The article explains:
- What is personal self-development
- Why is it important to engage in self-development?
- Why people don't want to develop
- Where to start self-development: 5 steps
- 5 books on self-development
- 5 films for self-development
Even at a young age, we begin to gain a lot of new, interesting, useful knowledge about the world, about ourselves, about relationships with other people. The list of new information was updated daily thanks to mentors, parents, and teachers. They all tried to teach us the most useful things for further success, but childhood is left behind and now each of us must pave the way to happiness ourselves, engage in self-development and build our own bright future.
What is self-development
The term “self-development” means a complex, ongoing process of a person’s work on himself, covering literally all areas of life - intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional and many others. This transformation should not take place under duress or force; The subject must understand and accept the benefits of this himself.
Self-development can be broken down into several components:
- increasing your own awareness;
- self management;
- development of strength and will.
Only with the combination of these three components is self-development considered truly complete, capable of revealing a person’s personality, his potential and ultimately leading to the realization of his innermost dreams.
You can engage in self-development alone (watching motivational films or reading scientific literature), or you can seek the help of professionals (hire a trainer/self-development coach). You need to look for a mentor very carefully, his aspirations must coincide with yours, you need to have a desire to be like him.
Necessary development
There is a development that is predetermined by completely objective reasons related to professional activity or business. This is updating professional knowledge and mastering new technologies. Interestingly, this type of development is often neglected, believing that development should come from personal desire and not be fueled by necessity, but this is not entirely true. You can also accept professional knowledge with irritation and boredom, or you can absorb it like a sponge, with joyful excitement and a sense of self-worth and great pleasure.
About creative potential and its development
Why people don't want to develop
Yes, in words - everything is simple. It would seem that it costs nothing to open a personal growth training on a video hosting right now or read a book on self-development. But there are many obstacles that hinder our self-improvement:
Lack of willpower.
Scientists have been asking the question for many years: why some people have willpower and others do not. And is it possible to somehow change this?
The willpower available to a person allows him to follow his decisions and do whatever it takes to achieve his goals without succumbing to laziness, reluctance or procrastination.
So, this ability can and should be developed. There are 2 main methods. The first is doing, when a person through force every day does something that he does not want, but which is very useful, for example, running in the morning in any weather. The second is non-doing, when a person consciously refuses things that harm him, for example, quits smoking or eating sweets.
3 steps towards limitless possibilities!
No motivation.
If a person has motivation, then he is capable of, if not everything, then a lot. They say: if what was planned did not come true, it means that the person simply did not want it very much.
There are several ways to motivate yourself, one of them is proper goal setting. When you clearly know what you want, it will be easier for you to think through ways to get there and implement your plans. If you want a lot of money, then try to understand why you need it? Maybe this is related to something else? For example, do you really want to buy something, but the purchase is only possible if you have a large amount? Or do you want to help a close friend, and only finances can really help?
And now the statistics! (based on Rosstat data 2013)
We will round the numbers a little. Well, what do you think is the probability of being killed if in total 1 million 871 thousand 809 people died in 2013? The total number of people killed (intentional, unintentional, careless...) is about 14,500, yes, many deaths are not registered, even if this number is tripled, then the probability of BEING KILLED is LESS than 2.5%! At the same time, there are 28,000 suicides in the Russian Federation! You would rather kill yourself than have someone do it for you. There are about 20,000 people killed in road accidents. Now you understand the absurdity and stupidity of the expression “You will be killed by a goof on the street!”
A few more points. They like to talk a lot about terrorism, “... if you see a forgotten package, tell the police,” they talk about the fight against terrorism and drugs more than about alcoholism and cigarettes, meanwhile, 14,500 people died from alcohol poisoning alone, while only from drugs 3000, and from terrorism, attention, 139 people! Although, of course, there are many times more alcoholics than drug addicts.
Where to start self-development: 5 steps
Step No. 1. Awareness of the need for change.
First you need to consciously come to the conclusion that changes are necessary. It doesn’t hurt to take a critical look at yourself, your own life, and compare your current situation with the performance of those you want to emulate. And, of course, immediately begin self-development:
- "Distortion" of the world . It happens that a person begins to notice changes in the behavior of everyone around him, or notices some things that frighten him in everyday life. This may mean that due to routine work, due to dissatisfaction and unfulfillment, his body sends SOS signals, literally calls for change, so as not to completely go crazy.
- Feeling of degradation and standing still . If you begin to do things unthinkable for yourself or feel complete apathy for everything that is happening around you, then you need to change something before you reach complete degradation. You need to do the same if you become aware of the purposelessness of existence, a complete lack of aspirations, and indifference to comprehending something new.
- An inexplicable feeling of anxiety inside . If it increasingly seems to you that danger lurks at every step, you foresee impending troubles and feel an unbearable burden of problems and depressive thoughts, then you urgently need to begin self-realization, and the first thing is to turn to a psychologist for qualified help.
- Procrastination . If you put off every task until later, and then start doing them at the very last moment, then you are a procrastinator. It seems that this is not the worst characteristic of a person - true, but think about it: the accumulating burden of unfulfilled tasks can simply lead to a nervous breakdown, which will completely destroy the nervous system. The problems are somewhat deeper, because if you put off important things, it means you simply don’t like doing them! Maybe you should change your priorities and set yourself those motivating goals that will completely suit you?
- The emergence of bad habits . This instruction is as old as time - get rid of bad habits! This hackneyed truth is actually very important. In fact, a person starts smoking, drinking, and using illegal substances because he has nothing to occupy his time! You are wasting this valuable time of self-realization, undermining your health!
Understanding the root cause of a problem is not always easy, because our mind can specifically build protective barriers: they say, everything is temporary and will resolve itself. Yes, if you have been working for a whole year without a break and suddenly a feeling of apathy arises, then this is just overwork - you should take a vacation, rest, and after that everything will work out. But if you live aimlessly for a long time, apathy has become chronic, then you need to pull yourself together and solve the problem that has arisen.
Step No. 2. Find your shortcomings and identify areas for development.
The next step on the path to self-development will be the search and understanding of what should be changed first. Understand your own shortcomings. Think about what prevents you from opening up, what is an obstacle to a happy life? What prevents you from enjoying and enjoying life?
If you dream of moving up the career ladder, then think about a new approach, perhaps you should develop some new skills. If you suffer from internal experiences, then contact a specialist in the field of psychology, he will help in solving these problems. The main thing is to determine the direction of development.
Option 2
Our world does not stand still; changes are constantly taking place in it, to which we need to adapt. People face difficulties due to a lack of understanding of what is happening, both professionally and personally. To avoid this, you need to constantly develop and keep up with the times. Only self-development can lead a person to success.
For example, the main character of the novel I.A. Goncharov “Oblomov” abandoned all attempts at personal improvement. All day long he just lay on the sofa in his favorite robe and dreamed. Life seemed to him like some kind of fairy tale, one of those that he had heard in his distant childhood. In this fairy tale there is no place for work or worries; there he and his wife drink tea and receive guests in Oblomovka.
Oblomov, in principle, was slow and lazy by nature. He was not used to work, did not set any goals for himself and did not strive for anything. Ilya Ilyich was unable to realize himself and died without having done anything useful or good for his loved ones. He spent his entire life satisfying base needs; he turned out to be an ordinary inactive dreamer, incapable of any personal development.
An example of a person who changed his life thanks to self-development and self-education is the main character of Jack London's novel Martin Eden. Martin Eden grew up in poverty among people belonging to the lowest class. He always strived for more, wanted to avoid the fate prepared for him. Even in early childhood, he had an irrepressible desire to get to the top, to receive all the material and spiritual benefits of society. Martin Eden refused to meekly accept his fate, and love prompted him to decide to change his life.
The main character fell in love with the daughter of the banker Morse. She became a muse for him, the embodiment of purity and tenderness. Driven by lofty thoughts, Martin Eden begins to develop and improve. Having engaged in self-education, he constantly compares the two worlds and is most afraid of returning to the one in which he was born. The main character found his purpose, he wanted to write, but such activity was not commendable in a mercantile society. Even his beloved Ruth did not approve of her lover’s writing impulses, hoping that this obsession would soon pass.
Martin Eden does not understand why the poems and stories he wrote are not accepted by editors. Without losing faith in himself, he continues to write and tries to figure out why he is not succeeding. Realization of the structure of this world was followed by deep disappointment. Everything that the main character believed in turned out to be false, now even recognition in the writing field could not bring him satisfaction. He realized that his dreams would not come true and found no other way out but death. Life without meaning did not seem possible for a person who was in constant self-improvement.
I believe that development is necessary for every person. It is very important to explore this world and discover it from a new side every time. The main thing is not to give up at the first difficulties, but to boldly move on, improving yourself every day in some area. Problems are just steps that need to be overcome in order to rise higher. You need to set yourself the right goals and slowly but surely move in this direction.
Development as pleasure
Many people enjoy gaining knowledge. They generally like to develop. Of course, they are not interested, but, for example, for someone who likes to draw, there will always be many new techniques, styles, new colors that he has not yet tried.
There are many people who, even without clear skills in this or that activity, suddenly begin to try something that, at first glance, is completely unusual for them. Perhaps this is why Sunday drawing classes for everyone are filled to capacity.
If you like it, just do it, enjoy it. This is not a competition, this is a game, entertainment.
How to turn work into pleasure?
It's fashionable and modern
geralt / Pixabay
This is another incentive for development. Imitation and the desire to be in trend are a strong motivation, even if you think that you don’t need any development for free - you are quite developed. This is a great way to stay in the environment you're used to. And, joint visits to something developing with your friends will help support you in this endeavor. In fact, why walk alone if everyone can do it together?
Shopaholism is such a pleasant disease
