Personal development sounds like an extremely mainstream term that motivational speakers would use to grab the attention of their audience. Sure, you may have heard a lot of people talk about personal development in many different places. However, that does not change the fact that developing yourself is one of the most important things that you will ever do in your life. Imagine a life where you have no desire or drive to be better at one or more aspects of your life. Is that the kind of life that you would describe as ideal? Or is it the sort of life that you would consider mundane, boring and quite frankly delusional? People who believe that they have no requirement to improve as human beings live in a bubble that will soon be popped by the harsh realities of this world.
The Need for Personal Development
“I am happy the way I am” is one of the first things that people say when they express their reluctance towards personal development. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being pleased with your life’s circumstances and your qualities as an individual. In fact, you are strongly encouraged to do that without harbouring arrogance and excessive pride in your heart. That being said, you need to realize that a lack of consistent development will only serve to push you backwards in your life. If you are not always concerned about improving yourself as a human being, as a professional, as a student or as a spouse, then you are not doing things the way they should be done.
We all know that time and tide waits for none. The same can be said about life. Life will not cease to evolve and alter on the basis of your disinclination to bring about a change in yourself. The more you ignore the need for self development, the further back you will be pushed by life. In fact, people who lag behind in the game of life are often unable to deal with the curveballs that life throws at them. You might be doing very well socially, financially and emotionally today. However, all of that can change in the blink of an eye (quite literally) tomorrow.
Peeling Off the Layers of Your Character
People are often under the impression that they know themselves better than anyone else in the world does. Often, they can be horribly wrong in making that assumption. Unless we reach a certain age in life, our individualities, personality traits and characteristics remain undiscovered. Even we do not know what we are capable of doing in our professional or academic lives unless we have been pushed to the limit. You can be pushed to the edge in life in two different ways. The first case is the one where life kicks you at the back and you are left with no other choice but to give it your all and invest as much as you can in personal development. For example, when your boss complains about the drop in your work rate, your back is against the wall and the only thing you can do to save your job is to prove him or her wrong as soon as you get the opportunity. The other scenario is where a person raises his or her standards on their own for the sake of their own personal satisfaction. If you are one those people who compete with themselves, then you will find it quite beneficial to engage in personal development practices. It is almost like peeling off the layers of a character, only to introduce a “new you” to yourself.
The Misunderstood Goal of Personal Development
A lot of people have the misconception that the ultimate goal for any personal development plan is to achieve perfection. The concept of perfection can only exist in theories. In the real world on planet Earth, perfection is just another noun that people use to generate random compliments for attractive ladies. Your main aim, when preparing a personal development plan, should be to simply strive to be the best at what you do. As mentioned before, you do not need to be perfect. You do not need to be the employee of the month throughout the year or the best student in class all throughout the semester. Instead, shift your focus towards to doing everything within your capacity to be the best individual that you possibly can be.
Mental Health and Personal Development
Enhancing your skill set and taking care of your health are not the only things that constitute personal development. You need to analyze your mental health and make sure that you have peace of mind before telling people that you have started work on personal development. If you do not want to end up being an old person who has little to no motivation in life, then make sure that you have a passionate pursuit for personal development.