelligence specifically: Intrapersonal Intelligence.
Furthermore, we will also be sharing the list of intrapersonal skills & how we can develop intrapersonal skills so that we can be more effective in our lives.
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Developing Intrapersonal Intelligence & Intrapersonal Skills in 2019
Intrapersonal Skills can be defined as the skills to deal effectively with one’s own self. Interpersonal skills, on the other hand, are what enable us to deal with other people.
In this complete guide on the intrapersonal skills, we have covered everything from the definition of intrapersonal skills to tips on how to develop intrapersonal skills and the list of most important and valuable intrapersonal skills to possess.
What Is Intrapersonal Intelligence?
Intrapersonal Intelligence is one of the types of intelligence which allows a person to deal with his or her own self. It enables him or her to form the perception of self and to organize it in order to effectively deal with the challenges of life.
Some are more and some are less, but everyone is endowed with Intrapersonal Intelligence. It is a matter of polishing this intelligence by acquiring Intrapersonal Skills such as:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Confidence
- Emotional Awareness
- Self-assessment
- Self-Control
Sharpening the ability to effectively deal with feelings and emotions, learning about one’s own patterns of feelings, and regulating one’s own emotions under extreme circumstances are all great ways of developing Intrapersonal intelligence.
How to develop Intrapersonal Intelligence?
Here a few practical tips on developing Intrapersonal Intelligence:
- Keep a Journal – Writing your thoughts down on a paper helps to deal with them.
- Mentally Respond to Different Situations – It will help to deal with them in real life.
- Identify Your Triggers – Observe & Identify what things cause you to do certain things.
- Practice Meditation – Pick anything which you are comfortable with.
- Breath Effectively – Breathing the right way will help you do a lot in life.
How to Improve Intrapersonal Skills – The Ultimate Guide 2019
- If we are to deal with life in an effective manner, then it is imperative to improve our intrapersonal skills as we grow up and come across difficult emotions & situations of life.
Here are some of the best ways to improve intrapersonal skills:
1.Know Thyself:
Intrapersonal skills allow us to deal with our selves. We need to know our ‘self’ first before being able to deal with it. Therefore, investing time and effort in knowing oneself is one of the best things you can to do improve your intrapersonal skills.
Self-Awareness or knowing yourself can be done through various activities like you can complete a SWOT analysis and take it from there or you can meditate on your habits one by one and try to learn about them.
Learn about your biggest fears, your motivations, and your values in life. Ask yourself questions like:
- What Makes You Happy?
- What Makes You Sad?
- What Inspires You?
- What destroys You?
2. Positive Perspective On Life:
Having a positive perspective on life doesn’t mean that you ignore the reality and the harsh facts of life. It just means that you learn to change the things you can and accept the things you can’t.
Having a positive outlook on life will not make you feel lonely, stressed out, or incapable. Therefore, it strengthens your intrapersonal skills greatly, allowing you to move on with life in all situations.
There are benefits of a positive mindset in the interpersonal realm of life as well.
People like to interact and socialize with the people who are positive and upbeat. People love the positive vibes coming from people as they want to fill their lives with positivity as well.
3. Master Your Emotions:
Whether at work or in personal life, uncontrolled emotions will always harm. One of the most important intrapersonal skill is to master your emotions.
We are not advocating stoicism or being indifferent to life situations. Emotions have a really powerful and important role in our lives. But if we let our emotions control and dominate us then we are asking for trouble for sure.
4.Listen to Yourself:
If you have been ignoring your intuition till now, then you have to stop immediately. Intuition is one of the most powerful yet mysterious human sense and we need to utilize it as much as we can.
We have an inner compass that communicates with us. We need to listen to what it is saying.
So, to be effective with yourself, to sharpen your intrapersonal skills, you need to develop a strong bond with your intuition. Start trusting your intuition on small things and matters in life, then take this trust to the next level and utilize in the important decisions of your life as well.
5. Self-Confidence:
In today’s world, Self-Confidence means having trust and confidence in one’s abilities, thoughts, and decisions. Self-confidence is one of the most important intrapersonal skills to possess in the 21st century.
In today’s world, no one is going to trust you if you do not trust and have confidence in your self. No one likes to stand beneath a shaky wall and therefore you have to have self-confidence if you truly want to succeed.
6. assertiveness:
After having self-confidence, you need to assert it as well. This is the space where intrapersonal skills & interpersonal skills overlap with each other.
Various studies have proven the importance of assertiveness in today’s world, particularly in the corporate environment. So, you should learn how to be assertive in your life so that you can
7. Empathy:
Empathy is the ability to see and feel from someone’s else perspective. Practicing empathy allows you to develop your intrapersonal skills by being in another person’s shoes. This helps you recognize the blind spots a person can be experiencing, thus making you more capable of recognizing your blind spots.
8. Adaptability:
Being able to adapt one’s self in various situations requires a lot of intrapersonal intelligence. Many a time, we have observed that flexible and adaptable people have gone ahead in their professional and personal lives as compared to the rigid people.
Having adaptability means setting aside your personal preferences and likes for a moment to deliver what the situation is calling for. This intrapersonal skill makes it possible for a person to deliver what is required of him, thus succeeding in personal and professional life.
9. Self-Discipline:
Discipline is the ability to do what needs to be done despite all the lack of motivation and personal preferences. It says that you don’t have to like a thing to do it, you just have to do it.
According to the studies, self-discipline is among the most important intrapersonal skills one has to possess and regularly sharpen.
Therefore, if you want to deal with yourself effectively, then you need to learn the art of self-discipline.
10. Self-Motivation:
Talking about self-discipline without talking about self-motivation will be unjust to the topic of intrapersonal skills.
Motivating oneself to work and do what is required and called by the situation can guarantee your success in life. Self-motivation is the key to success which you have to carry everywhere. Self-motivation allows you to thrive on your own, even in the face of criticism from other people in your life.
11. Self-Regulation:
Self-Regulation is another important intrapersonal skill which can be developed using intrapersonal intelligence. Self-Regulations means the ability to regulate one’s own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. It allows the person to do what is required of him.
Self-Regulation makes the person reliable in society and develops inner integrity. It allows one to innovate where required and adapt according to the challenges of life.
12. Commitment:
Commitment means delivering what you have promised. In this space of Intrapersonal skills, it means to deliver what you promised yourself. Commitment means to persist despite all odds, being there when no one else remains and going through the thick and thin of things.
Intrapersonal Skills at the Workplace
The workplace is where we spend most of our time. Some people believe the workplace is the place to practice and apply interpersonal skills instead of intrapersonal skills.
But if you are not okay and connected with your self, how can you connect well and work with other people at the workplace?
Therefore, learning about the importance of intrapersonal skills at the workplace and practicing intrapersonal skills in offices is one of the best things you can do to maximize effectiveness in your life.
Among the intrapersonal skills listed above, these two are the most important intrapersonal skills in the context of the workplace:
1. Self-Development:
Self-Development is the ability to work without external instructions. You can term it as self-management as well as it requires managing oneself according to one’s job description. Autonomously.
If you are the kind of person who can effectively work in remote teams, then you are good at self-management.
Another aspect of self-management and self-development is learning and acquiring the latest information and skills related to your profession, which means you are continually adding value to yourself.
2. Adaptability/Flexibility:
As mentioned above in the list of intrapersonal skills, adaptability is the ability to do what the situation requires without losing one’s control.
This is the ability to cope and deal with the ever-changing work landscape and environment. Workplaces are dynamic in the 21st century and require adaptability as intrapersonal skills in all employees. If you can deal with uncertain and new conditions without getting hyper-tensed, then you are welcome in the modern workplace.
However, if you cannot deal with a fast-paced, dynamic environment, then you have to develop this intrapersonal skill to succeed in the workplace and life as well.
Intrapersonal Awareness – What is it & How to Develop it?
In simple terms, intrapersonal awareness means self-awareness. Studies suggest that people who are more self-aware and possess interpersonal awareness are more likely to be happy in their life than people who are oblivious to their selves.
Intrapersonal Awareness requires you to assess yourself and to learn about your deeper values. It enables you to first discover your true motivations in life and then mold them according to your values and eternal life principles.
Intrapersonal awareness or self-awareness allows you to know what is disturbing you and how you can deal with it. It also enables you to learn the patterns of your behavior and see how you can improve it to better improve your effectiveness.
In short, developing intrapersonal awareness will help you not only in a professional setting but in personal life as well.
Intrapersonal Communication – Benefits of Intrapersonal Communication
Intrapersonal Communication refers to talking with one’s self. It is also termed as ‘self-talk’, the questions and comments you make to yourself in your mind.
Intrapersonal communication or self-talk is happening between our ears all the time. We have to learn how to effectively use this self-talk to achieve the desired results in our life. Self-talk, talking to yourself in your mind, has been listed among the top influences in our lives.
Athletes, trainers & professionals use intrapersonal communication to prep-up themselves before major performances and challenges in life.
5 Benefits of Intrapersonal Communication:
- Self-Awareness – It increases your awareness about your self, beliefs, values & worldview.
- Self-Confidence – It increases your confidence in yourself if used positively.
- Self-Management – As you are more aware of yourself, you are better able to manage it as well.
- Inner Peace – Intrapersonal Communication allows you to develop Inner Peace in your life.
- Better Relationships – When you communicate with yourself right, you communicate right with others as well.
Intrapersonal Communication or self-talk can be negative as well. Such self-talks, where we tell ourselves again and again that we are inadequate, results in disasters in our lives. It destroys our self-confidence, which destroys our ability to deal with life challenges.
5 Tips for Effective Intrapersonal Communication Skills:
- Monitor Your Self-Talk Regularly
- Recognize Negative Thoughts in Your Mind
- Substitute Positive Thoughts & Patterns in place of the Negative Ones
- Check Your Self-Concepts – How do You Perceive Yourself?
- Never Give-Up – Breaking Negative Patterns of Intrapersonal Communication is Hard. Keep at it.
Intrapersonal Activities – How to Develop Intrapersonal Intelligence & Skills
Getting your hands dirty for learning any skill is the most effective way of acquiring it. Fortunately, intrapersonal activities will not require you to get your hands dirty, literally.
In this section, we are going to share the best and most effective intrapersonal activities which you can adopt for yourself as well for a group you are leading.
Top 5 Intrapersonal Activities:
These Top 5 Intrapersonal Activities are meant to help you in developing your intrapersonal skills.
- Meditation
- Journaling
- Writing Autobiography (even if you are not famous – write for yourself)
- Rewrite a Story from Your Perspective
- Brain Dump – Write down all your thoughts (everything occupying your mind) on a paper.
The Ultimate List of Intrapersonal Skills – 2019
We have listed a lot of intrapersonal skills throughout this guide. But this list of intrapersonal skills includes almost all of the important intrapersonal skills which you want to acquire throughout your life.
- Knowing Yourself (Drives, Motivations, Frustrations, Inspirations, Urges)
- Mastering & Controlling Emotions (Lust, Anger, Jealousy, etc.)
- Knowing Your Limitations & Strengths
- Self-Confidence
- Self-Motivation
- Self-Management
- Initiative
- Taking Calculated Risks
- Personal Responsibility
- Being Calm in Stressful Conditions
- Persistency
- Commitment
- Resilience
- Grit
- Forgiving Other People
- Forgetting Negative & Hurtful Experiences
- Mastering the Attention
- Listening Intently
- Mindfulness
- Setting Priorities in Life
- Problem Solving
- Strong Memory
- Adaptability
- Learning
- Creativity & Spontaneity
- Decision Making
- Self-Reflection
- Introspection
- Intuition
- Values & Morals
So, these 30 Intrapersonal Skills will truly make you the one of a kind person in your surroundings. While acquiring all of these skills might not be possible for everyone, but this list provides us a map (sort of) to evaluate and our standing in the realm of intrapersonal intelligence.
FAQs on Intrapersonal Skills & Intelligence:
What are intrapersonal skills?
Intrapersonal skills include attributes such as planfulness, self-discipline, delay of gratification, the ability to deal with and overcome distractions.
What is meant by intrapersonal skills?
The intrapersonal skills are those skills & communication that take place in someone’s mind. It is a state of personal inner dialogue.
What is intrapersonal intelligent?
Intrapersonal intelligence refers to communication & understanding with your innermost feelings & thoughts. Such people are highly motivated and confident to exhibit their abilities.
How do you develop intrapersonal skills?
There are the following tips to improve your intrapersonal skills. Control your emotions by cultivating a positive outlook. Find a trait in every person, acknowledged others’ expertise and more.
Conclusion:
In this guide on Intrapersonal Intelligence and Intrapersonal Skills, we have covered almost everything. Starting from the definition to the ultimate list of intrapersonal skills, we have covered the ways of improving the skills, the difference between intrapersonal & interpersonal skills, and different activities that you can use to develop and polish such skills.
If you would like to see another section in this guide or would like to add your thoughts, then do share in the comments section below.
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