Personal Development
R E F L E C T I O N Personal development is a way to better understand yourself, your unique personality
and potentials, your strengths and weaknesses, your aspirations and your talents. It is not
just a method of solving problems in your life but rather it is a way of growing. It is your
means to a better life, to become an improved version of yourself. We need to feed our brain
with positive things and new information every day because each day is a new story. This
could make us happier motivated, inspired, more energy, have better quality relationships,
can stop us from complaining and we can also inspire others. The more we learn about
ourselves, the better life we will be able to create. I believe that the only way to grow is to
develop our character and that’s why personal development is the key to success in life. It is
our spiritual need and ability to contribute beyond ourselves.
Personal development process includes self-actualization, self-discovery, self-
development and self-mastery. The first step in personal development is self-discovery. It is
the process of understanding ourselves deeply. It includes understanding our own self,
character, needs, values and purpose in life. There are two key components of self-discovery:
self-exploration and thriving. Self-exploration is exploring of our personal interests. This
includes our hopes and dreams in the future. Thriving, on the other hand, is a self-discovery
that leads to self-knowledge. It enables us to guide ourselves towards situations and
experiences that we will thrive. Self-Reflection is the first step in the self-discovery process.
It will allow us to refocus our mind and concentrate on our inner self and allow us to
examine how we see ourselves. Through self-reflection, we could explore our individual
personality, natural preferences, values, beliefs, preferred styles and tendencies in order to
become self-aware. Through self-reflection we become aware of who we are. Self-awareness
is an insightful understanding of our personality, values, tendencies and beliefs. It is about
knowing and understanding the core of who we are. Key areas of self-awareness include our
personality traits, values, emotions, habits and the psychological needs that motivate our
behaviors. Next, self-development, it is the process of consciously improving yourself in
various aspects of our life. It has several elements which includes self-knowledge, self-
assessment and action steps. Self-knowledge is the bridge between self-discovery and self-
development. It identifies what we know about ourselves. Through self-knowledge, we can
understand our strengths to build upon and identify the areas we need to improve. Self-
assessment is the process of looking at oneself in order to assess aspects that are important
to one's identity. It is one of the motives that drive self-evaluation, along with self-
verification and self-enhancement. It is different from awareness and discovery, because it
determines or measures an amount, value, importance, extent or rate of something. The main
component of self-development is the development of skills and personal growth. Through
effective skill enhancement we become more competent, capable and confident in ourselves
and in our abilities. We should also focus on developing our personal effectiveness. Personal
effectiveness means utilization of all of our skills, talent, and energy to reach a goal or set
of goals in life. Self-mastery is our ability to recognize, understand, control, and make the
most out of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self. It is often defined as self-
control, the ability to exert a strong will against our impulses to steer our future to one of
our choosing. But this is only one aspect of the term. Self-mastery requires having a vision
for your future self and harnessing the will to realize that vision. Lastly, self-actualization,
often defined as self-control, the ability to exert a strong will against our impulses to steer
our future to one of our choosing. But this is only one aspect of the term. It represents the
growth of an individual toward fulfillment of the highest needs and the capabiliy of
achieving it.
Personal development is all about self-growth. The more you learn about yourself,
the better life you will be able to create. To understand yourself, you need to be able to
know why you are doing the things in your life. According to Tony Robbins, all humans have
6 basic human needs. Four of them are personality needs and two of them are spiritual
needs. Personality needs include a need for certainty, need for variety, need for significance
and need for connection and love. Spiritual needs include the need for growth and
contribution. When you understand these human needs, you can decide what kind of person
you want to be. The most Important part of personal development is to get rid of any
negative habits. Problems are part of life, but we need to choose how to deal with them. We
are very often stuck in our minds when we have a problem and are not able to find the
solution. That’s why we need to educate ourselves to get a completely new outlook on our
own situation.
