Self-development: what is it and where to start

A lot of people talk about learning. The issue of educating young people is being raised all the time. But what do people do when they graduate from educational institutions? Who should take care of their further development, and is it necessary at all? What skills should be developed as an adult? What knowledge and skills are important?

The answer is to develop. Who is responsible for this? – We ourselves. Therefore, the process of further formation of a personality is self-development, which is much more difficult, because there are no more teachers. Criterion one – efficiency. How to achieve results on your own? We’ll talk about this in this article.

What is self-development?

Self-development is continuous work on oneself, improvement of all spheres of life, formation of the necessary personality traits. It is precisely because a person is engaged in self-development on his own that so many difficulties arise along the way. No government agency is responsible for such services. This is not taught in schools or universities. The maximum that they can give is homework or the names of books for extracurricular training.

With graduation, even that stops. No one is responsible for the person. Many “teachers” and self-development sites have completely different goals than just helping a person in his desire to improve. What to do in this case? – Search by trial and error, listen to your inner voice, critically analyze the information received. And to make it easier to find out how much advice and recommendations correspond to real needs, we will give the basic principles of self-development.

Principles of self-development.

To understand whether the right path is chosen, it is worth understanding what it is connected with. What components complement the process of self-development. What sensations or feelings overwhelm a person if he moves in the right direction. So, 12 principles of self-development.

  • The main goal of working on oneself is happiness and harmony;
  • Feeling of happiness in the person himself, and not from his fame or abundance of money;
  • A positive type of thinking should be developed;
  • Everyone is responsible for his own life;
  • Self-development involves working on oneself;
  • Learning is an important attribute of development;
  • Objectives must be achievable and realistic;
  • The causes of problems or failures are in the people themselves;
  • A person is able to change if he wants to;
  • Emotions are subject to control, they can be controlled;
  • Self-development is not an easy path, but the only correct one;
  • No need to try to become better than others, in the future you need to become better than yourself now.

Do not confuse this process with study or professional growth, which is not always chosen by a person. Society tends to impose stereotypes and clichés, but it depends on the person whether to follow them or not.

Personal self-development involves improvement on the way to its vocation or destiny. All steps on this path should bring positive emotions, give joy. Of course, there may be an “internal struggle” or a reassessment of values, but such moments should not be delayed in time, otherwise a person will drive himself into depression before he reaches his goals. Do not forget that the result of self-development is harmony and happiness. These sensations are not associated with specific material goods. They depend on the totality of all the components that are significant for a person, which will be discussed further.

Self-development and the Wheel of Life Balance.

According to the teachings of the Wheel of Life Balance, eight main areas need to be developed or maintained at a good level:

  • Success at work or in business;
  • financial well-being;
  • Physical and mental health;
  • Spiritual development;
  • Communication with family, close friends;
  • relationship with a partner;
  • Complete rest;
  • Personal development.

Some sites for self-development may modify the structure of the Wheel of Life Balance, replacing individual items with “Solving everyday issues” or “Establishing communication in society.” But these are all details that do not change the overall picture. One should strive for harmony in each of the eight basic directions. Most often, people try to succeed in two or three areas of life, devoting less time to others, or even completely neglecting them. For some time this can bring joy and satisfaction with their successes, but then a person becomes depressed, he feels “out of his element.”

It is a widespread phenomenon when people put all their efforts into building a career or developing a business, forgetting about everything and everyone. Sometimes they really achieve results in this, but looking back from “the height of their pedestal”, they sadly realize that they are absolutely alone, without family and friends. Or the diametrically opposite case, when someone devotes himself to his husband / wife, and after a divorce he realizes that he can do nothing except the role of a housewife.

To avoid such cases, any self-respecting site about self-development advises its readers to develop in all possible directions, so that the insufficient level of one skill does not subsequently overshadow the joy of success in another. What steps to apply in the process of personal improvement will be discussed in the next section.