Invest In Yourself – Personal Development
The term personal development, although used often, seems to be thrown around rather loosely. I found it best defined in an article from Wisdomtimes; “the idea of personal development is about harnessing and enriching the innate potential of the individual to ultimately become a realized, happier, and balanced person in a chaotic and ever-changing world.” In many professions you are mandated to keep up on your CE (continuing education) but I feel just as important is having some standard of personal development. I am grateful that here at VAST we take great pride in both, and really invest in the all-around well-being of our employees.
Creating time to invest in yourself through personal development can benefit you and help you reach your fullest potential in all areas of your life. Below are six core benefits of personal development from “Coaching Positive Performance.”
- Self-Awareness: “You get to know who you really are; your values, beliefs and the purpose you wish to pursue.” This allows you to become more intune with the messages or feelings you have that previously you would have let slip by without even noticing. “True fulfillment can never come from chasing other people’s dreams.”
- A sense of direction: “When you have a clear sense of direction, you can eliminate anything which does not take you in that direction.” This will allow you to shift your focus from quantity to quality.
- Improved focus and effectiveness: “When you see each task, project and activity for what it is, you feel less desire to be distracted.”
- More motivation: “Once you accept that personal development is a continuous journey and you commit to that journey; you realize that each day you will become a little clearer about what you want and you will start to see how achieving your goal will improve your life. Instead of motivating yourself for the big goal, you only need enough motivation to take the next step.
- Greater resilience: “Personal development is not just above improving your life by helping you be, do and have more of what you want. It improves your life by helping you deal better with negative experiences too. If you can’t change the circumstance, you can change your attitude towards the experience.”
- More fulfilling relationships: “Give more of your time to the people who make you better and less to those who bring you down. Every area of your life will benefit as a result.”
There are tons of personal development opportunities out there. Whether it be reading a book, listening to podcasts, getting together with your mentor, etc., you owe it to yourself to invest in you. Your future self will thank you.
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