Abstract: Self-management is a goal-management process during which individual proactively applies cognitive and behavioral strategies to his/her thinking, mood, behavior and the environment. It is vital for individual’s study, living, and life-long development. Based on systematic review of self-management’s concept, theoretical basis, evaluating methods and measurement tools, the study concluded the core characteristics of self-management: emphasis on initiative, goal- oriented, and employment of behavioral and cognitive strategies. Based on the analysis of the shortcomings of existed studies, the author pointed out that the training and evaluation of average people’s self-management ability would be the focus of future research

Key words: self-management, self-efficacy, social cognitive theory