Personal Development Strategies: Self-Awareness, Skills, and Growth

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of personal development, emphasizing self-awareness as a cornerstone for identifying strengths and weaknesses, critical analysis, and rational decision-making. It highlights the significance of applying acquired knowledge through practical experiences to hone skills and capabilities. The essay further explores the interplay between financial and lifestyle developments, advocating for a holistic approach that encompasses physical and mental well-being, social relationships, and emotional intelligence. Drawing on personal anecdotes and insights, the author underscores the importance of setting a clear mission and vision, identifying supportive initiatives, and continuously assessing skills and qualities to achieve personal and professional growth. The essay also references the work of Chambers, linking personal well-being to responsible development, and concludes by advocating for a commitment to poverty reduction and societal equity as integral components of individual development. The essay provides a comprehensive overview of how to develop oneself as a human being with high potential.

Running head: DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Development can be defined as the procedure which helps in creation of growth and
progress as well as positive changes or the addition of economic, environmental, physical as ell
as a social and different demographic components. The main purpose of the development can be
determined by the rise in the level as well as the quality of life in the population. It also covers
the expansion of the different local regional incomes as well as different employment
opportunities of individuals. (Johnson, Robertson and Cooper 2017). This should not however
mean damaging the resources of the environment. Development includes an aspect of quality
change along with the creation of conditions that are required for continuation of changes.
I have appreciated the work of Amartya Sen who has provided the capability approach.
This can be defined as the tool which enables people to reach their highest levels of ability. This
according to him can be done by granting freedom through actions which may include freedom
of economic, social as well as family actions. This approach had been made a basis for the
measurement of development as Human Development Index called the HDI by the United
Nations in the year 1990. On the personal front, development mainly comprises of the activities
which help in improving our awareness and identity (Ross et al. 2014). This help in developing
the talent and the potential of the individual. It also helps in building of human capital and
facilitating employability. All these aspects of development are needed to ensure enhancement of
quality lives and also contribution to realization of different dreams that we possess.
As an individual, I have noted several areas where I need to take initiatives to develop myself to
reach my potential as a student. The first factor which I believe is very important for
development is self awareness. Being aware of the negative and positive aspects about own self
and trying hard to overcome the barriers towards success and achieving potential is very
important as it marks and important pathway to success (Paris and Santario 2015). Previously, I

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used to take life as it used to offer me or affect me. I was not self aware and therefore could not
judge the initiatives I take while completing my task in life. With the help of self reflection
strategies, I have learnt to develop my self-awareness skills which had made me develop my
critical analyzing skills. This had helped me to think rationally before undertaking a task and
hence the chances of making mistakes had lessened.
The term development is intricately associated with knowledge and over the years, experts have
advised of every individual in gaining knowledge to develop their skills and exhibit better
workmanship (Driesson and vanTartwijk 2013). However, I believe that only gathering
knowledge is not enough in developing oneself. Rather the individual should pass through
various experienced where he should apply the knowledge in order to make the use of the
knowledge gathered and to test his or her own capability. Applying knowledge learnt in
institutions or workplaces in practical lives and handling situations effectively helps in meeting
the main aim of development.
Another interesting factor associated with development is that taking initiatives that would
involve overall development of lifestyles and social outlook of people. For this, it becomes very
important for the individual to not only pressurize more important in development of financial
condition (Chou et al. 2014). There are many individuals who believe that financial development
may lead to lifestyle developments. However this is not true in all the cases as I have
experienced many scenarios where a rich individual is not still happy with the development in
his life. This is mainly because lifestyle factors also include maintaining physical health and
mental health in the proper ways. An individual who undertakes proper diets, exercises and leads
life in a disciplined manner can ensure development of his lifestyles which brings happiness and
prosperities.

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Developing social relationship and emotional intelligence are also important as every student
would become a professional and both the components ensure success and stability at workplace
(Baruh and Cemaclar 2014). My own brother had been an example. He was a top grader in his
business administration studies and was as assigned as a leader in a group of eight individual in a
multicultural company. Although he was a very smart professional but somehow he was not
succeeding. I noticed that he was mainly lacking in his social skills where he was not being able
to connect with his workers on an emotional ground. Therefore the development which was
wanted by the employer in the sales figures was not achieved. However with proper initiatives,
he gradually developed relationship building skills. Not only had that he becomes more social
and tolerant at his workplace. He gave scope to people to express their concerns. He understood
development of both formal and informal relationships to be important and provided respect to
cultures. All these development helped in reaching the goals. Therefore social development is
also important to develop human potential in the competitive world.
I have seen a tendency in my friends that they believe personal development plans only include
development of oneself with the utilization of proper strategies that ensure betterment of
performance and being good human beings. However, I have a different overview of that besides
personal development plan, a better human being would also make grounds for other individuals
to develop with proper mentoring, teaching and guiding them to betterment. I believe that I
should not only uptake tasks that would enhance my own skills but would also help my
colleagues, friends and team members by extending support in every way possible. By helping
others, I can brush up my skills and also realize my loop holes which are indeed some
developmental strategies that I would like to apply in my future endeavors.

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The article provided by Chambers has been of immense help as it had helped me in linking
development with the situation of well being. He had provided much importance on the different
experiences of well being which can be achieved when an individual maintains personal
responsibilities. It holds important connections about how different people see it in relations with
themselves, with others and also with other environment. I am in support of his view where he
had stated that well being on a personal ground should involve the responsibility of development
of all individuals. I have gained an insight from my personal experiences that by decreasing the
poverty can ensure development of the ill being but by increasing wealth does not necessarily
ensure well being of people. Therefore in my developmental attributes and plans, I would try my
best to make my society less prone to poverty by stopping exploitations over the poor. Providing
proper livelihood securities, ensuring safety and sustainability would not only help in
development of the society but through society would ensure my development a well (Chambers
1997).
Therefore, from the above areas of discussion, I have understood that in order to develop myself
as a human being with high potential, the first important things that I have to incorporate is a
proper mission and vision. The mission would be to make myself a better human being with all
humanly attributes of kindness, helpful, love, sharing and understanding. Moreover my aim is
also to be good student and better professional in the future along with the hope of aspiring to be
a healthy and successful individual of the nation. The first step is to set up a vision. The second
step would be to identify what initiatives I would take to achieve the vision. The third point
would be to identify the main importance and worth which will result when we would be
successful in achieving the vision. Basically, it helps in understanding the benefits which I can
get form fulfilling the vision. The fourth point that I also would be inculcating in my

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development plan is the identification of the support that I will need on my way of developing
my attitudes, behaviors, skills and knowledge. The fifth and the sixth step of my development
would be to undertake proper assessment of the skills and analyzing my knowledge. This should
be followed by properly assessing the personal qualities and identifying the loop holes associated
with it. The next eight steps would be to develop a proper personal development plan followed
by the next step of preparing a career plan. The last and the most important step would be to
monitor the changes required, evaluate the outcomes of changes and thereby adapt to better
characteristics for ensuring my development with proper traits of being social beings.
Form the entire discussion; I have decided that in order to develop ourselves to be a better
person, several outlooks need to be modified. Firstly, self awareness is very much important
along with development of knowledge and skills. This should be followed by application of
skills in life experiences which would help us in developing ourselves better professionals.
Financial developments only do not result in positive effects. Rather, lifestyle changes for better
healthy and prosperous lives by proper diets, exercises, self maintenance and other ensure well
being. Livelihood security, sustainability, equity, capabilities are all interconnected and all the
factors should be incorporated in own life to ensure responsible well being an a happy and
prosperous lives.

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References:
Baruh, L. and Cemalcılar, Z., 2014. It is more than personal: Development and validation of a
multidimensional privacy orientation scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 70, pp.165-
170.
Chambers, R., 1997. Responsible well-being—A personal agenda for development. World
development, 25(11), pp.1743-1754.
Chou, C. L., Hirschmann, K., Fortin, A. H., and Lichstein, P. R. 2014. The impact of a faculty
learning community on professional and personal development: the facilitator training program
of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare. Academic Medicine, 89(7), 1051-
1056.
Driessen, E. and van Tartwijk, J., 2013. Portfolios in personal and professional
development. Understanding medical education: Evidence, theory and practice, pp.193-200.
Johnson, S., Robertson, I. and Cooper, C.L., 2018. Improving Psychological Well-Being:
Personal Development and Resilience. In Well-Being (pp. 111-123). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Pais, L. and Santos, N.R.D., 2015. Knowledge‐sharing, cooperation, and personal
development. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Training, Development, and
Performance Improvement, pp.278-302.
Ross, J., Head, K., King, L., Perry, P.M. and Smith, S., 2014. The personal development tutor
role: An exploration of student and lecturer experiences and perceptions of that
relationship. Nurse education today, 34(9), pp.1207-1213.