How to strengthen your autonomy

Autonomy has a considerable influence on our well-being and vitality, so then how could you strengthen your autonomy, here are some ideas.

Accept that you are your own and that your wants and opinions matter

Above all and most importantly, it could be revitalizing to fully acknowledge that you as an individual, your person and your preferences, matter and are valuable.

It is perfectly reasonable that you strive to and want to be autonomous to some relatively high degree.

Autonomy is a good thing.

Seek autonomy in all areas

Pursue autonomy in all areas, in your job, your leisure, relationships. Usually, the more skills and competencies you have in a particular area, the more autonomy you will gain.

The more skilled you are in your specific area, the more you will be able to contribute and the more influence you will have.

The more proficient you are in a specific role, the more others will be comfortable letting you take care of specific projects and responsibilities.

Then seek to develop these competencies and you will be more autonomous.

Be willing to make a change

In order to be autonomous, it could be necessary to make a change and remove yourself from a situation which is not willing to allow for some degree of autonomy.

Remain willing and able to make changes. This involves that you are able to identify what it is that keeps you to your binds and perhaps create a bit of a distance to whatever that is.

Then in order to be able to make necessary changes, perhaps don’t tie yourself too hard to your affections, skills, activities, states, goals possessions or whatever it may be.

What is your bind?

Seek out opportunities

The more options you have, the more autonomous you can be, so try to create some of those opportunities, opportunities that are likely to become viable options in time.

To keep you on track, to keep making progress, you could remember the factors of active search, optimism, knowledge and prior experiences.

These were highlighted in an academic article on how entrepreneurs can act in order to identify opportunities.

In other words, explore and search actively for opportunities, remain optimistic, seek out knowledge, and make full use of the experiences that you have made up until this point.

Advance and develop your skill set

What may be the most important in order to expand your range of viable options is that you advance and develop your skills in different areas.

These skills could be something very general, such as something related to intelligence and problem-solving or people skills, or they could be more specific and apply to a specific area in your life, such as skills that relate to specific opportunities.

The idea is that the more skills you have and the more trades you know, the more options you will have and the more autonomy you will gain.

As an example, if you for some reason happen to be a skilled programmer, a skilled bartender and a psychologist, then you’d have plenty of opportunities to choose from.

You could streamline the interview process at a company, you could work at that new bar downtown, or you could use your programming skills to help that new start-up create the innovative app they’re after.

To recapitulate, since autonomy is important and one should assume responsibility for it:

• Recognize that you matter
• Pursue autonomy in all areas throughout time and space
• Be willing and able to make a change
• Seek out opportunities, and
• Advance and develop your skill set

Further readings:

• Breaugh, J.A., 1999. Further investigation of the work autonomy scales: Two studies. Journal of Business and Psychology. (about autonomy in the workplace)
• Reis, H.T., Sheldon, K.M., Gable, S.L., Roscoe, J. and Ryan, R.M., 2000. Daily well-being: The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Personality and social psychology bulletin. (about the effect of autonomy on well-being in general)
• Patrick, H., Knee, C.R., Canevello, A. and Lonsbary, C., 2007. The role of need fulfillment in relationship functioning and well-being: a self-determination theory perspective. Journal of personality and social psychology. (about autonomy in relationships)