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Why does personal growth advice often sound the same March 10, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.
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In our search for ways to realize our personal development potential, we may find, after reading a lot of books, articles, blogs, and specialty websites, that the basic principles or fundamentals seem to be similar from source to source.

There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one is that the basic or primary principles of personal growth are, in fact, well established and recognized.

From religious texts thousands of years old to the new materials of today, the fundamentals of ideal human behaviour have not changed significantly.

And, if we are honest with ourselves, we often already know (even intuitively) what the main foundation blocks are for reaching our personal growth potential.

So, knowledge of the basics is the easy part.

The tough work is the implementation.

We know what we should be doing (the basics), but we have trouble figuring out how to do it.

We know our personal-change challenges – what we are looking for is solutions or ways to succeed with meeting our challenges.

That’s why there can be real value in reading a varity of writers on personal development.

When we continue reading information from a variety of experts we can find  new ideas, tips, plans, or templates for implementing the basic principles.

For example, even though I already know I need to change some of my attitudes (such as not being judgemental) it’s important for me to find some practical suggestions and advice as to how to accomplish my goal.

And I may need to read a lot of material from different experts to be successful.

 

Personal growth vectors: Seven suggestions March 4, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Goal Setting and Realization.
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In addition to building knowledge and practical skills, one of the key reasons people engage in a program of personal growth is to work at realizing the full potential inherent in developing a mature personality.

This applies regardless of the age at which we begin a serious individual effort to maximize personal development in our lives.

In many cases, what can work for a young person can apply equally well to many of us as we grow older.

Arthur W. Chickering, an educational researcher known for his seminal research on the personal development needs of undergraduate students, identified seven vectors of personal development for young adults during their undergraduate years.(1)

(1) Developing competence

(2) Managing emotions

(3) Achieving autonomy and interdependence

(4) Developing mature interpersonal relationships

(5) Establishing identity

(6) Developing purpose

(7) Developing integrity

This seems like a good set of guideposts for our personal growth programs that we could apply regardless of our stage in life.

(1) Source: Wikipedia