This may seem an odd one at first. I’m sure most of us think of mandatory professional development days for our job. But personal development shouldn’t be a chore. It is simply learning with the aim of improving something about ourselves and we can learn from a vast myriad of choices. Let us take a closer look at the next of our elegant values – personal development.
Why is Personal Development Important?
I think these quotes sum it up well:
What is Personal Development?
Personal development is simply learning anything that will improve our skills and knowledge – it doesn’t have to look like formal study from college or university. Watching a video, listening to a podcast or reading a how-to book can all improve our lives.
What are the Benefits of Personal Development?
Improving our knowledge and skills has many benefits. A broad knowledge of many topics enables us to be more interesting conversationalists. Learning helps keep our mind sharp – we certainly don’t want to stop growing! A wider knowledge base gives us confidence to navigate new situations and helps us not to feel out of our depth when networking or making new friends. Learning anything new, whether is a cooking technique, a hairstyle or etiquette, teaches us discipline, patience and persistence.
Why is Personal Development an Elegant Value?
Elegance is about making others feel comfortable. It is having self-confidence, a poise and calmness to our life. Increasing our knowledge broadens our thinking and enables us to make others feel at ease by our understanding. A wider variety of skills and abilities gives us a tremendous boost is staying calm and navigating life smoothly We are less likely to feel lost when faced with a new situation. Our skills also give us the enjoyment of completing our everyday tasks easily and well.
How Can We Fit Personal Development into Our Lives?
Some of these ideas will depend on your stage of life. When we are overwhelmed with a needy baby and sleep deprivation, it can be hard to think of learning anything at all. But our lives are definitely enriched by any effort we make to learn something. It is a matter of being flexible. There are so many options available to us:
YouTube – great for learning just about anything, but especially new skills.
Online courses – short online courses such as Skillshare.
Books – your local library probably has books to learn just about anything!
Formal study – many colleges/universities offer online degrees.
Certificates – most independent institutions also offer online courses for their certificates.
Audiobooks – great if you have your eye on a book but struggle to find time to read it.
Podcasts – podcasts are becoming more and more popular and there is highly likely to be one on a topic you want to learn about!
What is something that you can learn that will improve your knowledge or your skills? How can you learn it? Online, YouTube, a book? Sometimes it seems overwhelming with all the things we want or need to learn but I want you to pick just one to start with. Remember done is better than perfect! One new skill is better than nothing learnt at all.
I hope I have inspired you to think of something new you are going to learn! I would love to hear what it is – you can leave a comment or join me over on Instagram at thethrivingmum. If you missed the first post in this series, you can find it here.
