Personal Development Ideas

Personal growth as a practical belief system April 17, 2014

As a student and practitioner of personal development you are aware of the criticism leveled at self-improvement by some writers who regard the movement as a fuzzy concept of vague intentions that produces difficult-to-measure results.

However, your own experience has shown this view to be erroneous. You have seen the changes in your life brought about by your study and applications of the principles of self-development.

Overall you have strong faith or belief that the personal growth movement is actually a practical applications system producing tangible improvements, rather than being an impractical concept based on wishful thinking.

Conscientious students of self-improvement operate with a belief system in which the following concepts are considered to be true:

• There is significant potential for improvement in people’s value systems, lives, and actions
• Increased self-awareness can lead to the betterment of our own life and the lives of those around us
• Increasing self-knowledge is important if we are to understand our own life-performance and the actions and motivations of others
• Without self-actualization there is little we can do to understand or help others
• Developing purpose for ourselves unlocks many keys to growth
• Effective personal growth requires a skill set that can be studied and learned
• Developing our personal strengths and talents is a duty we owe ourselves
• Managing our emotions is one of the keys to a less stressful and more rewarding life
• Building our own self esteem helps us increase our empathy towards other people
• Achieving personal growth with humility enables us to help others through our actions and example
• People can change their behaviour and thought processes or patterns and thereby move onto a more productive and rewarding emotional and intellectual plane

As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”