What is Personal Development?
Self-actualization refers to the desire that everybody has ‘to become everything that they are capable of becoming’. In other words, it refers to self-fulfillment and the need to reach full potential as a unique human being.
For Maslow, the path to self-actualization involves being in touch with your feelings, experiencing life fully and with total concentration.
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Our pages: Time Management and Minimising Distractions give further information about how you may manage your time more effectively, these include:
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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.
This page helps you to identify
the skills you need to set life goals which can enhance your employ-ability 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.
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.
A Theory of Personal Development
There are many ideas
surrounding personal development, one of which is detailed below -
Abraham Maslow's process of Self Actualization.
Self Actualization
Maslow (1970) suggests that
all individuals have an in-built need for personal development which
occurs through the 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. - 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. At the top of Maslow’s hierarchy, is the need for self-actualization.
Self-actualization refers to the desire that everybody has ‘to become everything that they are capable of becoming’. In other words, it refers to self-fulfillment and the need to reach full potential as a unique human being.
For Maslow, the path to self-actualization involves being in touch with your feelings, experiencing life fully and with total concentration.
www.amazon.com/author/michaelediale
Practical Steps to Personal Development
Practical steps can be taken to enhance personal development, including:- Organizing your time.
- Producing a personal CV or resume.
- Undertaking a skills appraisal.
- Looking at your transferable skills.
- Overcoming barriers to learning a new skill.
Organizing Your Time
If you are considering making changes in your life, finding additional time often poses a problem. It could be that the changes you are thinking of making are to ensure you have extra time to:- Spend with your family.
- Spend on things you enjoy doing.
- Devote to your work.
- Devote to your education.
Our pages: Time Management and Minimising Distractions give further information about how you may manage your time more effectively, these include:
- Learning to say 'no' to jobs or requests that you feel are not your responsibility.
- Learning to delegate – sharing jobs can be fun and will leave you with more time. See our page, Delegation Skills.
- Making a ’to do’ list of tasks you need to do each day/week, ticking off tasks that you complete.
- Giving up things you do not really want or need to do.
- Identifying your high and low times of the day. Everyone has a time when he/she feels more or less energetic. Try to do the most demanding tasks when you have the greatest energy as you will do them more quickly, thereby releasing more time to spend on other things.
Many employers are looking for the same sorts of
skills. These include good communication skills, the ability to work as
part of a team and the ability to learn – these are often termed ‘Soft Skills’
and are the sorts of skills that Skills You Need writes about. Beyond
that the skills required will depend on the particular job.
See our pages: Employ-ability Skills and Study Skills for more.
www.amazon.com/author/michaelediale
Overcoming Barriers to Learning a New Skill
Learning a new skill will
broaden the opportunities open to you, at the same time as empowering
you as an individual. There are many things that prevent people
from learning new skills, these barriers may be overcome with some
thought. These might include:
- Lack of Confidence or Self-Esteem: This is one of the greatest obstacles facing many individuals. However, if this is a problem then ask yourself if there is anyone who would support and help you to take the first steps towards learning a new skill. Often, once the first move is made then the greatest hurdle is overcome. Confidence increases as you develop new skills. See our pages: Building Confidence and Improving Self-Esteem for more.
- Economic Situation: You may see your financial situation as a barrier to developing new skills, this need not be the case. The internet has lots of pages and tools that can help you develop specify skills. There may be courses offered in local schools, colleges or universities which are free or offered at a reduced rate for people on a lower incomes. Distance-learning courses allow you to study at home which can help to reduce the cost of learning. There may exist trust funds or charities that offer grants for people developing new skills in your area. It is also possible to learn a new skill with the aid of books from a library. Also, voluntary work can provide an excellent opportunity for learning and developing new skills as can being a member of a local group or society.
- Family Commitments: If you have family commitments that prevent you from having the time to learn a new skill, perhaps it is possible for you to enlist the help of a friend or family member to give you a few free hours weekly. Colleges and universities offering vocational training courses may have free or subsidized crèche places.
- Lack of Time: See our pages: Time Management and Minimizing Distractions and consider how you could reorganize your time to fit in the development of a new skill.
Recording your Personal Developmentwww.amazon.com/author/michaelediaale
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.
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.
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