As we enter the New Year and make our resolutions for 2016, we develop a new found motivation to kick start the New Year on a positive note. So, we wanted to start our new blog by discussing the importance of personal development and some top tips for the year ahead!
Personal development covers activities which work toward improving oneself. Focusing efforts on developing your strengths and reviewing your weaknesses is proven to be an extremely important activity for success in the workplace and personal life.
So why is it important in the work place?
- It helps you become more aware of your individual strengths and weaknesses
- It can help develop specific SMART objectives to reach ultimate life goals
- It can assist with time management and prioritisation
- It teaches you skills and abilities along the way, such as self-reflection and self-awareness
Top Tips for 2016
1. Manage your time wisely
Figure out what’s important to you in 2016. Whether it’s learning, working, being with family or your hobbies, or all four! Devote enough time to everything you want to do. Daily/ weekly lists are a very effective way of managing tasks, to be able to tick off activities as you go, and feel a sense of achievement afterwards!
2. Step out of your comfort zone
One of the best ways to achieve personal development can be to do what you don’t like to do. Learning new skills and participating in completely new activities will broaden your opportunities professionally, and can boost self-confidence and self-esteem.
3. Reflective Practice
In order to develop, you need to be able to reflect on the situations which occur in your life. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a common process used for reflective practice, which involves the following;
- Description – What happened?
- Feelings – What did you think/feel about it?
- Evaluation – What were the positives and negatives?
- Analysis – What sense can you make of it?
- Conclusion – What else could you have done?
- Action Plan – What will you do next time?
Depending on your goals, this process can be completed whenever it is deemed appropriate. Whether its weekly, monthly or yearly, use of reflective practice models such as this one are a great activity to contribute toward your personal development.
So, whatever your goals are in 2016, make personal development a priority. Ensure you allocate enough time to what is important to you, do something completely different, and then reflect on the situation afterwards! You never know what new skills you can bring to the table.