Personal Development Plan for Motivation in 2019 | Brian Tracy
Personal development consists of activities that develop a person's capabilities and potential, build human capital, facilitate employability, and enhance quality of life and the realization of dreams and aspirations.[1][better source needed] Personal development may take place over the course of an individual's entire lifespan and is not limited to one stage of a person's life. It can include official and informal actions for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, coach, or mentor, and it is not restricted to self-help. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems offered to support positive adult development at the individual level in organizations.[2][need quotation to verify]
Contents
1 Overview
2 As an industry
2.1 Business-to-consumer market
2.2 Business-to-business market
3 Origins
3.1 South Asian traditions
3.2 Islamic personal development
3.3 Aristotle and the Western tradition
3.4 Confucius and the East Asian tradition
4 Contexts
4.1 Psychology
4.1.1 Social psychology
4.1.2 Psychodynamic psychology
4.1.3 Cognitive-behavioral psychology
4.1.4 Educational psychology
4.2 Early education
4.3 Higher education
4.4 The workplace
4.5 Criticism
5 See also
6 References
Overview
Main article: Education
Among other things, personal development may include the following activities:
How to Track Your Personal Growth | Brian Tracy
Improving self-awareness
Improving self-knowledge
Improving skills and/or learning new ones
Building or renewing identity/self-esteem
Developing strengths or talents
Improving a career
Identifying or improving potential
Building employability or (alternatively) human capital
Enhancing lifestyle and/or the quality of life and time-management
Improving health
Improving wealth or social status
Fulfilling aspirations
Initiating a life enterprise
Defining and executing personal development plans (PDPs)
Improving social relations or emotional intelligence
Spiritual identity development and recognition
Personal development can also include developing other people's skills and personalities. This can happen through roles such as those of a teacher or mentor, either through a personal competency (such as the alleged skill of certain managers in developing the potential of employees) or through a professional service (such as providing training, assessment, or coaching).
Beyond improving oneself and developing others, "personal development" labels a field of practice and research:
As a field of practice, personal development includes personal-development methods, learning programs, assessment systems, tools, and techniques.
As a field of research, personal-development topics appear in psychology journals, education research, management journals and books, and human-development economics.
Any sort of development—whether economic, political, biological, organizational or personal—requires a framework if one wishes to know whether a change has actually occurred.[3][need quotation to verify] In the case of personal development, an individual often functions as the primary judge of improvement or of regression, but the validation of objective improvement requires assessment using standard criteria.
Personal-development frameworks may include:
Personal Development | Powerful Jim Rohn Motivational Compilation
Goals or benchmarks that define the end-points
Strategies or plans for reaching goals
Measurement and assessment of progress, levels or stages that define milestones along a development path
A feedback system to provide information on changes
As an industry
Personal development as an industry[4] has several business-relationship formats of operating. The main ways are business-to-consumer and business-to-business.[5] However, there have been two new ways emerge: consumer-to-business and consumer-to-consumer.[6] The personal development market had a global market size of 38.28 billion dollars in 2019.[7]
Business-to-consumer market
The business-to-consumer market involves selling books, courses and techniques to individuals, such as:
Newly-invented offerings in fields such as:
Fitness
Memory training
Beauty enhancement
Large-group awareness training
Weight loss
Traditional practices such as:
Yoga
Martial arts
Initiation ceremonies
Meditation
Spirituality
Asceticism
Some programs deliver their content online. Many include tools sold with a program, such as motivational books for self-help, recipes for weight-loss or technical manuals for yoga, and martial-arts programs.
A partial list of personal development offerings on the business-to-individual market might include:
Jim Rohn Personal Development - TIME IS VALUABLE
Books
Motivational speaking
e-Learning programs
Training workshops
Individual counseling
Life coaching
Time-management techniques
Business-to-business market
Some consulting firms such as DDI and FranklinCovey specialize in personal development, but as of 2009 generalist firms operating in the fields of human resources, recruitment and organizational strategy—such as Hewitt, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Hay Group, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Korn/Ferry—have entered what they perceive as a growing market, not to mention smaller firms and self-employed professionals who provide consulting, training and coaching.[non-primary source needed]
Origins
Major religions—such as the age-old Abrahamic and Indian religions—as well as 20th-century New Age philosophies have variously used practices such as prayer, music, dance, singing, chanting, poetry, writing, sports and martial arts. These practices have various functions, such as health or aesthetic satisfaction, but they may[original research?] also link[citation needed] to "final goals" of personal development—such as discovering the meaning of life or living the good life (compare philosophy).
Michel Foucault describes in Care of the Self[8] the techniques of epimelia used in ancient Greece and Rome, which included dieting, exercise, sexual abstinence, contemplation, prayer, and confession—some of which also became practices within different branches of Christianity.
Wushu and T'ai chi ch'uan utilize traditional Chinese techniques, including breathing and energy exercises, meditation, martial arts, as well as practices linked to traditional Chinese medicine, such as dieting, massage, and acupuncture.
Two individual ancient philosophical traditions: those of Aristotle (Western tradition) and Confucius (Eastern tradition) stand out[9] and contribute to the worldwide view of "personal development" in the 21st century. Elsewhere anonymous or named founders of schools of self-development appear endemic—note the traditions of the Indian sub-continent in this regard.[10][11][12][13]
Jim Rohn Personal Development - How to Become Financially Independent
South Asian traditions
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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2016)
Some ancient Indians aspired to "beingness, wisdom and happiness".[14]
Paul Oliver suggests that the popularity of Indian traditions for a personal developer may lie in their relative lack of prescriptive doctrine.[15]
Islamic personal development
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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2020)
Khurram Murad describes that personal development in Islam is to work towards eternal life in paradise. Paradise is the ultimate goal of life. Allah has provided ways to help those striving towards eternal life, including staying away from things of the world. These worldly things can distract those away from the path to paradise. In the end, paradise will bring satisfaction to those who are working on their personal development because of the pleasure that comes from Allah.[16]
Aristotle and the Western tradition
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE) wrote Nicomachean Ethics, in which he defined personal development as a category of phronesis or practical wisdom, where the practice of virtues (arête) leads to eudaimonia,[17] commonly translated as "happiness" but more accurately understood as "human flourishing" or "living well".[18] Aristotle continues to influence the Western concept of personal development to this day, particularly in the economics of human development[19] and in positive psychology.[20][21]
Confucius and the East Asian tradition
In Chinese tradition, Confucius (around 551 BCE – 479 BCE) founded an ongoing philosophy. His ideas continue to influence family values, education and personnel management in China and East Asia. In his Great Learning Confucius wrote:
The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.[22]
Jim Rohn Personal Development - The Art of PERSUASION
Contexts
Psychology
Psychology became linked to personal development in the early 20th century starting with the research efforts of Alfred Adler (1870–1937) and Carl Jung (1875–1961).
Adler refused to limit psychology to analysis alone. He made the important point that aspirations focus on looking forward and do not limit themselves to unconscious drives or to childhood experiences.[23] He also originated the concepts of lifestyle (1929—he defined "lifestyle" as an individual's characteristic approach to life, in facing problems) and of self-image,[23] as a concept that influenced management under the heading of work-life balance, also known as the equilibrium between a person's career and personal life.[24][clarification needed]
Carl Gustav Jung made contributions to personal development with his concept of individuation, which he saw as the drive of the individual to achieve the wholeness and balance of the Self.[25]
Daniel Levinson (1920–1994) developed Jung's early concept of "life stages" and included a sociological perspective. Levinson proposed that personal development comes under the influence—throughout life—of aspirations, which he called "the Dream":
Whatever the nature of his Dream, a young man has the developmental task of giving it greater definition and finding ways to live it out. It makes a great difference in his growth whether his initial life structure is consonant with and infused by the Dream, or opposed to it. If the Dream remains unconnected to his life it may simply die, and with it his sense of aliveness and purpose.[26]
Research on success in reaching goals, as undertaken by Albert Bandura (1925–2021), suggested that self-efficacy[27] best explains why people with the same level of knowledge and skills get very different results. Having self-efficacy leads to an increased likelihood of success. According to Bandura self-confidence functions as a powerful predictor of success because:[28]
It causes you to expect to succeed
It allows you take risks and set challenging goals
It helps you keep trying if at first you don't succeed
It helps you control emotions and fears when life may throw more difficult things your way
In 1998 Martin Seligman won election to a one-year term as President of the American Psychological Association and proposed a new focus: on healthy individuals[29][30] rather than on pathology (he created the "positive psychology" current)
Jim Rohn Personal Development - WORK ON YOURSELF
We have discovered that there is a set of human strengths that are the most likely buffers against mental illness: courage, optimism, interpersonal skill, work ethic, hope, honesty and perseverance. Much of the task of prevention will be to create a science of human strength whose mission will be to foster these virtues in young people.[31][full citation needed]
Social psychology
Social psychology[32] heavily emphasizes and focuses on human behavior and how individuals interact with others in society.[33] Infants develop socially by creating trusting and dependent relationships with others—namely parental figures. They learn how to act and treat other people based on the example of parental figures and other adults they interact with often.[34] Toddlers further develop social skills. Additionally, they begin to gain a desire for autonomy and grow more and more independent as they grow older. The balance of social involvement and autonomy varies per person, but normally autonomous behavior increases with age. Some studies suggest that selfishness begins to diminish, and prosocial behaviors increase, between the ages of six years old to twelve years old.[35] Additionally, the years of adulthood are times of development—self-actualization, relational and occupational development, loss, and coping skills development, etc.—affected by those around us: parents, co-workers, romantic partners, and children. Social psychology draws from many other psychological theories and principles yet views them through a lens of social interaction.
Psychodynamic psychology
The psychodynamic view of personal development varies from other perspectives. Namely, that the development of our traits, personalities, and thinking patterns are predominantly subconscious.[36] Psychodynamic theory suggests these subconscious changes—which emerge as external actions—are formed from suppressed sexual and aggressive urges and other internalized conflicts.[37] Sigmund Freud and other notable psychodynamic theorists postulate that these repressed cognitions form during childhood and adolescence. Conscious development would then be "digging up" these repressed memories and feelings. Once repressed memories and emotions are discovered, an individual can sift through them and receive healthy closure.[38] Much, if not all, of conscious development occurs with the aid of a trained psychodynamic therapist.
Jim Rohn Personal Development - See Things That Don't Exist (Law Of Attraction)
Cognitive-behavioral psychology
Cognitive-behavioral views on personal development follow traditional patterns of personal development: behavior modification, cognitive reframing, and successive approximation being some of the more notable techniques.[39] An individual is seen as in control of their actions and their thoughts, though self-mastery is required. With behavior modification, individuals will develop personal skills and traits by altering their behavior independent of their emotions. For example, a person may feel intense anger but would still behave in a positive manner. They are able to suppress their emotions and act in a more socially acceptable way. The accumulation of these efforts would change the person into a more patient individual. Cognitive reframing plays an instrumental role in personal development.[40] Cognitive-behavioral psychologists believe that how we view events is more important than the event itself. Thus, if one can view negative events in beneficial ways, they can progress and develop with fewer setbacks. Successive approximation—or shaping—most closely aligns with personal development. Successive approximation is when one desires a final result but takes incremental steps to achieve the result. Normally, each successful step towards the final goal is rewarded until the goal is achieved. Personal development, if it is to be long-lasting, is achieved incrementally.[39]
Educational psychology
Educational psychology focuses on the human learning experience: learning and teaching methods, aptitude testing, and so on.[41] Educational psychology seeks to further personal development by increasing one's ability to learn, retain information, and apply knowledge to real-world experiences. If one is able to increase efficacious learning, they are better equipped for personal development.
Early education
Education offers children the opportunity to begin personal development at a young age. The curriculum taught at school must be carefully planned and managed in order to successfully promote personal development.[42] Providing an environment for children that allows for quality social relationships to be made and clearly communicated objectives and aims is key to their development. If early education fails to meet these qualifications, it can greatly stunt development in children, hindering their success in education as well as society. They can fall behind in development compared to peers of the same age group.[42]
Higher education
During the 1960s a large increase in the number of students on American campuses[43] led to research on the personal development needs of undergraduate students. Arthur Chickering defined seven vectors of personal development[44] for young adults during their undergraduate years:
Developing competence
Managing emotions
Achieving autonomy and interdependence
Developing mature interpersonal relationships
Establishing personal identity
Developing purpose
Developing integrity
In the UK, personal development took a central place in university policy[citation needed] in 1997 when the Dearing Report[45] declared that universities should go beyond academic teaching to provide students with personal development.[46] In 2001 a Quality Assessment Agency for UK universities produced guidelines[47] for universities to enhance personal development as:
Jim Rohn Personal Development - Don't Live a SMALL Life
a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development;
objectives related explicitly to student development; to improve the capacity of students to understand what and how they are learning, and to review, plan and take responsibility for their own learning
In the 1990s, business schools began to set up specific personal-development programs for leadership and career orientation and in 1998 the European Foundation for Management Development set up the EQUIS accreditation system which specified that personal development must form part of the learning process through internships, working on team projects and going abroad for work or exchange programs.[48][citation needed]
The first personal development certification required for business school graduation originated in 2002 as a partnership between Metizo,[non-primary source needed] a personal-development consulting firm, and the Euromed Management School[49] in Marseilles: students must not only complete assignments but also demonstrate self-awareness and achievement of personal-development competencies.[non-primary source needed]
As an academic department, personal development as a specific discipline is often associated with business schools.[50] As an area of research, personal development draws on links to other academic disciplines:
Education for questions of learning and assessment
Psychology for motivation and personality
Sociology for identity and social networks
Economics for human capital and economic value
Philosophy for ethics and self-reflection
The workplace
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970), proposed a hierarchy of needs with self actualization at the top, defined as "the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming". In other words, self actualization is the ambition to become a better version of oneself, to become everything one is capable of being.[51]
Since Maslow himself believed that only a small minority of people self-actualize—he estimated one percent[52]—his hierarchy of needs had the consequence that organizations came to regard self-actualization or personal development as occurring at the top of the organizational pyramid, while job security and good working conditions would fulfill the needs of the mass of employees.[53][citation needed]
As organizations and labor markets became more global, responsibility for development shifted from the company to the individual.[clarification needed] In 1999 management thinker Peter Drucker wrote in the Harvard Business Review:
Jim Rohn Personal Development - Why Keep Your Goals A Secret
We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: if you've got ambition and smarts, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession, regardless of where you started out. But with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies today aren't managing their employees' careers; knowledge workers must, effectively, be their own chief executive officers. It's up to you to carve out your place, to know when to change course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive during a work life that may span some 50 years.[54][page needed]
Management professors Sumantra Ghoshal of the London Business School and Christopher Bartlett of the Harvard Business School wrote in 1997 that companies must manage people individually and establish a new work contract.[55] On the one hand, the company must allegedly recognize that personal development creates economic value: "market performance flows not from the omnipotent wisdom of top managers but from the initiative, creativity and skills of all employees".[citation needed] On the other hand, employees should recognize that their work includes personal development and "embrace the invigorating force of continuous learning and personal development".[56]
The 1997 publication of Ghoshal's and Bartlett's Individualized Corporation corresponded to a change in career development from a system of predefined paths defined by companies, to a strategy defined by the individual and matched to the needs of organizations in an open landscape of possibilities.[57][non-primary source needed] Another contribution to the study of career development came with the recognition that women's careers show specific personal needs and different development paths from men. The 2007 study of women's careers by Sylvia Ann Hewlett Off-Ramps and On-Ramps[58] had a major impact on the way companies view careers.[59][citation needed] Further work on the career as a personal development process came from study by Herminia Ibarra in her Working Identity on the relationship with career change and identity change,[60] indicating that priorities of work and lifestyle continually develop through life.
Personal development programs in companies fall into two categories: the provision of employee benefits and the fostering of development strategies.
Employee surveys may help organizations find out personal-development needs, preferences and problems, and they use the results to design benefits programs.[61] Typical programs in this category include:
Jim Rohn Personal Development - 3 Steps To AMBITIOUS LIFE
Work-life balance
Time management
Stress management
Health programs
Counseling
As an investment, personal development programs have the goal of increasing human capital or improving productivity, innovation or quality. Proponents actually see such programs not as a cost but as an investment with results linked to an organization's strategic development goals. Employees gain access to these investment-oriented programs by selection according to the value and future potential of the employee, usually defined in a talent management architecture including populations such as new hires, perceived high-potential employees, perceived key employees, sales staff, research staff and perceived future leaders.[citation needed] Organizations may also offer other (non-investment-oriented) programs to many or even all employees. Personal development also forms an element in management tools such as personal development planning, assessing one's level of ability using a competency grid, or getting feedback from a 360 questionnaire filled in by colleagues at different levels in the organization.
A common criticism[62] surrounding personal development programs is that they are often treated as an arbitrary performance management tool to pay lip service to, but ultimately ignored. As such, many companies have decided to replace personal development programs with SMART Personal Development Objectives, which are regularly reviewed and updated. Personal Development Objectives help employees achieve career goals and improve overall performance.
Criticism
Scholars have targeted self-help claims as misleading and incorrect. In 2005, Steve Salerno portrayed the American self-help movement—he uses the acronym "SHAM": the "Self-Help and Actualization Movement"—not only as ineffective in achieving its goals but also as socially harmful, and that self-help customers keep investing more money in these services regardless of their effectiveness.[63] Others similarly point out that with self-help books "supply increases the demand ... The more people read them, the more they think they need them ... more like an addiction than an alliance".[64]
Jim Rohn Personal Development - Habits Of The WEALTHY
Self-help writers have been described as working "in the area of the ideological, the imagined, the narrativized. ... although a veneer of scientism permeates the[ir] work, there is also an underlying armature of moralizing".[65]
Self development is simply the process of learning new things and building new skills—skills that help us increase our chances of success, achieving our goals, and manifesting our dreams. Want to improve your life? Here are the skills you need to start developing today.
Self development, personal development
*This page may include affiliate links; that means I earn from qualifying purchases of products.
I am obsessed with self-development, because I've seen the impact self-development has. In fact, only 10 years ago, I had no connections, no money, and worked a minimum wage retail job. 10 years later I have a Ph.D. from Berkeley, am the author of a book on how to generate happiness in the technology age, and have created programs on how to start your own purpose-driven business, how to detox stress, and how to increase your personal happiness. How did I do it? I learned about personal self development.
What Is Self Development?
Self development is the process of learning new things and building new skills—skills that help us increase our chances of success, achieving our goals, and manifesting our dreams.
When we work on self-development, we get good at the social, emotional, and practical skills that we need so that we can accomplish what we set out to do. So it's easier, and we have more success.
Manifestation Masterclass
So what are the most important personal self development skills? Here are the 9 skills that I have found to be essential to any self-development plan.
Here's a few quick personal development "healthy" tips:
1. Develop a growth mindset
If we have a “fixed mindset,” we may shy away from challenges because we do not want to feel embarrassed or humiliated in front of others—who does, right?! But this can be problematic because our fear of making mistakes can lead us to avoid challenges and new experiences—experiences which would help us grow, improve ourselves in important ways, and create the life we desire.
Jim Rohn - How to Set Goals And Achieve Your Dreams (Personal development)
If we have a “growth mindset,” we enjoy challenges, despite the risk, usually because we value learning and growth more than others thinking we know what we’re doing. That's why those with a growth mindset often build new skills more easily because they believe they can and so they really work at it.
2. Develop your ability to think like an entrepreneur
Everyone can benefit from learning how to think like an entrepreneur, regardless of whether or not we have our own business. Why? Because entrepreneurs have to be innovative, good at planning for a all possible outcomes, and skilled at getting others to buy into their vision or dream, they tend to be adaptable and capable of thriving in all sorts of situations.
By learning how to be entrepreneurial, you learn how to achieve your goals, whether those goals are to start a business that makes a positive impact in the world, to set yourself up for an early retirement, or climb Mount Everest.
3. Calm yourself & de-stress
High levels of stress are not only bad for our health and well-being, they can prevent us from effectively pursuing and achieving our self development goals. By learning some stress-reducing strategies, your body and mind will be more equipped to handle the challenges that will inevitably arise.
4. Develop your positivity reflex
Life is hard sometimes. We all experience ups and downs. But we don't all respond to these ups and downs the same way. Some people let the hard times defeat them. Other people who think positive don't take things so hard. That's why developing your positivity reflex is so important. If you can be even a little bit more positive, the bad times don't look so bleak.
Happiness Program - Get happier
5. Develop a healthier relationship with your phone
So many people just get sucked into their phones or other devices, letting this object take over their time, headspace, and even emotions (take the smartphone quiz). It's no wonder we have such a hard time building new skills these days when our attention is being eaten by tech.
Goal Setting Workshop: How To Set Goals Effectively (Step-By-Step Guide)
That's why it's so important to outsmart your smartphone—to learn how to use you tech in ways that are good for you instead of bad for you.
6. Develop yourself to be more resilient
Resilience is that super important skill that helps you bounce back quickly after being knocked down. This is one of the most important skills for success because none of us will ever achieve anything if we don't keep trying when we fail. So build some resilience skills.
7. Stay mindful of the present moment
When we are mindful and stay present in the moment, we're taking each day as it comes. Even though we have a goal or dream we are striving for, we can better enjoy the process and take pleasure in the simple and wonderful parts of just being alive.
I'll admit, this is a skill I struggle with, but I see how struggling with mindfulness limits my success, so I keep trying. You can give it a try too and build some mindfulness skills.
positivity, resilience, and mindfulness
8. Take care of your health
I made the big mistake of not taking enough care of my mental and physical health and as a result I got mold illness, parasites, and Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. It stole a year of my life. Clearly this held me back from where I wanted to be. So take care of your health—start by improving your gut health and limiting your exposure to toxins, and go from there.
9. Keep developing yourself in new ways
The science is clear—the more ways we develop ourselves, the broader our skill set and the more success we tend to have. So try learning some new emotional skills or try out some activities to build these skills. You just might learn something that changes your whole life.
Learn a bit more about personal development:
In sum: Personal self development is the key to success
Our own personal self development is key to achieving whatever it is that we desire. We might not always succeed 100% of the time, but the more tools we have in our toolbox, the greater chances for our success.
Personal development is a lifelong process. It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise their potential.
This page helps you to identify the skills you need to set life goals which can enhance your employability prospects, raise your confidence, and lead to a more fulfilling, higher quality life. Plan to make relevant, positive and effective life choices and decisions for your future to enable personal empowerment.
Personal Development Plan 2020 | Exact Structure & Examples
Although early life development and early formative experiences within the family, at school, etc. can help to shape us as adults, personal development should not stop later in life.
This page contains information and advice that is designed to help you to think about your personal development and ways in which you can work towards goals and your full potential.
‘Personal Development’ and ‘Personal Empowerment’ are two areas that overlap and interweave, so it is recommended that you read this page in conjunction with our page on Personal Empowerment.
Why is Personal Development Important?
There are many ideas surrounding personal development, one of which is Abraham Maslow's process of self-actualisation.
Self-Actualisation
Maslow (1970) suggests that all individuals have an in-built need for personal development which occurs through a process called self-actualisation.
The extent to which people are able to develop depends on certain needs being met and these needs form a hierarchy. Only when one level of need is satisfied can a higher one be developed. As change occurs throughout life, however, the level of need motivating someone’s behaviour at any one time will also change.
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE WITH A PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Love and Belongingness, Esteem Needs, Cognitive Needs, Aesthetic Needs and Self-Actualisation.
At the bottom of the hierarchy are the basic physiological needs for food, drink, sex and sleep, i.e., the basics for survival.
Second are the needs for safety and security in both the physical and economic sense.
Thirdly, progression can be made to satisfying the need for love and belonging.
The fourth level refers to meeting the need for self-esteem and self-worth. This is the level most closely related to ‘self-empowerment’.
The fifth level relates to the need to understand. This level includes more abstract ideas such as curiosity and the search for meaning or purpose and a deeper understanding.
The sixth relates to aesthetic needs of beauty, symmetry and order.
Finally, at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy is the need for self-actualisation.
Maslow (1970, p.383) says that all individuals have the need to see themselves as competent and autonomous, also that every person has limitless room for growth.
Self-actualisation refers to the desire that everybody has ‘to become everything that they are capable of becoming’. In other words, it refers to self-fulfilment and the need to reach full potential as a unique human being.
For Maslow, the path to self-actualisation involves being in touch with your feelings, experiencing life fully and with total concentration.
Maslow, A. H. (1970), Motivation and Personality, (2nd Edition), Harper & Row, New York.
For more on motivation, see our pages: Self-Motivation, Motivating Others and try the How Self-Motivated are You? Quiz.
Managing Your Personal Development
There are a number of steps to take in managing your personal development.
Personal Development Plan - The Essentials Of Getting Results
1. Developing a Personal Vision
Personal development can simply be for fun. Most of us, however, find it easier to motivate ourselves to learn and improve if we have a purpose in doing so. Developing your personal vision - a clear idea of where you want to be in a few months or years, and why - is a crucial part of developing this purpose.
There is more about this in our pages on Developing a Personal Vision, Refining and Narrowing Your Vision, and Setting Personal Goals.
2. Planning Your Personal Development
Once you are clear about where you want to be, you can start planning how to get there. Drawing up a personal development plan is not essential, but it does make the planning process more realistic.
For more about this part of the process, take a look at our page on Planning Your Personal Development.
If you are struggling to identify which areas to target for development and improvement, you may find it helpful to read our pages on Personal SWOT Analysis and Identifying Areas for Improvement.
Joe Rogan - Jordan Peterson's Philosophy on Self Improvement
3. Starting the Improvement Process
There are a number of different ways in which you can learn and develop.
Our page on Improving Performance – Some Specific Techniques explains some ways of learning, including a technique called expertise transfer.
Our page on Learning Preferences suggests how different types of learning process may be more effective for certain people. You may also find our page on Learning Styles helpful in understanding how you like to learn.
4. Recording Your Personal Development
It is often a good idea to keep a record of your personal development. By writing down key developments in your learning and development as and when they occur, you will be able to reflect on your successes at a later date.
There is more about this on our page, Recording Your Personal Development.
This reflection may well help to motivate you to learn more skills in the future. Try keeping a learning log or journal as you develop your skills and knowledge.
See our page on Reflective Practice for some ideas of how to do this.
Does Islam Emphasize Personal Development? | Dr. Shabir Ally
5. Reviewing and Revising Personal Development Plans
Our page on Learning Styles uses Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle to show that learning is a cycle. For more effective learning, it is important to reflect on your experience, and consider what you have learnt from it. Regular review of your personal development plans, and your development activities, will ensure that you learn from what you have done. It will also ensure that your activities continue to move you towards your goals, and that your goals or vision remain relevant to you.
Key takeaways:
Personal development skills can be soft or technical skills.
Select which skills to develop by performing a self-analysis on your areas for improvement and necessary skills to advance in your career or industry.
Focus on transferable skills that make you a competitive candidate in any job.
Personal development is the ongoing act of assessing your life goals and values and building your skills and qualities to reach your potential. They can contribute to your maturity, success and satisfaction. Many people strengthen their personal development skills throughout their lives to better themselves and reach their goals. They can do this through education, advice from a mentor, self-help and more.
In this article, we will describe some of the most important personal development skills that can help in your journey to becoming more capable and confident.
What are personal development skills?
Personal development skills are qualities and abilities that help you grow both personally and professionally. In other words, they are skills that help you nurture your personal development. Understanding and improving these skills can help you maximize your potential. This process is also known as self-development or personal growth.
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Why are personal development skills important?
Personal development skills are important because they allow you to create strategic and tactical plans for personal and professional growth towards your goals. It can be helpful to hone personal development skills so that you can naturally work them into your daily routines and use them to:
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Achieve personal and career goals
Advance in your career
Improve your strengths and talents
Better yourself
Find fulfillment and satisfaction
Examples of personal development skills
Personal development skills can be traits or qualities you already have or ones you can gain through education and training. Individuals will value different personal development skills depending on their goals, but here are some examples of skills people commonly practice to facilitate personal growth :
Communication
Interpersonal
Organization
Problem-solving
Self-confidence
Adaptability
Integrity
Work ethic
Leadership
Communication
Communication includes your ability to speak, write and listen. With these skills, you can understand what others are saying and feeling and also convey your own ideas and feelings. Good communicators can speak clearly and confidently, using a tone that is positive and appropriate for the situation.
Interpersonal
Also called people skills or social skills, interpersonal skills are the verbal and nonverbal behaviors and reactions to interactions with other people. They affect your ability to build relationships and make impressions on others in social situations.
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Organization
Organization skills include the tidiness of your physical and digital spaces as well as your ability to plan, schedule and prioritize. Good organization can help save time, prevent miscommunications and improve efficiency.
Problem-solving
Problem-solving is your ability to handle challenging or surprising situations. Good problem-solvers can stay calm when they encounter obstacles and assess all their options to find the best solution.
Self-confidence
Self-confidence is the belief in your abilities, actions and decisions. If you have confidence in yourself, you might be more likely to pursue ambitious goals, try new things and believe you can succeed.
Adaptability
Adaptability is your ability to adjust quickly and easily to new things. People who handle change well often get along with a variety of personalities and thrive in any environment. They can also remain calm in surprising situations.
Integrity
People tend to trust those who are honest and stand by their values. Integrity means doing what is right and telling the truth, even if doing so presents challenges. Having integrity can lead to a good reputation and opportunities for advancement.
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Work ethic
Work ethic includes not only hard work but also reliability, responsibility, quality, determination and discipline. People with good work ethic tend to be productive and have a positive attitude.
Leadership
Leadership is the ability to guide people. Good leaders can motivate others and help them reach a shared goal. They build confidence and improve morale.
How to improve your personal development skills
You can enhance your personal development skills by taking classes, learning from the people around you, gaining new talents and improving upon existing ones. Follow these guidelines to develop yourself personally:
Overcome your fears. Fear can prevent you from growing and progressing. If you are afraid of public speaking, for instance, take a class or join a group that helps people become better public speakers. If you are afraid of taking risks, find a mentor who can help you make good decisions and build your confidence. Grow and learn by trying things you might not be comfortable doing. If you are shy, try starting a conversation or introducing yourself to new people at a reception or workshop.
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Read. Reading can expand your knowledge and vocabulary and keep you informed. It can also stimulate your mind and can improve your critical thinking skills. Try setting a goal to read at least one educational or motivational article a day, or one book a month.
Learn something new. Learn a new skill or topic, whether you do it yourself or sign up for a class. You might, for instance, take courses to learn another language, a new software program or how to write creatively. Consider watching a webinar on professional development topics such as entrepreneurship or social media marketing.
Ask for feedback. Approach a family member, friend, colleague or manager, and ask them to give you feedback on a recent project or accomplishment. Use their positive comments as well as their constructive criticism to find ways to improve. Sometimes you need an outside, unbiased opinion to get a different perspective.
Observe others. Watch and learn from the people who inspire you. This could be someone you know, such as a supervisor, family member or public figure. Identify the qualities you admire in them, and try to replicate those in yourself.
Network. By interacting with many types of people, you can learn new ideas and understand how to communicate and work with different personality types. You can also meet people and develop relationships that might help you in the future. Network through industry organizations and shared interest groups, or attend conferences and events on topics that interest you.
Keep a journal. Writing in a journal every day or week can help you gain self-awareness and reflect on recent events, decisions and conversations. You might keep a hand-written, private journal, or you might choose to share your thoughts and experiences by blogging. Use it to set and assess goals and progress.
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Meditate. Many people meditate to gain clarity and awareness and to reduce stress and anxiety. Meditation can help you focus on your self-development and goals in a healthy, positive and calm way. Even scheduling a break from work or quiet time to yourself can help you relax and focus.
Get a mentor. If you need help identifying ways to build your self-development skills, talk to a mentor. This individual could be a manager, professor, someone you admire or a professional personal growth mentor.
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Personal development skills in the workplace
While personal development skills can benefit all parts of your life, these particular practices may be useful in the workplace and help you advance your career:
Be an active listener. Part of being a good communicator is paying attention to what other people say. Concentrate on understanding what your coworkers and clients are saying so you can remember that information and respond well. Use effective and professional listening and communication skills in everything from phone conversations to job interviews.
Work well with others. Good people skills make you a valued team member. You should be able to collaborate with and motivate others. Cultivate your social skills to build relationships with colleagues, clients, customers and acquaintances of all types and backgrounds.
Organize your time, work and materials. Plan out tasks so you can complete them quickly and easily. Know what projects to prioritize if you are handling more than one. If you are well-organized, you may be better able to meet your deadlines and collaborate effectively with others..
Work through challenging situations. When dealing with a problem, assess your options and determine the best solution. Know when to ask for advice or research different scenarios. People who can think critically and work through complex problems are more likely to make good decisions both in life and work.
Believe in yourself. If you have confidence in your decisions, others may be more likely to believe in you as well. This positive energy can help motivate and instill confidence in those around you. You are better able to handle challenges and reach goals if you approach them with confidence rather than doubt.
Adapt to change. Be flexible so you can deal with changes in work and life easily. Adaptable people can work well both alone and on a team, manage multiple projects, work under a variety of conditions, accept new ideas and more. Being able to respond well to change can also make these situations less stressful for everyone involved.
Be truthful. Honesty is the foundation of a positive relationship with colleagues and supervisors. Practice good ethics and stand by your values. Integrity can bring you respect, satisfaction and a good reputation at work.
Be committed to and passionate about your job. People with good work ethic tend to be productive, reliable and determined to do quality work. This dedication can help you complete tasks on time and motivate your peers.
Guide those around you. Being a good leader requires confidence, vision and communication. People who build these leadership skills can help their team progress and be productive without being controlling.
How to highlight personal development skills
Convey your personal development skills on your resume and when interviewing for a job to show employers you can succeed in that position.
1. Highlight personal development skills in your resume
Create a section in your resume titled “Skills” that includes both hard and soft skills. List only the personal development skills that apply to that job. If you have many skill types, you might group them by category within your resume’s skills section.
Example:
Relevant Skills
Time management: Consistently handled upward of six projects at a time and met 100% of deadlines
Organization: Created an efficient online filing system for a large group of clients using color-coded folders and documents as well as tags
Adaptability: Adjusted workflow to accommodate additional responsibilities, including refined task scheduling and time tracking
2. Highlight personal development skills in your cover letter
Choose a couple of personal development skills that you feel are strong and most relevant to the job. Within the body of your cover letter, describe briefly how you would apply each one to that job’s responsibilities, or give an example of how that skill has benefited you in the past.
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Example: As an effective problem-solver, I helped customers quickly troubleshoot their programming issues. The clients I worked with reported a 92% success rate at resolving computer problems under my guidance.
3. Highlight personal development skills during your job interview
List your strongest personal development skills when answering interview questions, such as “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” or “What are your goals?” Describe your top skills, your plan for further development and where you have room for improvement. You can also use examples to show off your personal development skills.
Example: “During a period of tension in the workplace, my interpersonal skills and ability to form relationships helped unify our department. We became a far more cohesive and productive team.”
These are just a few of the personal development skills that can benefit your life and your work. Self-development is a lifelong process upon which you can continue to improve. Focus on developing the skills that will best help you reach your goals.
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