Personal growth for a modern person is an essential component of life. The desire for an ideal “I”, without which positive self-acceptance is impossible - this is what personal self-improvement is. But how can you achieve positive changes in your own personality, bypassing all the factors that impede development? The psychology of personality development and the experience of successful people will help you understand where to start with personal growth. Let's take a closer look at everything.
All successful people have one thing in common - they are always in the process of their own development. Be it a career or a hobby, deeply passionate and successful individuals have always commanded respect. Do you want to join the clan of the happy and successful? Read below about where to start and how to achieve growth.
What is personal development?
Most likely, you are not aware of the activities that you perform daily that help you develop your personality, but this does not mean that you are not developing as a person.
Before you understand the importance of personal development, you must know what it is.
This means that your formal definition is very necessary to help you understand with confidence why you should work tirelessly to develop your personality. Although the most important thing is that you are fully aware that only through this human process will you be able to achieve everything that you offer on a family, professional or social level.
Therefore, this article presents some approaches that combine exciting elements that will surely touch you and motivate you to change for the better as soon as possible.
What self-development gives us and what we eat it with
Personal self-development is a process of self-development without completion. It may stop, but not end. As a person develops, his life changes: habits, circle of friends, hobbies, work, views, lifestyles, etc.
The influence of society on a person can only push him to certain actions and thoughts, make him think. But it is worth remembering that the criteria for personal growth develop even if we fall under the influence. You just need to choose what it will be.
Personal growth gives us confidence, purpose, and new opportunities. If there is no harmony with yourself, no understanding of your inner “I,” then any attempts to find a way out will be zero. Only an open awareness of your problems will help you get on the right path. To start doing something, you need, first of all, to have your own opinion, which will help you make a choice.
Psychology of Personality Development
The psychological approach to this topic is that it is a process of personal growth that allows you to improve your skills and knowledge to improve your self-esteem and personal skills.
This is because when you know yourself, you can use your abilities, potential, or work to overcome your fears.
To achieve this, you must follow a number of basic steps, which are discussed below.
Improve your self-esteem
If you don't love and value yourself for who you are, then it will be difficult for you to move in the right direction.
This is why it is so important that you strive to understand the skills and virtues that have helped you achieve the most valuable achievements in your emotional, work or personal life.
But you must keep in mind that this value does not remain unchanged, it can transform very quickly, mainly due to difficult experiences or due to the impact of the environment on your own existence.
Manage your emotions.
You cannot grow as a person if you are in a painful, conflictual or unwanted emotional situation.
Although you may not believe it, emotions and feelings greatly influence the way you behave and the decisions you make - whether positive or negative - and this directly affects the quality of your life.
In this sense, it is necessary that you take care of getting rid of everything that causes pain, as well as cultivating and protecting those feelings that bring you well-being and allow you to adapt to reality.
The most advisable option is that you should develop a high level of emotional intelligence so that you can recognize your emotions, express and control them in a healthy and wise way, learning invaluable psychological skills.
Making a plan and setting yourself up for success
The personal growth program is an indispensable aid in the process of self-improvement. Having visualized all the stages, it is much easier to start completing the tasks you have set for yourself. A personal growth plan can be drawn up either for a specific period or contain a list of goals for indefinite achievement. As an acceptable option, we can offer you an annual program for personal growth, which touches on a variety of aspects of life, but is based on one thing that is most important to you.
January:
Developing self-confidence. Deal with your fears, complexes, feelings of guilt, etc. You should take the path of self-development without unnecessary psychological burden.
February:
Finding the meaning of life. Determine what your purpose is so you know where to move next.
March:
Setting goals. One of the most important stages in the psychology of personal growth is the determination of goals and objectives that lie on the path of self-realization. The global goal must necessarily be divided into smaller ones, and they, in turn, into small ones that are easily visible in the present. All goals should be written out in detail on a piece of paper.
April:
Time planning. Keep a diary and write down in detail your steps aimed at achieving your goals, at least for the near future. Don’t forget to check your diary so as not to lose your temper and stick to the schedule agreed upon (with yourself).
May:
Begin active work in the chosen direction. It's time to take your first steps! They will be the most difficult, but at the same time very exciting and enjoyable. Take action! Don’t forget to write down all your achievements and successes, they will serve as excellent motivation for you to build a method of personal growth: smart people combine a diary and a success diary into one notebook (or electronic media), as this allows you to fully observe the development trend.
June:
Dedicate this month to mental health and relaxation. The first month of your life change may seem difficult, so remember to relax in between self-improvement. Meditation can be an excellent way to achieve relaxation.
July:
Let this month pass under the auspices of family and friendships. Many people who take the path of self-development forget about their family and friends. Don't make such mistakes, spend time with your family even if you have a busy schedule.
August:
Creative days. Without creativity in matters of psychology of personal growth, there is nowhere. Discover something new every day. Sign up for a watercolor or painting course, visit a vocal studio, write a captivating novel - express yourself creatively. This will give a powerful impetus to self-improvement, opening up new opportunities.
September:
Think for yourself in which direction of personal growth you would like to move next. Perhaps these will be courses for mastering a new profession or self-development training. The beginning of autumn is a great time to go deep into yourself and pull out unfulfilled aspirations.
October:
Personal self-improvement through making new acquaintances. Have you sat inside yourself? It’s time and honor to know: interesting conversations, unusual acquaintances and unexpected revelations are waiting for you outside. As they say, truth is born only in argument, only in conversations with others do we grow above ourselves.
November:
How to make money from your development. Think about whether it is possible to turn your knowledge, past and newly acquired, into a profitable hobby or profession? If yes, then what are you still waiting for. You know what to do. (ps.: make your business well-paid, of course, and learn how to sell it.)
December:
Summarizing. You will have a whole month to remember all your achievements achieved during the year, analyze them in detail and outline a development plan for the next year.
Characteristics of Personal Development
Here are the main features or benefits of investing in your personal development:
- Awakens your consciousness.
- Encourages self-discovery, which allows you to learn to be happier in life.
- Promotes people's empowerment.
- Requires control over emotions and feelings (for this you need to know and study what emotional intelligence is).
- Requires making conscious and responsible decisions to achieve a good quality of life.
- Helps improve interpersonal relationships.
- Arouses interest in leadership, so it is important to be a good leader.
Personal growth goals
Each of us probably wants to have his own special position in society, to be an interesting conversationalist, or to achieve recognition in some field of activity. All this will come with the development of one’s own “I”. Only by seeing the tasks and goals for personal growth in front of you will you be able to understand in what way you should change and improve yourself in order to achieve them.
Personal growth also occurs over the years of life, since every year a person gains more development and knowledge, which he can subsequently apply in practice.
How to draw up an action plan?
To begin with, it is important to decide where you want to start. This could be an increase in potential, an increase in self-efficacy, or the development of useful qualities. After setting goals is completed, we look for motives for achieving them.
The next stage will be to find motivation and start working on yourself. It is worth understanding that this process is not quick and requires a certain endurance. But if you’ve definitely decided that it’s time to become much better, then this is your chance!
We recommend:
- If necessary, consult a specialist. Sometimes, in order to achieve maximum disclosure of one’s own “I,” the help of a qualified psychoanalyst or trainer is needed. They will help you achieve your results in self-knowledge much faster!
- Remove the shackles from yourself and drive away bad thoughts. It is quite difficult to achieve something if you are stuck in fears and concerns. Having thrown them away, even the world will sparkle in different colors for your person!
- Don't stand in the way of change. Sometimes changes are even for the better, so there is no need to avoid them. Open up to them and accept them with gratitude!
- Find your motivation to start self-improvement. In most cases, we are driven by strong motivation; having found it, everyone is able to literally “move mountains.”
- Act!
The importance of personal development
If you understand that only you have the ability to develop or grow as a person, you will understand one of life's most important lessons for achieving success.
And you will also demonstrate that you understand very well how important it is to have an appropriate quality of life through the actions you take on a day-to-day basis and the efforts you make to achieve that life.
Here are some reasons why personal development is important to people.
- You will be a more conscious person.
You will have full awareness of who you are and what you want to achieve. You will also open the eyes of those around you and give meaning to your life as a spouse, parent, child, friend, relative, and in this way you will be ready to strengthen your relationships, seize time and create unforgettable memories. - You will know who you are.
Your personal growth will depend on how much you know yourself and your goals for life. This includes knowing and appreciating your strengths, defending your values and beliefs, and determining what actions and decisions you must take to make your existence meaningful and consistent. - You will discover or strengthen your talents.
It is very likely that in your quest for personal growth, you will discover new talents and even new passions that could redefine your entire life or give you a positive 180-degree turn.
Conclusion
Why is personal growth needed? To become an individual, to have your own independent point of view, to develop and achieve your goals. The peaks love brave conquerors. And even if these are not big peaks to begin with, but for them you need to be brave enough and ready to face obstacles on your way. Personal growth criteria will help you accept and understand many moments in your life; they need to be constantly developed and supported.
Only then will you be able to understand all your weaknesses, find places where you stumble and correct what prevented you from achieving what you want. Life doesn't change with a snap of your fingers, it takes a lot of time and work. Personal growth will help not only in self-development, but also in the growth of your professionalism.
The process of self-development will help you find pleasure in what you do, teach you to be strong and courageous, and find loopholes in any life tasks. This is a great opportunity to learn to perceive the world not as a bag of continuous problems, but as a space of limitless possibilities.
Tips for Improving Personal Development
- Work on yourself. For example, if you are afraid of failure and this is preventing you from making changes that allow you to experiment, live and move forward, then the wisest decision would be to seek the help you need to overcome your fears. Today there are many methods and psychological theories that can help you see the light at the end of the tunnel. You just need to take care of yourself and work on yourself every day.
- Master your mind. Train your mind to always see the positive side of life and allow you to overcome obstacles with positivity and a good attitude, because only then will you be able to get up every time you fall.
- Work on your emotional intelligence. This is a major factor in achieving personal development. Think about it, if you are not happy or do not know how to channel your feelings, thoughts and emotions, it will simply be impossible for you to lead a fulfilling life. If you know how to deal with your negative emotions, you will also know how to face adversity.
When you invest in your personal development, you can have a full and happy life in all areas.
Personal growth tasks
The tasks of personal growth can easily include improving one’s capabilities and improving obvious positive qualities. Personal growth, the objectives of which are self-improvement and self-knowledge, is important at any stage of an individual’s life path. After all, without development, we lose ourselves and our essence, stand still and do not have the ability to move on.
It is worth noting other tasks of self-development:
1. Development of awareness.
The modern world does not stand still; it is also changing. New technologies appear and full automation occurs. And not everyone is able to quickly adapt to a completely different way. To do this, you have to constantly be in a fast pace of life, and not be afraid to accept all modern innovations.
2. Time appropriate.
Remember when people lived without the Internet and abundant telephones? Now everything is different. And in order to keep up with the times, a person also has to change, become more mobile and modern.
3. Filling your horizons with knowledge.
The present time does not accept the old foundations and rules, it modernizes and changes them. Nowadays it’s not enough to be a narrow specialist; it’s much more important to learn a little about everything around you. If a person is not able to maintain a conversation, then it will be difficult for her to contact the current society. It requires being smart, capable, successful.
4. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The latest trends instill a craving for a healthy lifestyle. It's not only fashionable, but also useful!
5. Leverage talents and strengths.
An important point in the development of personality are talents, which sometimes need to be revealed. If you already know about your capabilities, then don’t be afraid to use them! By constantly seeking their help, improvement will be just around the corner.
The importance of self-knowledge in human life
In youth, a person sets high goals for himself, realizing that self-awareness is the path to enlightenment. By acquiring social status, duties and responsibilities, a person may lose the nobility of impulses that previously gave meaning to life. And existence itself becomes commonplace. At such a moment, it is important to be able to find positive aspects where previously only negativity was observed. This gives additional strength to accept these properties and plays a very important role in improving oneself. A person who is aware of himself as a person is familiar with his own characteristics, differences from others, and can make comparisons. All this will improve the understanding that self-knowledge is the path to enlightenment.
Glossary of basic concepts
First of all, we still need to understand what the concept of “personal growth” implies. Many sciences, such as esotericism, psychology and sociology, predetermine different meanings for these concepts. For convenience, we will generalize them.
Personality is a symbiosis together with the totality of acquired preferences, habits, sociocultural experience of a person, and, among other things, his psychophysical characteristics, which determine the future model of behavior in society.
Personal growth is the acquisition of new ones, as well as their accumulation for further use in self-development and improving life in a specific environment. There are no problems with this term - self-development already implies the acquisition of new, useful skills with the help of which the desired result will be achieved. The main task of personal and professional growth is to achieve high performance both in the chosen area of life and in their complex, increasing potential in one’s own career.
Helpers in self-development - mobile applications
Convenient mobile apps on your phone make it easier and better to track the changes you want to make in your personal growth program and help you develop individual skills. You can download and install them in the AppStore and Google Play.
Mobile applications for self-development:
- IQ pro - tests for IQ level
- Lumosity - improves thinking abilities
- Unstuck - replaces a trip to a psychologist
- Momentum – the journey – application for motivation
- Daily curiosity - helps expand your horizons
- Words - learn English or German in a playful way
- Blinkist - thousands of book summaries collected
- Weekly is a program for accustoming yourself to a certain action
- Forest - for those who want to stop being distracted
- Quest - motivate a person to do specific things
- Headspace - immersion in a meditative state
- Moodnotes - an application for those who have internal problems
- Black rhetoric - sharp phrases for all occasions
- Quick talker - an assistant in training diction and expressiveness of speech
- Body language - will teach you to “read” people by their movements
- Knowledge base - hundreds of fascinating articles on a variety of topics
- Memorizing numbers. Mnemonics. - simple exercises to train your memory
- Speed reading - learning to read quickly
- Socionics - a reliable description of personality (tests)
- Word of the day - expand your vocabulary
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