How relevant are self-evaluations for your career?

Good professionals know that evaluations are a great tool for the development of their career. However, as important as receiving third-party feedback is having the ability to self-assess.

A self-assessment is an exercise in reflection that must be done periodically. This analysis is a great way of understanding your performance and also a way to keep your development constant.

At first, it might seem hard, because an impartial look at oneself requires self-knowledge.

In addition, it’s also necessary to have a good deal of understanding so as not to end up being too critical and hindering your motivation.

But when you understand that this is an interesting path that extends the possibilities of growth in both your professional and personal life, it’s easier to make a self-assessment.

After all, it helps you see things that can be improved and everything that presents the potential for development, understanding your strengths and weaknesses as allies.

With practice, it becomes an indispensable habit. So, we’ve prepared a script with 7 precious tips from the beginning to the end so you can learn how to make an excellent self-assessment.

Setting up the environment

Before you develop the self-assessment stages, you need to understand that this is the moment to pay attention to yourself.

It’s important to set aside some time to do it without interruptions.

The place you choose must be comfortable and quiet, creating a calm environment free of interruptions.

Self-assessment is an exercise in introspection and a moment to reflect about yourself.

To do so, it’s essential that you know where you came from and where you’re going, in addition to what options and choices are along this path.

With this in mind, it will be much easier to establish the steps ahead.

1. Establish a periodicity

Planning is an essential element when it comes to making a self-assessment.

Keeping your career plan in mind, you can understand that your career path is built in steps and in which ones you are currently at.

Establishing how often this evaluation will be made is part of this process.

It can take place twice a month, monthly or even within longer or shorter periods of time. It will depend on your established goals and achievements, always considering your ability and pace.

2. List your strengths and weaknesses

At this point, you need to be as honest as you can with yourself.

This isn’t a simple task at first, especially if you’re someone who finds it hard to take a look at yourself and admit your flaws or being too critical and not recognizing your merits.

But fooling yourself won’t get you anywhere.

• What do you do best?
• Which situation do you master in the workplace?
• What is your best feature?
• And what are your hang-ups?
• In which situations are you most uncomfortable?
• What is your greatest difficulty?

When you answer such questions honestly and face your positive and negative aspects, your successes and shortcomings will be clear.

But facing them without being judgment will provide a clearer view of the situation. Since it will also be possible to look at the limitations that need to be worked out and the aspects that have the potential to be explored more favorably.

Strengths and weaknesses must be understood as actual collaborators.

3. Identify how you reflect the listed strengths

Having established your main characteristics, you need to identify how they present themselves.

Think about how your positive points stand out in the workplace, in your professional relationships, and with your co-workers.

In which situations you feel more comfortable, those where your demeanor and work was praised or if your actions were met with enthusiasm.

You can also go a little beyond and think about other skills outside the workplace that may also complement your professional journey.

Try to look at a hobby or any other activity that you master in a different manner, and how this can be manifested professionally.

Also, reflect on your strongest personal aspect. Think about what identifies you, and how this characteristic stands out. Then, you should constantly use it to your advantage, such as professional and personal motivation.

4. Enhance your strengths on a daily basis

By identifying your strengths and in which aspects you stand out, you can use this to improve your performance at work and also enhance this ability in your overall professional life.

Explore the possibilities, finding ways to use your qualities when establishing your goals until the next self-assessment.

Try to establish more concrete and even small actions, which will make your attributes stand out.

Also, focus on your relationships with coworkers and others. What can you offer that will also make a difference in the group as a whole?

You’ll notice that you don’t need to rely on characteristics that aren’t yours when you establish your goals if you are able to use those that you already have to improve your performance and your quality of life at work.

5. Understand your weaknesses

List your weaknesses by considering the main impact they have on your daily activities.

Here, you must include personal or technical aspects, which may be a difficulty in expressing yourself or relationship challenges, which could be, for example, little knowledge about a certain subject.

Think about the situations in which you find yourself in a stalemate that makes you feel insecure or discouraged.

Also, think about an action or behavior that can be understood as being negative and that needs to be improved.

Putting the negative aspects at the forefront does not mean it’s a way of diminishing or discouraging yourself.

Quite the opposite! Only by recognizing the attitudes that hinder good performance can one change them.

No one is perfect and admitting your flaws is the first step in stepping up and improving.

6. Find ways to use your weaknesses to your advantage

You also need to be honest when you propose actions while taking your flaws into consideration.

As with positive aspects, they must be understood as starting points for the goals you wish to accomplish.

There’s no use in promising to stop, once and for all, a bad habit that you’ve had for a long time that won’t be easy to get rid of.

In addition to showing a lack of self-awareness, this can create unnecessary frustration.

Ideally, you should establish small initiatives that will increasingly encourage you to change them completely.

Sometimes, insisting on an action or situation that doesn’t present positive results might be a weakness to be explored.

The energy you put into it can be directed to other issues in a positive manner.

Learn how to measure your criticism, always seeing these points as motivation for change. Only by doing this can difficulties become opportunities.

7. Know where you want to go

Always keep your main goal in mind. What do you intend to achieve in your professional life?

Think about which moment of your trajectory you are now and which ones will be next.

This is the ideal moment for you to identify yourself personally and professionally, aligning your actions and desires.

Make sure that the goals to be achieved within the space of time until the next self-assessment are in agreement with your professional aspirations. They should represent steps to help you grow more and achieve what you want.

You can also establish questions to be answered during the next analysis in order to measure your impressions and performance.

An interesting idea is to organize your ideas and write everything down throughout the process in order to make it quite visible and not allow anything to escape, however simple or obvious something might seem.

Finally, understand everything as a process and always acknowledge your evolution, respecting your own pace.

You might not have completely achieved any item, but observing how much you progressed will help you stay motivated.

Don’t forget that this step goes far beyond establishing goals and deadlines.

This is a self-assessment exercise that will increasingly provide a better understanding of yourself and even go beyond expectations.

Make a self-assessment

A good self-assessment allows you to understand who you are, exploring your own positive or negative traits that are favorable to your growth.

This is a powerful strategy that will help you become the professional you want to be.

Putting professionals in touch with themselves is what makes it so effective. Because, while you get to know yourself in depth, you can make decisions more skillfully and better explore your skills and gifts.

This initiative only brings benefits, producing more secure people who are more secure in the various important areas of their lives, whether professional or personal.

In addition, motivated and confident people end up influencing their surroundings in a positive manner. People tend to feel more encouraged when they notice inspiring attitudes around them, which can transform the workplace into a place of constructiveness and well-being.

If you also believe that quality of life is essential and want to invest more in it to become a good professional, we’ve set aside a post about how to eliminate toxic habits in order to be more successful as a professional. Make sure you read it!