To understand how personal development can affect the everyday life, including the professional life, in all aspects it is important to be able to know where it originated, what is its purpose, who can practice it, what are the advantages, and its direct impact on professional life.
Personal development beliefs can be traced back to Wallace Wattles’ 1910 – “The Science of Getting Rich”. The book goes on to explain how if you simply make minimal, but precise changes in habits and in thought process you will eventually access great wealth. It explains that living a creative way instead of a competitive way will ultimately reward you. Personal development is accessible to anybody that possess the will to improve their life: student, teacher, parent, teenagers, employers, employees,…
This practice is all about self-improvement, reaching a better version of yourself with activities that develop abilities and potential, enhance quality of life and the realization of dreams. It is not a time-bound process, but rather a lifelong process of nurturing, shaping and improving skills and knowledge to ensure maximum effectiveness and ongoing employability.
On an important note, while a good employer can encourage personal development to its workers, it’s a personal decision to take the lead.
Improving personal development means enhancement of: communication skills, self-beliefs, positive attitude, social skills, adaptability, personal integrity and leadership and other professional advantaging qualities.
Communication skills : Written and spoken conversations are easier, mainly due to the fact that personal development, encourages you to use appropriate language and tone for different situations, boosts your ability to express yourself and gain in confidence.
Self-belief : Sharpened confidence, assertiveness and determination. Believing in your abilities and being comfortable with who you are, will lead you to achieve much in life.
Positive attitude : This is both a personal development skill and outcome. The happier you are with your life, the more positive you become.
Social Skills : Interactions are significantly better: verbal and non-verbal communication. You observe an increased awareness of social cues and emotional intelligence.
Adaptability : Being open to change, is a valuable quality, particularly in a professional setting. You open yourself up to new experiences and broaden your horizons, and can also stay calm in challenging situations.
Personal integrity : Honesty, fairness and strong moral values, will make you earn respect and trust from others, which is hugely beneficial for career progression.
Leadership : You are confident, inspire and motivate others to reach their full potential.
Self-awareness : An understanding of your motivations and what could potentially hold you back, it helps focusing on what you need to do to achieve your ambitions and overcome any challenges that may stand in your way.
Motivation : Driven by a strong will to keep going, no matter how challenging things become because you have a clear goal in mind it is overall much easier to work towards it. Additionally, when sharing your career motivations with your employer, they can ensure the support you need.
Resilience : You bounce back quickly when things do not quite go to plan, you take greater enjoyment out of completing tasks and staying on top of your workload things that used to seem like a chore will be far more satisfying.
Work-Life Balance : A healthy work-life balance is important for self-fulfillment and well-being. If you are very career-driven, it can be easy to neglect your needs outside of work and perhaps become burned out. Personal development can help you avoid this.
Setting Meaningful Goals: Identifying long-term objectives through introspective, personal development, can now let you set short-term goals with real meaning and purpose.
To conclude personal development is an everyday task accessible to everybody regardless of age or social status. It aims at improving life through mindful repetitive habit that create in the long-term personal and professional valuable skills.
