Read the text and answer the following questions
A person P stays stressed all the time. Whenever P is asked how is he doing? his most common response is either showing worry on ‘what am I going to do’, ‘this isn’t happening to me’ or just saying ‘let it be, let us go out for dinner’. His friends and family are really concerned because he is not able to do the activities like he wanted to and even misses out deadlines at workplace very frequently. His friends and family supported him throughout and helped him seek professional help. The therapist helped him in deciding his priorities, and dealing directly with stressful situation. In addition to this, he was also taught strategies to relax through deep breathing and muscle relaxation, and practice creative visualization. After 10 sessions, finally he has learnt how to manage stress better, he is able to complete the task on deadlines, his health and social life has also improved. He has moved out of the city with his wife and his newborn child. This time he is much happier and stress free.
Which life skill has the person P finally learnt?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Time management
Option (1) Avoidance oriented coping strategy — Incorrect. This is not a life skill but a way of coping: denying or minimising the seriousness of the situation and pushing stressful thoughts away. It is what P did before therapy (‘let it be, let us go out for dinner’), not what he learnt.
Option (2) Assertiveness — Incorrect. It is the skill to communicate one’s feelings, needs and thoughts with clarity and confidence, such as saying no to a request. The case says nothing about P learning to speak up.
Option (3) Time management — Correct. Its central principle is to spend time on the things one values or that help reach one’s goals, by learning to plan time and organise life. P used to miss deadlines; the therapist helped him decide his priorities, and in the end he is able to complete the task on deadlines. That is the life skill he has learnt.
Option (4) Emotion focussed coping strategy — Incorrect. In Lazarus and Folkman’s terms it means limiting the emotional upset caused by an event, with little effort to change the event itself. It is a coping response, not a life skill, and P’s gain is in handling the task itself.
NCERT (2025-26): “Life Skills … Assertiveness, time management, rational thinking, improving relationships, self-care, and overcoming unhelpful habits such as perfectionism, procrastination, etc. are some life skills that will help to meet the challenges of life.…” “Assertiveness : … Assertiveness is a behaviour or skill that helps to communicate, clearly and confidently, our feelings, needs, wants, and thoughts.…” “Time Management : … The way you spend your time determines the quality of your life. Learning how to plan time and delegate can help to relieve the pressure. The major way to reduce time stress is to change one’s perception of time. The central principle of time management is to spend your time doing the things that you value, or that help you to achieve your goals. It depends on being realistic about what you know and that you must do it within a certain time period, knowing what you want to do, and organising your life to achieve a balance between the two.…” “Avoidance-oriented Strategy : … This involves denying or minimising the seriousness of the situation;…” “… Emotion-focused strategies call for psychological changes designed primarily to limit the degree of emotional disruption caused by an event, with minimal effort to alter the event itself.…” |