Personal development and growth

Hi, welcome to the ninth day of The Leads Intellectual challenge: a 30-day challenge with Fatai Kareem. If you would like to know how to build your self-esteem, read the seventh day challenge here.

Today, he will be discussing how you can achieve personal development and growth. If you would like to greatly improve your chances of being successful in every area of your life, then focus on continuous personal development through which you can become the best of whom you want to become. What is personal development? What is personal growth?

Personal development is any activity you undertake in order to improve your mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, intellectual and/or financial state. It is the work you do to get from who you are to who you would like to become. While personal growth is the product of the personal development. It is becoming that person you would like to be by undergoing personal development.

Personal development and growth is a lifelong, transformational process through which you discover your full potential and live up to it. This process starts with knowing your status quo and having a clear and precise picture of who you would like to become at the end. You can start by asking yourself these six questions and provide answers to them in your personal journal:

• who am I now? 

State your potential, achievements, strength, weakness, good habits and poor habits.

• who do I want to become? 

State things you would like to achieve and things you would like to improve or change about yourself, that will make you to become your desired self. Be clear about it. 

• why do I need to become my desired self?

State the importance of having those achievements, developing yourself in those areas you would like to improve and change about yourself. Will it make your life more fulfilled and happier? Anything that will not contribute to your success and happiness does not worth spending your time on.

• how do I become my desired self?

State those things you need to do, knowledge and skills you need to acquire, and experience that needs to happen for you to become your desired self. Find resources that can help you achieve this.

• what is the possible time frame for me to achieve my desired self?

State how long you are likely to engage in those activities that will help you to become your desired self. State those factors that could hinder your progress and how you can manage those things. Then, prepare a schedule that will show how long you are likely to engage in those activities. This will keep you focused and consistent.

• how do I measure my progress?

State criteria for measuring how well you are improving.

In order to achieve a better result, there is need for having personal development goals, which will ensure that you are continuously creating more meaningful and satisfying life for yourself. 

These are examples of personal development goals you can pursue and how you can achieve them:

1. Improve upon your weakness

Setting the goal to improve upon your weakness will ensure that you become better and improve your chances of succeeding at things you do. This involves understanding those areas of your life that need to be improved, and taking necessary steps to improve them. 

You can achieve this goal by:

• paying attention to those things you can not perform well, or that is limiting you, then take necessary steps to improve them.

• Asking your family, partner or trusted friends about your weakness and how well you are improving upon it.

• Finding resources on how to improve upon your weakness.

• Seeking professional guidance and advice. 

• Reading books, watching videos and taking courses that will help you achieve the improvement. 

• Practising what you have learnt. 

• being with people who will help you improve.

2. Develop your emotional intelligence

Developing your emotional intelligence will help you to understand your emotions and other people's emotions, and be more emotionally stable and empathetic. This will also help you improve your communication skills and interpersonal skills.

You can achieve this goal by:

• learning and practising the four principal elements of EQ, which are self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and social skills.

• building your emotional vocabulary.

• practising mindfulness and keeping a journal for it. 

• knowing your emotional triggers and how best to react to them.

• taking an objective look at yourself and questioning your opinion.

• taking an emotional intelligence test.

• taking an emotional intelligence course.

• being prepared for change and making a coping strategy for the stress that comes with the change.

• building your sense of self-motivation.

• being empathetic and sympathetic.

3. Develop effective time management skills

Having effective time management skills will help improve your productivity and efficiency, reduce your stress, and enable you to have more time for yourself and your loved ones. 

You can achieve this goal by:

• prioritising your daily tasks. Do most important tasks first.

• organising your daily tasks, schedule or target in a reasonable manner.

• monitoring and keeping track of the time you spend on each task.

• timing yourself for each task and paying attention to what brings about variation between the targeted time and spent time.

• Scheduling a specific amount of time for every item on your to-do list and don't allow interruptions during these times.

• having a reminder for each task and item on your to-do list.

• finding resources and taking courses on time management and productivity.

• using time management and productivity tools.

• having a backup plan in case you can not meet up with the target.

• having a reward system for task well done within targeted time.

4. Build effective your communication skills

Building effective communication skills helps you to communicate, collaborate and interact better with other people. It enables you to express your ideas with clarity and understand other people's ideas better.

You can achieve this goal by:

• learning and practising 7 Cs of communication while writing or speaking. This involves being clear, courteous, correct, concise, coherent, complete and concrete.

• listening to other people with an open mind and calmness.

• reading what other people write with open mind and calmness; paying attention to details.

• being honest and truthful in your interaction.

• maintaining eyes contact when speaking or listening.

• being aware of your body language and making necessary adjustment.

• being empathetic.

• asking questions to clarify any assumption or obscure word.

• showing your appreciation and pleasure.

• avoiding being distracted while writing, speaking or listening.

• developing a positive disposition.

• being hygienic and smart in your appearance.

• showing respect for other people's views and engaging in a friendly argument as it may seem appropriate.

• accepting constructive criticism and seeking feedback.

• finding resources and taking courses on improving your communication skills.

To learn more about other personal development goals you can pursue and how you can achieve them, check this post on develop good habits.

You can improve yourself through these ways:

• reading variety of books and expand your library.

• taking up a new course to improve your skills  and expand your expertise horizon.

• listening to the stories of great and successful men. Learn from their failure and success.

• expanding your network and professional connections.

• stretching out of your comfort zone and taking up a new challenge.

• reading and listening to news and being updated.

• engaging in humanitarian and voluntary activities and impacting lives.

• having a mentor and someone to mentor.

• teaching what you know and learning from others. 

• playing strategy games, puzzle games and brain teaser games.

• writing what you know or learn as a book or article and sharing it with your colleagues, friends and family.

• spending more time with people that inspire you.

• quitting bad habits and cultivating good ones.

• planning for the future and settling SMART goals to achieve your dreams.

• learning to do one thing in different ways.

• scheduling your activities with time and keeping track of how well you perform those activities.

• being open to constructive criticism and seeking feedback.

• taking note of things you can not perform well and trying to improve on them.

• building your public speaking skill.

Case study

1. Joy, a hard-working secretary, finds her job overwhelming due to large documents she has to prepare every day. She is frustrated because she is poor at managing her time properly. What can she do to perform better?

2. Faruq is a guy with lots of achievements. He sees himself to have attained his full potential, hence he doesn't worry about personal development and growth. Meanwhile, he is not good at relating with other people. Is he right? How can you explain to him the importance of personal development and growth.

Disclaimer: All names used are for illustration purpose.

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