What is personal development?
Personal development is a process where people actively control their actions, thoughts and behaviours with the goal to make positive changes that allow them to grow, build human capital, improve relationships, achieve goals, enhance their quality of life and improve overall life satisfaction.
People who are focused on personal development take the time to reflect on the skills and qualities they currently have, and think about the skills and qualities they want to have in the future. The goal is to maximize their potential by establishing a plan and processes that enable them to grow.
For some people there could be a particular event or goal that triggers the need for personal development, for others it can be an ongoing journey. In some cases, people may get some professional help like from organzations, coaches, mentors, trainers, and counselors. In other cases, people turn to self help, and leverage free and paid resources to help guide them on their journey.
Why is personal development important?
Personal development allows you to understand yourself deeply, and challenges you to achieve the goals you want to accomplish, which provides a great sense of fulfilment and satisfaction in life.
Practising personal development shifts your mindset and allows you to proceed in life with purpose through constant growth and reflection. Here are some additional benefits of investing in personal development:
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Keeps you motivated and focused on your goals
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Uncovers hidden talents and areas of strength you may not have realized you had
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Strengthens existing skills and talents by keeping you focused on the areas you are good at
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Improves self-awareness and helps you recognise areas of improvement
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Builds confidence
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Provides a sense of purpose and direction and adds meaning to your life
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Increases your ability to handle stressful situations
In the 1970's psychologist Abraham Maslow created Moslow's Heirarchy of needs, which suggested that everyone has a basic need for personal development and this occurs through a process called self-actualization.
No one has more power to help you improve yourself than you. Taking control and committing to self improvement is one of the best things you can do, and maintaining focus will lead to a happier life with better relationships with everyone including yourself.
How do I get started on personal development?
There are several websites, books, tools, and strategies that can help you on your self improvement journey, several of which we cover in our members-only blog. You can search an endless list of options, but each self-improvement journey should have four basic steps:
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Step 1: Understand yourself better
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Step 2: Create a personal plan
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Step 3: Establish tools and resources to help you be successful
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Step 4: Reflect, reward and revisit
Understand yourself better (Step 1)
The goal is to reflect on your life, your thought processes and your past behaviours and try to understand yourself on a deeper level. Some questions to help you can include:
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What are your strengths?
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What are your weaknesses?
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What are you good at doing?
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What comes naturally to you?
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What are things that trigger you?
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What causes you stress?
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What environment helps you thrive?
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What are things you dislike doing?
Some areas you want to focus on when reflecting include:
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Physical Health
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Mental Health
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Career
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Personal Finances
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Relationships
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Creativity
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Habits/Routines
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Energy levels
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Emotions
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Triggers
Self-awareness is a key skill to have, as you cannot fully improve if you do not know all the areas you need improvement in.
You also want to consider what values/principals are meaningful to you. What are things you are passionate about, or believe deeply and want to prioritize them throughout your life? These are things that should be uncompromising to you and they will help guide you and help you make decisions throughout your life. For now, do not worry whether you actually live these values or principals, just think of the ones you want to have.
In reality there is no limit to how many values or principals you can have, but the more priorties you have, the less of a priority each one becomes. Consider limiting your values and principals list to five, or seven at the most.
Once you have narrowed down your list and feel strongly about the values and principals you want to live by, you need to reflect on where you are right now and whether the life you are living is aligned with the values and principals you outlined for yourself. If there are aspects in your life you want to improve these become the basis for some of your goals and processes in your personal plan.
Another way to understand yourself better is by doing a personality test. There are several different personality tests available, and all of them can be useful in helping you understand why you behave the way you do, and help identify ways to work within the framework of your personality to grow.
Since we are all biased towards ourselves, whether in a negative way or a positive way, it may be helpful to illicit feedback from others to help you understand yourself deeper. There are several ways you can do this, but not matter what, make sure you are getting the help from a trusted friend, family, or professional. Some tools that can help you include:
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Asking them to do a SWOT Analysis on you (you can also do this on yourself)
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Understanding the Johari Window and doing a Good, Better, Best exercise
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Find a way to get anonymous feedback
If you decide to get help from others to understand yourself better, you need to be prepared to be vulnerable and willing to hear some things that may make you uncomfortable. People are sometime surprised during these exercises, as they learn things about themselves they did not even know.
Once you know yourself better, you can start to think about the areas you want to change and improve and get a clearer picture of your future self and what you need to do to grow into that person.
Create a Personal Plan (Step 2)
It helps to think ahead and visualize yourself living your best life. A life filled with values and meaning. What does that life look like? What is making you happy? What qualities does that person have? What do they do? This imaginary person is you in the future and having a clear picture will allow you to develop a plan around becoming that person.
Things are more real when they are written down. Having a personal plan will be the ultimate tool to help you stay on track in your personal development journey. It will act as a guide that will enable you to plan the exact behaviours you need to get the results you want and achieve the goals you outline for yourself.
There are several resources available to help you create your own personal plan, some of them include easy-to-fill out templates, but you can create your own Personal Plan with a pen and paper or on your computer. You need to choose the one that works best for you. A good Personal Plan will include:
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Long-term goals that you want to accomplish. Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now? What are some things that are on your bucket list that you want to accomplish? Since these goals are in the far future, there is no need to spend too much time thinking about the details, just having a high-level idea will suffice.
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Short-term goals that you want to accomplish. What are some things that you want or need to do to accomplish some of your long-term goals eventually? These goals have a shorter timeline, from a few months to 2 years, and since they are a lot closer, we need to be clear on the details and what success looks like. It helps if these goals are SMART goals. Not all the goals on this list have to help you towards your long-terms goals, but they definitely should not conflict with them.
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Specific to-dos / action items that you need to focus on. These are your 'next steps' and the specific things you need to get done in order to accomplish your goals and ensure you do not procrastinate on the things you need to do in daily life. The timelines on these are usually days to a few months and you should be focusing here and with your habits and routines the most. Not all things on your to do list need to help you towards your short-term goals, some of them will just be things you need to get done.
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Clearly outlined habits and routines that fuel behaviour change. These are the things that you need to do on a regular, or semi-regular basis in order to be the person you want to be. Somethings do not make sense as a goal and instead make more sense as a regular behaviour or lifestyle. These are the things you need to be performing routinely to help you reach your full potential.
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A list of your most important values and principals. You would have come up with this list when getting to know yourself better in step 1. This list will serve as the foundation for your goals, habits, routines and the decisions you make.
If you use the above points to form the basis of your Personal Plan, just remember to write it down inverted, with your values and principals at the top and your long-term goals at the end. This keeps you focused on the most important areas.
An Example of a Personal Plan:
Values / Principles:
Patience
Presence
Positivity
Health and wellness
Habits/Routines:
Wake up and drinks a glass of water and stretch
Exercise for 30 minutes each morning after I drink my cup of coffee
Study French for 15 minutes each day after I exercise
Read for 15 minutes before my morning shower and before bed
Put $100 from every paycheque into a savings account
To Dos:
Buy groceries for dinner Tuesday night
Update my resume and LinkedIn profile with recent accomplishments
Research flights to Europe and decide on when to go
Register my domain name for my blog
Short-term Goals:
Get a new job by the end of the year
Have my trip to Europe booked by the end of the summer
Start a blog and publish my first article by the end of July
Long-term Goals:
Go on an African safari
Buy a holiday/retirement home in California
Become fluent in French
Retire at 60
Do not get stuck spending too much time on planning. The motivation for change comes from action and you need to shift from planning to execution. It should not take too long to do and your plan should not be very long either. A plan that is too long is not focused enough and a plan without focus will end up as a failure. It is also difficult to come up with the plan all in one go. Break it down into smaller steps and build it over time. It is important to be realistic about your capacity and when it comes to making changes, start small at first, and build off of those successes.
Once you have a plan written down, things become more real, you have something tangible to guide you and refer to when you need it. Things can become even more real when they are shared with others. This takes courage and vulnerability, but sharing your plan with others that you trust can hold you more accountable for following through and help create a support system that will increase your chances of success. (FAM Members can consider adding their Personal Plan to their profile so other members can learn what they are focused on.)
Establish tools, skills and resources to help you be successful (Step 3)
The term 'personal development' is a bit misleading because even though it is a personal journey, we can all use a little help along our journey. Ensuring you give yourself the best chance of success includes, staying motivated, developing skills in certain areas, and leveraging tools and resources.
Help can come in many forms, and you will not be able to do everything, so you need to find the right ones for you. Here are some tools, skills and resources that you may find useful:
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Tools:
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The Johari Window
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Affirmations / Mantras
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Journalling
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Skills:
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Organization skills
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Communication skills
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Gratitude
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Stoicism
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Resources
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People (like counselors, coaches, mentors, accountability partners, trusted friends and family)
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Podcasts
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Books
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Articles
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Websites / platforms
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Seminars / Conferences
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Some people may need more help than others, and help can come in many forms, and no matter what tools and resources you decide are right for you, it is always helpful to ensure you are surrounded by a positive environment and people. Having the right environment and people around you will help you stay motivated, focused and improve your chances of success.
Reflect, Reward and Revisit (Step 4)
Having a plan also helps with the fourth step, which is to reflect, reward and revisit. Having your plan written down enables you to judge your past actions and decisions against the plan and reflect on what needs to change: your behaviours or your plan? There is no right answer, it is up to you to decide what would help you be more successful.
You may have been too ambitious with a goal or a new habit you are trying to start, or you may be at capacity - there is only so much you can do in a day, and you want to factor in time to rest and recharge and avoid burnout by not over committing yourself. That being said, you still need to focus on being the best version of yourself and you definitely do not want to give up on anything that compromises your values and principals, this is why we put this at the top of our Personal Plan - it is the lens we look through when making decisions.
Nothing on your Personal Plan is set in stone, not even your values and principals. It is OK for them to change as well as your habits, routines, and goals. Things happen in life that change our circumstances or perspectives and we need to understand these changes with some deep reflection and then revisit our Personal Plan to make sure it aligns with the new you.
While reflecting on your Personal Plan and your past actions and decisions it is very important to celebrate small wins. Be proud of yourself. And do not be too hard on yourself for any failures. Learn from them, adjust and move on. Do not spend too much time on the past version of yourself and focus more on the person you are going to become.