Personal Development And Self Help

“Sometimes, the experts forget they were once beginners. You must be gentle with beginners; they have great potential to be experts.”
By- Lailah Gifty Akita

Personal development is a lifelong process. It's a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realize and maximize their potential. It covers activities that improve personal awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life ultimately contributing to the realization of dreams and aspirations.

Not limited to self-help, the concept involves formal and informal activities for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counsellor, manager, life coach or mentor. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.

Personal development includes the following activities:

• Improving self-awareness
• Improving self-knowledge
• Improving skills or learning new ones
• Becoming a self-leader.
• Building or renewing identity/self-esteem
• Developing strengths or talents
• Improving wealth
• Spiritual development
• Identifying or improving potential
• Building employability or (alternatively) human capital
• Enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life
• Improving health
• Fulfilling aspirations
• Initiating a life enterprise or (alternatively)personal autonomy.
• Defining and executing personal development plans (PDPs)
• Improving social abilities

Ways to achieve personal growth:

• Read a good book (non-fictional) everyday- Books are concentrated sources of wisdom. The more books you read, the more you expose yourself to wisdom.

• Create an inspirational environment- Your environment sets the mood and tone for you. If you are living in an inspirational environment, you are going to be inspired every day.

• Overcome your fears- All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk. All our fears keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Recognize that your fears reflect areas where you can grow. Face your fears squarely. Seek some experts help if required to overcome these fears.

• Have a fixed exercise routine- Never compromise on exercise. A fit and healthy physical body is the first step towards your personal growth

• Get out of your comfort zone- Real growth comes with hard work and sweat. Being too comfortable doesn’t help us grow – it makes us stagnate. Start trying new things, take on tasks and assignments which you’ve never done before

• Stay focused with to-do list- Start your day with a list of tasks you want to complete. This will help you to stay focused, and slowly improve your daily productivity. You’ll feel better when you’re happy with your days achievements

• Learn from people who inspire you- Think about people you admire, people who inspire you. It could be your favourite sportsman, a hard working entrepreneur, or even your father/mother/brother or friend. These people reflect certain qualities you want to have for yourself too, so try and pick up the good qualities of these people

• Wake up early- Early to bed, and early to rise is recommended for good reasons. Rising up early in the morning helps to improve your productivity and your quality of life. You start becoming in tune with nature

• Stay away from negative people- Wherever we go, there are bound to be negative people. Don’t spend too much of your time around them if you feel they drag you down.

• Meditation and yoga- Meditation and yoga helps to calm you and be more conscious. It has a very balancing effect on you, especially if practiced for a considerable duration.

If you have any query related to personal growth feel free to post the same on The Silver Lining and receive some free online written guidance from some of the best personal development experts. You can also explore, discover, and schedule a session with a personal development coach (life coach) of your choice.

“Let us wake up and live our life with fulfillment, do our duties with passion, and live with joy”
Posted by : Awnish Todi

References:

1. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/personal-development?page=2
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_development