A step closer to a better you - Personal Development

A step closer to a better you - Personal Development 

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” – Carl Gustav Jung 

Creating a life plan and setting goals to achieve it, is so important because living a life you love won’t happen by accident. It happens only by living intentionally. For this you need to design a life based on your values, hopes and dreams because only you know what you want from life. This is one of the sanest and apt decisions you can make for yourself. 

What is Personal Development? 

Personal development is a lifelong and powerful process that can enable positive and forever lasting change to how we see ourselves and the world. It includes activities that improve our awareness and help us to identify our purpose, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, improve the quality of life and set goals in order to realize dreams and aspirations. 

Why is personal development important? 

The benefits of personal development are endless. Whenever you are consciously making an effort to improve yourself, you are participating in personal development. The importance of personal growth cannot be understated, as it allows individuals to become the best versions of themselves, giving them the skills and confidence necessary to maximise potential. The key to achieving personal success is to know how to set goals and implement the required skills to reach that level. 

Difference between self-development and personal development 

Personal development doesn’t only refer to improving the personal aspects of our lives. It’s not only limited to self-help but includes formal and informal activities for developing others in various roles, including teachers, guides, counsellors, manager, life coaches and mentors. It also applies to professional development and the steps you can take to further your career and your knowledge to become a more well-rounded, productive employee. Personal development focuses on adding new skills and ways of achieving goals in life, whereas self-development is focussing on improving the things that are already there in your life. 

At the individual level, personal development includes the following activities: 

1. Improving self- awareness

2. Developing strengths or talents

3. Improving wealth

4. Spiritual development

5. Enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life

6. Improving health

7. Fulfilling aspirations

8. Improving social abilities

9. Building or renewing identity/ self esteem

10. Defining and executing personal development plans 

5 areas of personal development 

When it comes to personal development, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes into picture. In his self-actualization theory, Maslow claims that six hierarchical levels lead to achieving the state of ultimate self-actualization According to Maslow, basic needs need to be fulfilled in order to reach full potential. In other words, to reach self-actualization means we are reaching the highest levels of self-awareness, self-confidence, personal growth and self-realization. 

According to Maslow, we have five categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. In this theory, higher needs in the hierarchy begin to emerge when people feel they have sufficiently satisfied the previous need. 

While the fundamental idea of personal development is to help individuals live a more fulfilling life, there are multiple concepts that surround the process. To reach the highest level of self-actualization, Maslow claims that a person needs to be fully aware of his/her feelings and in touch with oneself to live a meaningful life. 

Anyone able to reach the highest level of self-actualization means becoming everything that a person has ever had the potential of becoming. 

What affects personal development? 

Almost anyone you meet these days is seeking ways to improve or become a better person. It is understandable and admirable for people to want to be the best version of themselves. However the challenges of everyday life can be daunting. It’s no surprise that personal growth, like everything in life, has a cost. 

Traumatic experiences and negative comments create toxic mental patterns that condition our behaviour far more than most people know. Our brains were 'wired' during more dangerous times and the fight or flight response is no longer adequate for coping with modern day threats. Deciding what kind of person you wish to be or what goals you want to accomplish takes clarity of mind and willingness to introspect and make the required changes. There are clearly times when external forces can slow us down or throw us off track and to take full responsibility for things which happen to us is a lot to ask for. 

Barriers to self-growth 

1. Fears that have been driving your life.

2. Denial of the fact that you need to change or amend ways.

3. Pride prevents people from being willing to admit they made a mistake and learn from them.

4. Defensiveness closes a person and he becomes a prisoner in his own prison.

5. Not taking responsibility for your actions and blaming your fate or other people.

6. Lack of motivation and self-discipline to make those much needed changes in life.

7. Lack of goals and having a negative attitude towards life. 

The good news is that it is possible to break this vicious circle and to see things for what they really are to bring out all our potential. You only need two things to start out on this path to self-development: 

•A strong desire to get rid of the toxic thought patterns hindering the progress.

•A mastery of the right psychological tools for personal development. 

It’s certainly not as easy as it sounds. Every person is unique therefore personal development will look different for everyone. So as per your needs and aspirations, set a goal and work to achieve it. It could involve developing soft skills, but it also implies that you’ll need to dedicate some quality time to learn new skills and acquire more knowledge. Learning new skills can be time consuming. Being directly involved in the learning process is more likely to speed up the process, but it might not be ideal if you’re doing a job that is not related to developing your new skill. 

Which skill you’ll choose will depend on multiple factors such as time, finances, the prospects of learning, and its duration. Remember, whatever you’ll choose, it shouldn’t cause frustration and annoyance.

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