Do you know anyone who always seems like they know exactly what they want? They’re likely some of the calmest and most confident people you know.
It comes across well in the business world and person to person. We bet they’ve done a lot of work on their personal development.
Learn their secrets with the intro guide below.
What is Personal Development?
Psychologists don’t agree if we’re born with a personality or if it develops as we get older. Can a baby be born pre-shaped or life? Obviously, our experiences have some role – but how much?
It depends on how you let the experiences shape you and the amount of work you’re willing to do to understand yourself.
That work, understanding what goes on around you and how you perceive it, is personal development.
It’s the skill sets you develop to process pleasant and unpleasant experiences. It’s how you respond to people, what you think the meaning of life is, and your goals.
In essence, it’s the work you do on yourself, for yourself. Did your baby-self plan to do this all along? We still don’t know.
Baby brain priorities or not, personal development happens your whole life. You can always change the way you react and learn more about yourself.
You have your whole life and future self ahead of you.
Why is it Important?
Personal development is important because it’s the driving force behind how we live. What do you do if someone walks up to you and says something mean for no reason?
Do you get angry and lash out or do you try to understand what made them mad, then discuss? Someone who isn’t aware of the power they have over interactions will do the first one.
We’re better people when we do self-development work too, according to psychologist Abraham Maslow.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
A 1940’s paper by Abraham Maslow determines that we need five categories of things to function as humans.
There are the basic physiological needs, like food, shelter, water, and biological functions.
Then we have to worry about safety and stability.
Once those two things are out of the way, we get to the love and belonging stage, how we have relationships with other people. After love, we embark on self-esteem and our own confidence.
It’s not until we’ve worked on all those areas that we can get to the ultimate stage of personal development:Â self-actualization.
This is our morality, creativity, our mindset, our goals, our acceptance – all the things we want to be as a person, even if we struggle with them.
Every time you work on personal development, you get closer to self-actualization. Working on how you relate to others (love and belonging) helps you understand how you love and relate to yourself.
If you work on all aspects of your life and can approach the final stage, you’re reaching your full potential.
Integration
When you start working on yourself and spending time on you, your business will prosper. People are attracted to people who have a good understanding of themselves.
They’ll want to do business with you since you’ll have your ducks in a row.
Learn other tips like what mindsets you should have to start a startup venture here and start your journey today!
