Self-development definition
Self-development refers to the conscious and purposeful efforts individuals make to enhance their personal and professional skills, knowledge, and abilities. In a working context, it involves acquiring new competencies, improving existing ones, and fostering a proactive mindset to excel in one’s career. In a personal context, self-development encompasses activities aimed at achieving personal growth, self-awareness, and overall well-being. It often involves setting personal and professional improvement goals, seeking feedback, and engaging in continuous learning to become a better version of oneself (see also “blended learning explained“).
The 3 building blocks of self-development
Self development consists of three building blocks, all three of which are interdependent: Self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-change. These building blocks pursue a common goal, namely the further development of an individual’s personality.
Self development training
If you want to find out more about your unique characteristics, it could be wise to consider a professional personality training.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is an important phase of personal development that is similar to taking stock. It is about recognizing your own strengths, weaknesses and abilities without judging them. It is a time of reflection and conscious awareness of one’s own personality. Knowing your own personality is very important not only in your private life, but also in your professional life. Personality tests can be useful tools for learning more about your own strengths and weaknesses.
Practice: A person engaged in self-awareness could, for example, analyze their own strengths and weaknesses to find out in which areas they are particularly talented and which aspects of their personality they would like to develop further. They could also reflect on their own values, beliefs and interests to gain a better understanding of themselves.
Example: A young adult who is engaged in self-awareness may find that they have a talent for creative activities such as painting and writing and enjoy spending time alone to reflect. However, they also recognize that they sometimes have difficulty expressing their opinions and would like to develop more self-confidence in social situations.
Self-acceptance
The self-acceptance phase aims to accept yourself and your own personality. It is about accepting yourself with all your rough edges and appreciating yourself. Positive self-acceptance is the basis for healthy personal development and empowerment.
Practice: Self-acceptance involves accepting and appreciating your own personality, including your own strengths and weaknesses, without devaluing yourself or comparing yourself to others. It is about accepting yourself as you are and not constantly criticizing or judging yourself.
Example: A person who works on self-acceptance could learn to accept their own faults and flaws and not constantly compare themselves to others. They recognize that they are not perfect, but still valuable and lovable just the way they are. They can look at themselves with more kindness and compassion.
Self-change
The building block of self-change is the actual development step in self development. This phase requires willpower and discipline. Goals are set and strived for in order to develop personally. This often requires courage and perseverance to break new ground and let go of old patterns. You literally leave your comfort zone.
Practice: Self-change involves taking active steps to bring about tangible change. While the first two steps of personal development largely take place in the mind, here changes are initiated in everyday life.
Example: A person working on self-change might aim to improve their communication skills by actively working on their expression and empathy. They could attend communication training, read books on interpersonal relationships and consciously practice social situations to improve their skills. They consciously challenge themselves to step out of their comfort zone and actively work on changing their personality.
Bonus: Leave your comfort zone!
In order to develop your personality, it is important to leave your comfort zone. Well, that’s easier said than done. Many people tend to get a little too comfortable in their comfort zone. Because, as the name suggests, it symbolizes a sort of safe space. So it’s worth pushing ahead with your personal development, evolving and breaking out of your comfort zone. How can you do this? We have a few tips for you.
1. Accept your comfort zone
Everyone has their individual comfort zone, and unfortunately you can’t make it go away overnight. Accept that there is an area in which you feel absolutely comfortable. Think of it as your resourceĀ and your retreat. But also find out where your true limits lie. Challenge yourself.
2. Take things slowly
Of course, you don’t have to put everything on the line overnight. You can slowly but surely break out of your comfort zone and gradually increase your room for maneuver. Incorporate small changes into your everyday life.
3. Don’t stop trying and expand your comfort zone
You’ve done it; you’ve made your first steps and ventured out of your comfort zone. Now repeat this step a few times; soon a new routine will set in. Unknown factors become known factors, just keep in mind: nothing can happen to you. Now is the right time to expand your comfort zone and throw yourself into the next adventure.
4. Draw out the worst-case scenario
This is not intended to discourage you, but to show you what can really happen in the worst case scenario. Most of the time, it’s not as bad as you first thought. Let’s say you resign and go to another company. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll have to look for a new job or invest energy in improving the working atmosphere. But what if it gets much better? Much better than you could ever have imagined?
5. Allow yourself to fail
A healthy approach to crises creates the ideal basis for surviving outside the comfort zone. You will probably fail, have to take a step back or even give up on a project. But don’t let the thought of a potential defeat spoil your adventures.
Setbacks can help you grow
Personal development through self-change is associated with ups, downs and setbacks. The retrospective is incredibly important in order to learn from setbacks and continuously improve. Find out more in our comprehensive retrospective workshop.
The importance of personal/self development
Personal development is of great importance in all areas of life, including professional life. Managers in particular benefit from positive self development. Especially in leadership positions, strong personalities are characterized by mental strength, satisfaction and excellent crisis management skills. Even if the process is often exhausting and sometimes associated with painful self-awareness, the result is worth it (tip: use a mindmap to structure your own self development).
Self development, but make it fun!
As a manager, it is also worth knowing about the different personalities within the team. This can contribute to positive team development. Your own personality has a huge influence on team dynamics, and with it on communication, problem-solving and collaboration within your team.
Personality development doesn’t have to be boring, though! Our new online co-op game Monax Island aims to analyze and strengthen the individual personalities within your team. The aim is to escape together as a team from the desert island on which you are stranded. This requires brains, skill and, of course, a lot of teamwork! With the clever analyses, you can analyze the group dynamics of your team, observe progress and find out where there may still be gaps in cooperation. Curious? Then book a demo with founder Paul Stanzenberger and form your own opinion of Monax Island!
