Personal Development, what does It mean to You?

Personal development is a very private matter and what it means to me may not necessarily be the same thing that it means to you. However, there is one aspect of personal development that is the same for each and every one of us - the need to improve.

To be able to improve something, you first need to identify what areas in your life could do with a helping hand. The ability to identify room for improvement lies in a good knowledge of yourself.

The best way to get to know yourself better is to grab a pen and paper and make a list of what you feel your strengths and weaknesses may be. On the reverse side of the paper write down what you feel other people think your strengths and weaknesses may be.

You may find it interesting that two sides of the paper do not exactly correspond. Others may identify a strength in you that you may view as a weakness and vice versa.

Now look at the weaknesses that you identified within yourself and pick one that is not listed on the opposite side of the paper. Think about why you feel that area is a weakness while others don't. Ask yourself whether you lack self-confidence or whether you portray a different picture to the rest of the world?

This could be the first step you can take to personal development. Once you feel you have improved in that area, repeat the exercise and see whether you get the same results.

You also need to pay attention to the strengths that you listed. If you feel you have a strength that other people don't see, why are you hiding it? Remember that strengths are not automatically better than weaknesses and there may be some room for improvement so that everyone will notice a specific strong trait.

Even the strengths that correspond on both sides could always use a bit of work. Most people believe that they need to address their weaknesses in order to become a better person. Starting by building upon and bettering one or more of your strengths can provide you with the foundation you need to address other issues in your weaknesses.

If you are finding it difficult to distinguish between your strengths and weaknesses it may be beneficial to seek some professional help. A life coach or mentor is a great place to start or you could opt for more structured and traditional therapy in the form of counselling.

Professional help is not the only route you can follow and you can also turn to family or friends whom you respect and admire. They already know who you are and can help you more than you think.

Don't be afraid to ask for help along your journey of self development. It is very rare that people achieve any type of personal development or self improvement on their own and the more people you include in your journey the more likely you will be to experience growth.

What to do today

Which area of your life do you want to improve upon, write it down and start to work on it and you will love the results at the end.

Let me know what personal development mean to you. 

Learn How to Differentiate Your Resume With a Winning Strategy

Are you looking for a winning Resume that will make you to stand out, then read this post on Differentiating your resume with a winning strategy. 

reCareered: Differentiate Your Resume With a Winning Strategy: Fishing and Response Resumes

How to Find A Career by Learning a New Language

Career planning is very important for both the young as well as the old. It helps you to determine what to do as a person and how to contribute towards your community, country and the world at large. This career planning series will take us into the depth of some selected careers that we can do when we learn a new language.

 

The study of foreign languages has become necessary in our world today, which is fast becoming a global village due to the improvement in internet and mobile devices. It has become easy to learn a new language in just a few minutes a day to become a fluent speaker in just a matter of weeks.

 

Learning a new language is no more for just children or teenagers but also for mothers and fathers; that is adults. Adults can now learn a new language at the comfort of their homes, offices or on vacation, without going to the classroom or lectures.

Also, language learning has become so easy due to the internet, information and softwares that are easily downloadable. In addition, if anyone is interested in learning a new language; I will recommend the following sites to anyone who want to start at their convenience.

 

If you are interested in learning a new language you can choose a language of your choice and start learning now for free: click to learn Spanish free; click to learn French free; click to learn Chinese free; click to learn German free; click to learn Italian free; click to learn Korean free; click to learn Japanese free; click to learn Arabic free; and click to learn Hindi free.

 

This is just the beginning of a new language experience, next time we will look at the opportunities and the careers we can derive from learning a new language. In a nutshell, we can change our careers by learning a new language.

You are welcome to start learning a new language by choosing one of the languages above.

To your career success.

How to cultivate the Discipline of Courage

Courage requires that you make yourself do what you should do, that you deal with your fears rather than avoiding them.  

a)   The biggest obstacle to success in life is fear of failure, expressed in the feeling that, “I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!”  

b) Courage is a habit, developed by practising courage whenever it is required. As Emerson said, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”  

c)  Make a habit of confronting your fears rather than avoiding them. When you confront the fear and move toward it, especially if it is another person or people or situation, the fear gets smaller and you become braver.  

d) Repeat the words to cancel fear, “I can do it!” over and over, to build up your courage and confidence.  

e) Identify one fear in your life and then discipline yourself to deal with it, to confront it, to do whatever it involves, as quickly as you possibly can. The payoff for identifying a fear and confronting it is tremendous, it gives you the courage and confidence to go through your life and deal with every fear-inducing situation. 

The discipline of courage is really needed if we are to succeed in our lives and careers. 

Do share with us any experiences you have with courage when it came to taking a major decision in your life.