What is personal development?
Personal development focuses on holistic self-improvement which can help you excel in all aspects of your life. It involves focusing on skills which develop aspects such as your character, your potential, your ability to achieve success and much more.
Why does personal development matter?
It matters because you matter.
There is no dispute over the fact that our careers take up a substantial portion of our daily time. Coupled with personal and familial responsibilities, we often overlook ourselves and fail to invest in our individual growth. Doing this can prove to be detrimental since we lose the opportunity to focus on ourselves and develop ourselves in order to reach our full potential.
The ultimate goal is to master your skills, in various life contexts in order to create a path to become an improved version of yourself. To find fulfilment it is essential for us to actively take concrete steps to enhance our skills, our knowledge and foster continuous self-improvement. By investing in ourselves, we open the door to positive change on an emotional, intellectual, physical, social, spiritual level, as well as various other dimensions of our lives.
Remember, the journey towards excellence encompasses all aspects of our being.
5 Practical Tips
Let’s take a look at 5 practical ways in which you can invest in your personal development in order for you to cultivate an upgraded version of yourself.
- Embracing self- awareness
- Cultivating a positive mindset
- Setting and achieving goals
- Acquiring new skills
- Invest in continuous growth
1. Embracing self-awareness
Any type of improvement begins with oneself. It should therefore come as no surprise that self-awareness is the first thing we’re going to address. By becoming more self aware you can focus on areas of weakness and consider specific areas of your life which require further development. Let’s take a look at how you can become more self-aware.
i. Identify your strengths and your weaknesses
If you can objectively hone in on your strengths and weaknesses this will help you to understand where you already excel and where improvement is needed. Being able to see the two, side by side, makes it easier for you to set realistic and meaningful personal development goals.
ii. Clarify your values and your priorities
Do not underestimate the power of knowing your values, beliefs and priorities.
If your values, beliefs and priorities are important to you from a business standpoint i.e. centered around making money and business growth strategies, then you should also have an insight into why these will be equally important on an individual level.
Once you know your personal values, beliefs and priorities, these will provide you with a roadmap for personal development. It will allow you to align your goals and actions with what truly matters to you, fostering a sense of purpose and direction.
iii. Recognise patterns and habits
Firstly, think about any patterns or habits which stop you from progressing. Then actively work on changing these patterns and habits. Don’t forget to think about positive patterns too, since there is always work that can be done to reinforce existing positive patterns.
In essence, self-awareness serves as a springboard for personal development by providing a solid foundation upon which you can build your aspirations, set meaningful goals, and make intentional choices that align with your authentic self.
2. Cultivating a positive mindset in order to invest in your personal development
Cultivating a positive mindset is essential for effective self-development. It does tie in with being more self-aware, but there are distinct actions you can take in order to cultivate a positive mindset:
i. Practice gratitude
Practising gratitude involves acknowledging and appreciating positive aspects of your life. By doing this regularly you can shift the focus towards the good and foster a positive outlook as a result.
One example of how you can do this is by keeping a daily gratitude journal and writing three things you are thankful for. Overtime this trains your mind to notice and appreciate positive elements of your day, contributing to a more optimistic and constructive mindset conducive to personal growth.
ii. Focus on Solutions
Occasionally, we’re all guilty of overthinking and diving deep into the depths of despair when we are faced with a problem, and we all know from having done this that this achieves nothing. Therefore when faced with a challenge we should concentrate on finding solutions rather than dwelling on the problem in a negative way.
A way in which you can do this is by identifying the issue, analysing it and focusing on the aspects that are in your control. This shifts your mindset to focusing on the root causes, from which you can brainstorm solutions. Once you have done this you can then evaluate your possible solutions to establish the most effective outcomes and take action accordingly.
iii. Take care of your physical health
The older I get, the more I realise the importance of taking care of your physical health. Let’s face it, you can have the biggest dreams, goals and desires, but none of them will come to fruition if your health is a stumbling block.
Make sure you take the time to do regular exercise, eat a balanced diet and get adequate sleep to help contribute to a positive mindset. You’d just have to ask a mother of a newborn baby, how detrimental sleep deprivation can be, and how happy she is when she manages to get a few extra hours in. Moral of the story, take care of yourself!
3. Setting and achieving goals to master your personal development
Once you have mastered your mindset, and you have become more self-aware, the next step is to to start setting goals and working towards achieving them. You need a personal development plan.
Goal setting will help provide you with direction, motivation, and a framework for growth.
Decide what your personal development goals are. Do you want to improve your fitness? Do you want to become a better communicator? Do you want to learn how to cook? Whatever your goal, establish clear objectives so that you can measure your progress, build confidence and foster a sense of purpose.
I will stress that setting ‘realistic goals’ is crucial. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself with unrealistic goals, which become impossible to achieve.
Example on setting realistic goals to aid personal development
Let’s say you’re someone who wants to enhance your public speaking skills. Your goal could be to ‘learn to speak confidently in front of an audience.’
You would then need be specific about how exactly you will do this i.e. ‘Speak in front of a small audience at a local school within 3 months.’
Doing this helps you identify exactly what your goal involves. In this instance there are 3 elements required to achieve your goal which are 1. speaking in front of a small audience; 2. at a local school, and 3. within 3 months’ time.
Breaking your goal down in this way allows you to focus on each of these aspects in turn. It also allows you to be more specific with how you will achieve each element of your overall goal. So let’s take a look at how we would set an action for each step:
1. Speaking in front of a small audience.
You could start by researching effective public speaking techniques. Once you have done your research you can move on to writing your speech and practising it. You can practise by yourself in front of a mirror, or by recording yourself, or you can practise in front of your family members and/or friends. This will help you to develop your speaking skills and it will build your confidence in speaking to an audience.
2. At a local school
In order to speak at a local school, you will need to contact local schools and make arrangements to attend an event at which you can speak. You could do this by getting in touch with local schools, sharing your desire for public speaking and by giving them a brief summary of how the school could benefit from your talk.
If this fails, you can get in touch with volunteer groups, and charities and see if you can speak at an upcoming event in your local area.
Remember to make room for adjustments. In this instance your goal is to learn how to speak confidently in front of an audience. It is the skill of public speaking with confidence which takes priority over the actual audience. Therefore you have a degree of flexibility over choosing your audience.
3. Within 3 months time
For this step you would aim to set a date for yourself by which you think you will have had sufficient practice of public speaking in your own environment. You can then see if you can actualise a date with the school in question, within the allocated time frame of 3 months.
And that is it! See how a generalised goal can be broken down into actionable steps, which in turn makes it more achievable? You can do this with any of your personal goals. Just remember to be specific, set yourself a deadline, and take actionable steps to achieve your goal.
As each task is accomplished, you will feel a sense of achievement which will contribute to an increased self-assurance and proficiency of your chosen skill.
Repeatedly setting goals and achieving them will become a catalyst for your personal development. You will soon begin to see a tangible skill improvement and overall self -growth.
4. Acquiring new skills in order to master personal development
Personal development and skill enhancement go hand in hand. Whilst acquiring new skills is something we heavily focus on in a professional setting, doing so only allows us to excel within a specific context/profession and that is not what we are trying to achieve here, since we already know we can do that.
What we want instead is to sharpen our personal skills alongside our existing professional skillset such as communication skills, patience, resilience etc. There is no doubt that these skills will positively impact our professional growth, but our focus here is to do it for ourselves. The truth of the matter is that only life itself can teach us these skills in a unique way since life is a non-controlled environment unlike work places.
Let’s dive into a couple of ways in which you can acquire new skills to master your personal development.
i. Identify and pursue passion projects
Take a moment to identify personal interests beyond your current professional role. Discover new hobbies or passion projects if you haven’t already. There is nothing like a hobby to take you on a road of self discovery and improvement. Try things like writing, getting involved in a sport or even knitting! There’s always a community on social media that you can follow, or you can join your local groups. If it’s a knitting club, you may be the youngest there (as a friend of mine was), but there’s nothing better than to learn from those who are well rehearsed in a skill!
ii. Take an online course
In this age, there are a vast number of course you can enrol onto if you want to learn a skill. Platforms such as udemy, and skillshare are examples of platforms offering a range of course.
An online course has the benefit of allowing you to learn at your own pace from the comfort of your home.
iii. Volunteer
This is a personal favourite. Growing up I got involved in lots of volunteer programmes ranging from my local youth club, to human rights charities and deployments abroad. It’s a great way to test your existing skills and develop them. It also gives you an opportunity to reflect on the blessings you have in your life and your ability to help those in need.
It is a sure way to develop new skills such as event planning, social media management, fundraising, public speaking and the list goes on.
Dedicating consistent time to engage in these projects—whether it’s an existing hobby, volunteer work, or acquiring a new skill—will greatly enrich your overall well-being. Acquiring new skills can be enjoyable and personally fulfilling, and if often opens up new opportunities for growth and development.
The overall idea is to promote personal growth outside the workplace, providing you with a chance to explore diverse opportunities and acquire new skills. Not only will this offer interesting topics for conversations at work and in social settings, but it will also keep you engaged in activities beyond your professional duties. Who knows, it might even infuse your life with a fresh sense of purpose and creativity, potentially paving the way for new professional directions.
5. Invest in continuous learning in order to master your personal development
A key player in personal development is continuous learning! It is difficult to grow, if you do not invest in yourself or your learning.
Take tech for example – it has changed immensely over the years. What I learnt in my IT lessons at school, is practically redundant. The fast paced nature of tech is hard to keep up with and so it’s so easy to feel as though you’re not progressing how you would like. However if you make a pact with yourself to invest in continuous learning things don’t have to be this way. You can instead be just like the new generation IT, coding wizzkids and know all the ways to create your media empire.
However, if you’re not as ambitious as this just yet, you can start elsewhere. Whatever it is you want to do, invest in it. Invest in learning for the sake of learning. You deserve to learn about things that interest you.
For instance, if you have a passion for spoken word poetry, participating in an open mic night not only allows you to enjoy your hobby but also translates into valuable experience in public speaking. This experience showcases your ability to articulate ideas, engage with friends and colleagues and clients, and present confidently in diverse settings. The key is to invest in your growth while enjoying the process!
Conclusion
In conclusion, focusing on your personal development can remove a number of problem areas from your life and it can help you to nurture a landscape where you can experience profound personal satisfaction, by unlocking continuous growth, purposeful living, and enhanced well-being.
The key is to cultivate a mindset of lifelong learning by staying curious and open to acquiring new skills throughout your journey. It’s an asset well worth investing in.
Remember to be mindful of your reasons for pursuing your personal growth journey. Don’t fall into the trap of engaging in activities solely for the sake of appearing busy or accomplished, without genuine interest or fulfilment. Taking up hobbies or self-improvement initiatives without a personal connection or passion, only so you can meet societal expectations or to fill time rather than gaining satisfaction or meaning, will not help you to achieve a positive outcome. Instead this could lead to persistent restlessness and dissatisfaction. So keep track of your ‘why’ behind your personal development goals.
I hope this helps you to identify areas of self growth, and allows you to start taking action towards a mindset which brings you a life characterised by ongoing growth, purpose, and balance.