Personality Development & Motivation Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards based on the 'Personality Development & Motivation' lecture notes, covering 15 categories including Growth Mindset, Emotional Intelligence, and Decision Making.

Confidence

Quiet trust in your ability to handle things.

Arrogance

A loud need to prove superiority over others.

Imposter syndrome

The persistent feeling that your success is undeserved or that you'll be exposed as a fraud, despite evidence of your competence.

Confidence-competence loop

Small competence builds confidence, which fuels more action, which builds more competence — a cycle that compounds over time.

Growth mindset

The belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, strategy, and learning rather than being fixed traits.

Fixed mindset

A mindset where challenges feel threatening because failure is seen as proof of a permanent limitation rather than a step in learning.

Neuroplasticity

The physical process by which the brain forms new connections through practice and learning, proving abilities can expand with effort.

Emotional Intelligence components

Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Affect labeling

Naming an emotion to activate the thinking part of the brain and reduce the intensity of the emotional reaction.

Empathy

Understanding and sharing another person's feelings from their perspective.

Sympathy

Feeling concern for another person from your own perspective.

Emotional regulation

The ability to influence which emotions you have, when you have them, and how you express them.

Active listening

Fully concentrating on, understanding, and responding to a speaker rather than passively hearing or planning your reply.

7-38-55 rule

A theory suggesting that in emotional conversations, meaning is conveyed roughly 7% through words, 38% through tone, and 55% through body language.

Assertive communication

Expressing your needs and opinions clearly and respectfully, without being passive or aggressive.

SMART

An acronym for goal setting representing Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

System

The daily process that reliably produces a desired outcome over time, as opposed to the goal itself.

Outcome goal

A goal that focuses on the final result.

Process goal

A goal that focuses on the actions that lead to a result, which you can control daily.

Habit loop

A cycle of cue, routine, and reward that the brain uses to automate repeated behaviors.

Habit stacking

Attaching a new habit to an existing one, using the established habit as a natural trigger for the new behavior.

Keystone habit

A single habit that triggers positive changes across multiple areas of life.

Temptation bundling

Pairing something you need to do with something you enjoy to make the habit more appealing.

Servant leadership

A leadership style focused on serving the growth and well-being of the team first, which in turn drives performance.

Psychological safety

An environment where people feel safe to speak up, take risks, or admit mistakes without fear of punishment, driving innovation.

Resilience

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and adapt well in the face of adversity.

Post-traumatic growth

Positive psychological change that can occur as a result of struggling through highly challenging life circumstances.

Failure resume

A tool that normalizes setbacks by tracking what was learned from each one, shifting the story from shame to growth.

Grit

Sustained passion and perseverance toward long-term goals, helping one keep going despite repeated setbacks.

Eisenhower Matrix

A tool for prioritizing tasks by sorting them into urgent/important, important/not urgent, urgent/not important, and neither.

Pareto Principle

The idea that roughly 80% of results often come from just 20% of your efforts.

Parkinson's Law

The idea that work expands to fill the time available for it.

Eat the frog

A technique of doing your most difficult or dreaded task first thing in the day so it doesn't loom over the rest of your time.

Cognitive reframing

Changing the way you interpret a situation to find a more balanced or constructive perspective.

Learned optimism

A skill developed through practice of interpreting setbacks as temporary and specific rather than permanent and pervasive.

Facial feedback hypothesis

The theory that facial expressions, such as smiling, can send feedback to the brain that mildly influences emotional state.

Negativity bias

The brain's natural tendency to weigh negative experiences more heavily than positive ones.

Self-awareness

The conscious understanding of your own character, feelings, motives, and desires.

Internal self-awareness

Understanding your own values and reactions.

External self-awareness

Understanding how others perceive you.

Values audit

A reflective exercise identifying core values and checking whether daily actions actually align with them.

Johari Window

A model describing what is known or unknown about yourself, both to you and to others, helping map blind spots.

Stress

A response to an external pressure or demand.

Anxiety

A persistent feeling of worry that can occur without a clear immediate cause.

4-7-8 breathing

A technique involving inhaling for four seconds, holding for seven, and exhaling for eight to calm the nervous system.

Catastrophizing

A thinking pattern where you assume the worst possible outcome will happen, intensifying anxiety.

5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique

A method to anchor oneself in the present by naming five things you see, four you feel, three you hear, two you smell, and one you taste.

Worry window

A set, limited time each day to intentionally think through worries so they do not intrude throughout the entire day.

Progressive muscle relaxation

A technique of tensing and then releasing muscle groups in sequence to reduce physical tension.

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation that comes from internal satisfaction or interest.

Extrinsic motivation

Motivation that comes from outside rewards like money or praise.

Self-determination theory

A theory proposing that motivation thrives when three needs are met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

5-second rule

Overcoming lack of motivation by counting down from five and physically moving before the mind can talk you out of action.

Emotional validation

Acknowledging someone's feelings as real and understandable, even if you disagree.

Analysis paralysis

Being so overwhelmed by options or information that you become unable to make a decision at all.

10-10-10 rule

A decision-making strategy asking how you'll feel about a choice in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years.

Sunk cost fallacy

Continuing a course of action because of past investment rather than because it's still the best choice going forward.

Decision matrix

A tool that scores options against weighted criteria to make complex decisions more objective and structured.

Root cause analysis

A method of repeatedly asking 'why' to trace a problem back to its true underlying cause rather than its symptoms.