Why is Self Assertive Behaviour Important?

Human beings are, for the most part, social beings who are in continuous interaction with each other. The adequacy of our social skills (i.e. how successful we are in our interactions with other people) reflect in all the dimensions of our personhood. Social skills include listening skills, empathy, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and assertiveness skills the focus of the course.

Your ability to assert yourself influences all the dimensions of your being. For example, people who experience difficulty in asserting themselves often bottle up their feelings and emotions that may lead to elevated blood pressure. High blood pressure may in turn result in strokes and heart diseases. It is also possible that failure to assert oneself may give rise to feelings of inferiority that in turn results in depression and anxiety.

The ability to assert oneself is also important in the workplace. For instance, people who experience feelings of inferiority together with an inability to self-assert may find themselves over-looked for promotion and therefore experience reduced levels of job satisfaction. When people are not happy in their work, their productivity invariably suffer, giving rise to increased levels of staff turnover.

The spiritual dimension includes important questions such as: “What is the meaning of life?” or “What are my life goals?” People who lack the ability to assert themselves often shy away from these questions and in the process fail to experience self-actualisation. We will elaborate on the term self-actualisation a little later.