What is personal development and why is it important?

What is personal development and why is it important?

Personal development is the process of reflecting on your skills and qualities, considering how they relate to your goals in life, and identifying ways to build the strengths you need to succeed. Engaging in the lifelong process of personal growth can pay dividends in your inner life, your family life, your relationships, and in your professional development.

Think about childhood development as an analogy. As an infant grows from a toddler to a preschooler into childhood and then adolescence, they acquire crucial skills like walking, talking, fine motor skills, reading, and countless others. While we may be finished with the dramatic physical growth of childhood, we must continue to learn the more sophisticated skills we need for success in the adult world: patience and discipline, financial and career planning, listening at the office and at home, finding a sense of inner calm in the midst of a hectic day, and so much more.

The path you take in your personal development is different for everyone. Approaches to achieving personal growth are as different as the individual qualities and goals guiding them. But, as the explosion of interest in this field in recent years attests, personal development is something we can all learn about no matter what stage of life we are in.