Dimensions of Personal Empowerment

There are a number of possible areas that you may want to look at to help you develop more personal empowerment.

Self-awareness involves understanding yourself and how you are likely to respond to situations.

This enables you to build on positive qualities and be aware of any negative traits which may reduce your effectiveness. Self-aware people make conscious decisions to enhance their lives whenever possible, learning from past experiences. In particular, you may need to improve your awareness of your strengths, weaknesses and limits.

Empowered people know their strengths and weaknesses and are confident in communicating them to ensure that they get the opportunities they want. They also, however, know their limits and have no problems with asking for help or guidance.

Values are opinions or beliefs that are important to us but of which we are not always aware.

They can be any kind of belief or perceived obligation. The reasons for personal preferences and beliefs may not always be obvious or known, although they often go back to childhood. Self-awareness requires an understanding of your values, and then some critical examination of them to make sure that they are fully valid. It is also important to accept that everyone’s values are different.

An individual’s skills are the main resources that enable them to achieve their goals.

Skills can be gained through experience, practice, education and training. It is only by developing skills that individual values can be translated into action.

Knowledge or information is necessary to develop self-awareness and skills.

Knowing where to find appropriate information is in itself an essential skill. Without information, your choices will be more limited. The internet has provided an easy way for everybody to access huge amounts of information very quickly and easily. However, not all information is available on the internet—for example, the politics within an organization—and not all information on the internet is reliable.

Setting goals is a means by which an individual can take charge of their life.

The process of setting a goal involves thinking about your values and the direction that you would like your life to follow. Setting personal goals gives us a sense of direction in life, which is essential to personal empowerment.

Confidence is one of the greatest motivators or most powerful limitations to anyone trying to change their behavior and become more empowered.

Most people only undertake tasks that they feel capable of doing and it takes great effort to overcome a lack of confidence in your own abilities. Improving your confidence and building your self-esteem can therefore be important ways to improve your personal empowerment.