When we think of personal development, we usually think of taking a course or developing a specific skill, and while these do develop us as people, they don’t develop who we are as people.

When I think about personal development, I like to ask myself what kind of person I would like to be in ten, twenty, or thirty years from now – what does that person like? What will they do for a living? What is their lifestyle like?

These broader goals can be used as anchors for our personal development journey, giving us a more defined direction to move in than just skills development. Recently I focused on how to plan for your goals, in order to help you reach them, but today I want to focus more on why these developments should be important to us.

People often overlook opportunities for personal transformation, focusing on developing skills and taking training courses for work rather than for personal growth. These kinds of personal life developments don’t just add skills to a list, they often develop our self-awareness; they give us a better idea of who we are, and when we become more self-aware we also start to understand how and why we interact with other people in the ways that we do.

Personal transformation fosters growth across various aspects of our lives, including:

• Emotional Intelligence
  Once you know what your triggers are and how they work, you are able to recognise that those same things likely trigger other people, making it easier to show empathy to others. Improving empathy improves our relationships because we are enhancing our communication skills and thus improving our ability to interact with- and understand other people, developing tolerance along the way.
• Increasing Happiness and Wellbeing
  There are also mental and emotional health benefits to understanding yourself. This understanding will allow you to develop coping mechanisms, meaning you can better control your emotional responses to difficult situations and foster emotional intelligence. This pushes us to find purpose and fulfillment in everything we do, which increases happiness, improves our wellbeing, and makes us easier to connect with and relate to on a personal level.
• Professional Growth and Success
  When we talk about personal life transformation, we look at it in much the same way as the ‘life’ part of ‘work/life balance’. But as with work/life balance, your personal development will also have an impact on your professional growth and success. This is the sort of professional growth that we are more used to – skills development, career advancement, etc, and it is likely to impact everything from your personal brand and networking capabilities to your leadership and teamwork skills.

As a coach, I’ve witnessed numerous instances where personal development has significantly benefited my clients, enhancing their personal and professional lives – everything from communication, accountability, and leadership, to interpersonal relationships, focus, and planning.

Personal development is often seen as a ‘soft skill’, but between your strengths and personality, personal development affects everything you are and everything you do, rippling throughout your life and career.