So what's this Self Development thing then??

If you know me (If you don’t know me, welcome!) you will have at some point heard me describe things I've done and follow up with a comment like "it's good for character building" etc... The reason being, that this is how I like to live. I like to extract the positive from any given situation; invariably there was either an opportunity to learn or something that I actually did learn and to that point I've recognised that I've developed in some way.

'Self Development' is completely generic, and both physical or mental. Let me give you some examples from the people I know who “Self Develop”..

I have one friend who's self development is of the physical aspect.. Dave wants to be a power lifter, much of Dave’s development focuses on pushing up the weights, increasing his capacity for what he can lift and the physical transformation that comes with it.

I have a family member who has a keen interest in physical pursuits such has cycling, running, football etc. His main interest stems from the health related benefits. It’s about bringing down their times, covering more miles or scoring more goals. There are many different dichotomies to his improvement.

My 3rd and final example is about is about a person who has recognised the benefits when they make an effort in there interactions with others. He is very proud to be part of a large community who also do this, tips are shared, advice given and titbits of experience shared. The whole thing is Self Development.

You may have heard the term Personal Development used before and are wondering what the difference between this and self development is. Personal Development is the ownership of everything that can develop you, plans are made, goals are established and reviewed. Self Development is the activity from which you derive development from, in essence it forms part of the personal development process.

Some of us recognise very quickly that we are "Self Developing", some of us never realise. If you don’t then spend a few minutes to think about the things you enjoy spending time doing and the benefits it brings. They could be tangible or intangible benefits (see below).

Tangible - What we can see, feel (by touch) and hear. Using the latter example of self development, the tangible aspect is the increase in friends, how easy the individual is able to influence others, how many social engagements they are invited to.

Intangible - What we and others cannot see or hear. We can feel it but it would be internal (a feeling). It could be an increase in knowledge of a particular subject or actually increasing your knowledge of how to something.

If you are going to be committed to reading this blog then give yourself the opportunity to take the most you can from both the things you enjoy doing and of equal importance the things you don’t. When you can see both the tangible and intangible benefits you are more likely to stick with it, stay motivated or get motivated, and see it through to the end. When we appreciate all of the tangible and intangible benefits of what we do we are more likely to try for better results!