Self Development

Self Development

Introduction

We are all unique individuals having different personality types. Some are more enthusiastic when it comes to learning new things compared to others. However, we are all capable of motivating ourselves to face challenges as well as gaining new experiences for our continued personal development.

In terms of career opportunities, outstanding managers endeavour to improve themselves so as to be ready to face this fast changing world. They are aware of the significance of continued personal development.

Continued personal development helps in improving the knowledge that you have. This is mainly because continued personal development is an experience wherein you can achieve self-awareness as well as self-improvement. (Bolden, 2006, 102-110)

Introducing Continuing Personal Development

Let's start by taking each of the three words in turn - continuing personal development - and seeing what they mean. It is probably best to consider them in reverse order, starting with 'development'.

Development

This refers to the process of growing so that you gradually become better at doing the things you have, or want, to do. This includes adding to your store of knowledge, increasing your range of skills, updating your professional know-how, updating your attitudes and beliefs, discarding unwanted habits, improving your level of physical fitness, learning to manage your emotions. Everything about you is amenable to some sort of development.

Personal

This reminds you that CONTINUING PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT is something you undertake for yourself - not simply to meet someone else's requirements. This means taking responsibility for your own development. In other words, this is self-development - the development of you, by you, through a deliberate process of learning from experience.

Continuing

This word reminds us that our self-development is always 'work in progress'. It is never complete simply because there is always something else to get better at! Learning and development are for life (not just for Christmas!). Some people find these rather depressing - life-long learning sounds like a life-sentence! It is possible, however, to see this as a rather exciting challenge with living and learning as parallel, totally complementary activities. The continuing nature of CONTINUING PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT is not the same as saying that self-development should be continuous i.e. uninterrupted, something we should do every waking moment. In practice, development activities are always engaged in intermittently. How often, and for how long, depends on what aspect of yourself you are seeking to develop. (Mole, 2000, 121-125)

More about self-development

Since Continuing Personal Development is essentially a self-development activity, it is important to clarify this a little further. Self-development is based on a number of assumptions:

• It assumes that, no matter whom you are or what you do, it is always possible to develop yourself - not just your knowledge and skills but also your inner thought processes and feelings.

• It assumes that you believe you are worth the investment of time and effort in order to keep yourself marketable, competitive, and employable and fulfilled.

• It assumes that you need to take initiatives and organise your own development and not expect your organisation, or other people, ...