Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive. In the field of psychology and psychotherapy, it is a learnable skill and mode of communication. Assertiveness implies acting in a confident manner. It is important for a person to be assertive, so that he or she may express his thoughts and feelings effectively. Increasing your assertiveness can help you both personally and professionally. This article focuses the importance of being assertive.
Before we go any further, it is important to understand the difference between a person who is assertive and the one who is not. An assertive person has
the ability to express his feelings, opinions, beliefs and needs directly and honestly while this ability enables him to be respectful towards the feelings of others, whereas a person who is non-assertive adopts a passive-aggressive behavior which is the indirect expression of hostility through procrastination, stubbornness, sullenness or deliberate or repeated failure to accomplish the requested tasks for which he or she is responsible or is assigned.It must be noted that when people are not assertive, they can suffer a lot of problems, such as, they lose their confidence level. And indeed, having confidence to a satisfactory level is important in almost all the aspects of life to accomplish the objectives which you want. There is no doubt about the fact that once the level of confidence decreases, it affects self-esteem and leads to create many behavioral and emotional disorders. Hence, it is important for a person to be assertive. Assertiveness means being confident in stating a position or claim or personal rights and expressing thoughts in a way as needed. It's also about saying what you see, what you want and how you feel.
The importance of being assertive can be understood due to the fact it helps you improve your confidence level and self-esteem. Self-esteem is the confidence in your own worth or abilities. In sociology and psychology, self-esteem reflects a person's overall emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. It is a judgment
of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self. If a person has a high self-esteem, he will never be motivated to decrease the self-esteem of others, because he thinks that as he values himself, others should also be valued in the same way. He would of course want to be polite and respectful to others always. Another important reason why you need to improve your assertiveness and behave assertively is that it helps you understand and recognize your feelings, so that you can express and get your point across to others effectively. So, being assertive can help boost your self-esteem and earn others' respect.Behaving assertively can help a lot in your profession. There are times when you are supposed to handle the situations being assertive. If you have acquired this skill, you can handle the situations in an appropriate manner. Being assertive is a core communication skill which is learnable like any other skills are. Being assertive means that you are capable of expressing yourself effectively and stand up for your point of view to get accepted while without being aggressive and respecting the feelings of others.
Written by:
K. A. Fareed (Fareed Siddiqui)
Writer, Trainer, Author, Blogger, Software Developer
BBA, MBA-Finance, MPhil-Financial Management, (PhD-Management)
MA-English, MPhil-English
Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications and Programming
Level 1 - Leadership and Management ILM – UK
Pursuing CMA-USA
Individual Member of Institute of Management Consultants of India
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