Self-development, human self-improvement. Types of self-development: features of the direction of personality development

Personal self-development is a popular topic in practical psychology today. Do you think that you have achieved only little in life? Maybe you're even afraid of seeming like a loser? Do you want to develop certain skills in order to open a business and increase your income? Have you decided to live life to the fullest now? Most people now have no specific idea of ​​the word self-development. Many people watch videos, read articles, books - they consume a lot of information on where to start personal development, but nothing happens. After all, development includes not only a load of information and theoretical knowledge, but also the formulation, achievement of goals, growth through the right environment, the development of skills, their practical consolidation, which allows you to gradually raise your level.

Genuine personal self-development is if everything you have learned is confirmed by action, in practice.

What is human self-development?

There is an opinion that it is self-development through self-destruction that is genuine and most effective, literally transformative. Is it true that the more a person suffers, the more he develops? Is it really necessary for self-development to slide down the social ladder, quit work, study, fall into bad habits - in fact, do everything that is the opposite of development?

Here we mean self-destruction on a deeper level - the destruction of one’s ego, false attitudes, movement towards one’s own, leaving one’s comfort zone, rebuilding one’s own. People who were truly highly developed, those whom we can call self-actualized, often had their own negative experiences, dark parts of their personal history, when they literally sank to the bottom, sank into their shadow, and thereby integrated their personality into a single whole. After all, the direction of self-actualization often differs from development according to the norms of society, which are instilled everywhere, in every social institution, and cloud the true meanings of a particular person.

In practice, for a modern young person, self-development through self-destruction can be expressed in leaving the university, in which, as he feels, he is not receiving the knowledge he really needs, and going to work, living separately, engaging in exhausting sports - confronting himself with the real world, forcing use hidden resources to the limit. In the process of such experience, unnecessary, alien scenarios are eliminated, there is a chance to recognize the real one and find, begin to act in the direction necessary for self-development.

Self-development as its global goal is self-actualization - coming to a state where the personality has become everything that it could become. And since this goal is ideal, it is not completely achievable - that is, a certain abstraction, a highest need, a vector along which it moves throughout life.

Self-actualization is, first of all, the achievement of an internal harmonious state in being with oneself, elimination or acceptance and independence from the assessments of others, greater freedom and personal responsibility without being tied to rigid, and guarantees of tomorrow from the outside world.

Self-development and self-improvement, where to start?

Almost all directions leading a person to self-development claim that personal development is impossible without awakening one’s own will and proactivity. Blindly following the leader or forcibly forcing oneself to follow some method is fundamentally wrong. This can be traced even from the word itself, of which “self” is a part, which emphasizes the importance of choosing your own direction.

Where to start personal development? Before self-development begins, a person usually needs time, a certain number of his own mistakes and conclusions. It is worth listening to the opinions of others, but you absolutely cannot follow them completely. Making mistakes allows a person to move to the next level of understanding through experience, and this is completely different from listening to the advice of others.

To jump high, you need to squat down hard. We emerge from mistakes as changed people. Here you need to pay attention not to how many and what mistakes were made, but how a person got out of them, did he draw conclusions from them and what ones, did he realize the reasons for what was happening, and will he continue to live based on the conclusions made?

Unfortunately, often a person seems to be walking in a spiral, stepping on the rake that he carries with him, making the same mistakes, self-development still cannot begin. However, if a breakthrough does occur, awareness of the need for change comes and, most importantly, desire - this becomes the first, fundamental building block in the process. Following a sincere desire, everything else comes along the way. A long journey, as it is rightly said, begins with a small step.

To start this path, you need to decide what exactly you want and what the goal of your self-development is. To outline it as clearly as possible, write down on paper what you want to achieve, in what plane you want to develop. This goal must correspond to internal motivations, and not to attitudes imposed from the outside.

The correctness of goal setting can be verified through the power of desire. The stronger your motivation, if it is literally irresistible, does not pass, even when faced with strong obstacles, does not fade over time, but only intensifies - it means that the goal is defined correctly, according to your true values, and it is this that can bring you deep satisfaction. Weak or fading often indicates an incorrectly chosen or formulated goal.

Next, you need to follow the goal, taking at least a minimum of steps in its direction every day. So, if you have written down what you should develop, work every day with the methodology you have chosen. If you strive to be kinder, more complete, more harmonious, move closer to this ideal image through your actions every day.

It is very important to systematize your efforts and not to be scattered, not to run from side to side. When you choose to move in one direction, follow it. Many people rush around and disperse their efforts, and as a result do not achieve concrete results anywhere. If you have chosen a direction and have been following it for a long time, there is no need to turn off or develop in a different direction. These are just negative programs that try to turn you off the path - for example, fear of getting a significant result or fear of not being able to cope with increased responsibility and freedom. Continue moving towards your chosen goal until victory.

Then, when you, for example, develop confidence by achieving your initial goal - a broader picture of what you need will unfold in front of you, you will understand yourself better and will work more productively and accurately. Take at least one step a day - the more we do, the more energy comes in.

Working on ourselves, on what relates to our inner content, extends to others as well. A harmonious, full-fledged, confident person who loves himself and others, who knows how to act to the end - will certainly build a successful and happy reality around himself.

Self-development, be it extremely practical or highly spiritual, is the natural state of a person, although most people stop studying in educational institutions, not getting used to and not loving the efforts that lead to growth. That’s why they are so common - a person tries to choose a system that will allow him to feel safe without changing himself. However, any growth goes through great difficulties, which are brought either by the external world, if the personality is characterized by externality, or, with an internal locus, the person sets before himself.

The development of one’s personality is the most logical path and channel for investing time, money, physical, psychological and spiritual strength, since as a result of it a person acquires an asset that remains with him forever. Moreover, once you have set foot on this path and gained positive experience, it will be impossible to stop - knowledge and skills will multiply themselves, giving rise to an even greater desire to move on. You begin to see your hidden possibilities and new horizons, your views change, previous problems seem insignificant, you discard outdated attitudes with greater ease, regenerating your personality. All other goals, except for self-actualization, gradually disappear; the main, highest human goal in self-development comes to the fore - that’s what we actually live life for. It is impossible to achieve complete self-actualization; striving for it is already a result.

Self-development plan

We all know that personal self-development does not exist without targeted efforts, but we still often stop at theory, literally eating information and being overloaded with it, without going further, without getting the desired results. For significant growth, you need a self-development program, a plan that will help you stay on target.

The self-development program will allow you to break down a large, distant ideal goal into separate subgoals, specific tasks, operations, the achievement of which is easy to track. It will save you from misunderstanding where to move next and getting stuck at stages.

First, you need to understand why you need self-development, to narrow the understanding of this word specifically for you. After all, self-development means different things for different people: doing push-ups, squats and running in the morning, learning a foreign language, reading tongue twisters and improving your speech.

Why do you need self-development? Set a specific goal of what exactly you want to improve. For example, if it’s health, start by studying materials, books and videos on health improvement. You can realize this through sports by choosing and planning your training methodology. Or maybe your path lies through yoga? Find relevant materials or join a club.

Do you want to improve your business skills to become a successful entrepreneur? Study information like this.

First, there is always an understanding of why you need self-development. Many have not decided on its goal, which is why they are constantly looking and trying to take everything, to be in time everywhere, but in the end nothing works out.

So, you have determined the goal for which you will develop. The next point is to develop yourself so that as a result you gain specific skills for life. This is self-development, as a result of which you become more harmonious, happy, joyful.

Let’s say that if your focus is on health promotion, choosing and applying a specific technique. Even a simple daily morning exercise, exercise, will ultimately give results, unlike simply reading books about health.

When you want to develop your business and have received a specific recommendation to choose a niche, try to take the first steps, test the market, launch a pilot project.

The point of the second step is to turn all the information you have absorbed into a specific skill when you take action. The best option is when you immediately find application for the acquired knowledge, then it does not flow away, but actually grows your personality.

Self-development becomes simple, interesting and understandable, you are no longer left with uncertainty, there is no scattering of forces in different directions without a visible result.

You will develop as quickly as you often perform a series of actions leading to your goal. The best, outstanding results are facilitated by daily exercise, literally 7 days a week, constantly.

Are you tormented by depression, do you hate life and are looking for the culprits of your failures: do you blame your lack of spine on your hothouse upbringing, on your bad job on a picky boss, on your loneliness on selfish friends who are not interested in your problems? And in general, for every incident you always have a million culprits besides yourself? But in fact, the source of all your failures is you, only you and no one else. And only you can fix everything.

To first of all yourself. It is for this purpose that personal self-development exists. First, let's figure out what this concept actually means.

What is self-development?

Self-development is a conscious process that a person carries out without any external support, using exclusively his moral and physical resources in order to improve his potential and realize himself as an individual. Self-development is impossible without:

Setting specific goals for yourself;

Having beliefs;

Creating attitudes for action.

An identical and inextricably linked concept with self-development is personal growth. a person, during which he improves his positive qualities, his actions become more effective and, as a result, his personal potential increases significantly, which helps him achieve success in all areas of life.

What does it consist of?

The concepts of “self-education”, “personal potential”, “success” sound quite abstract. All this can be achieved only through specific actions. And personal growth and self-development are processes that give positive results of both a moral and material nature, only under the condition of constant painstaking work on oneself. Let's take a more specific look at what actions are required of us in order to change for the better.

Self-development is undoubtedly a big and important step, but you also need to create an action plan for yourself to achieve your goals. Don't think that your life can change in one second or in a day. It takes a lot of time to accomplish great things. But if you try hard, the result will certainly meet all your expectations.

Personal self-development can be divided into five stages, which are inextricably linked:

1) awareness of its necessity;

2) study of needs;

3) self-knowledge;

4) drawing up a strategy;

5) actions.

The self-development program requires a careful approach to each of its points. Let's look at them in more detail.

Step 1. Realize the need

Before you take action, you must clearly understand why you need it and whether you really want to change something. At this moment, the subject of your irritation does not play a significant role. Either you are not satisfied with your income level, or you want people to perceive you differently, or you need some changes in appearance...

All these and any other desires have something in common: they must be based on a powerful, irresistible desire for change and a complete willingness to use the maximum of one’s strength to accomplish the assigned tasks.

The goal of self-development is to overcome the fear of exiting and stop. If you are ready for this, you can begin to reboot your life.

Step 2. Study the needs

To change your life for the better, you need to decide which aspects of it require revision and improvement. To understand and articulate what you want, do the following exercise.

Take a sheet of paper and divide it into two parts. In the first half, list in a column everything that does not suit you. In the other - ways to solve these problems and the results you want to achieve.

Then number the items from the second column depending on the possibility of their implementation: from simple to complex. This will help you formulate your short-term and long-term goals and create an action plan to achieve them.

After making this list, you don’t need to tackle everything at once. This strategy often leads to the fact that, while performing a bunch of tasks at once, a person becomes very scattered and cannot solve any of them efficiently. Work gradually, focusing on simpler problems first and gradually moving on to complex ones. Only by following such a system can you achieve maximum results.

Step 3. Know yourself

Having decided on your goals, figure out what’s going on inside you. You must clearly understand which qualities of yours will help you achieve your goals, and which ones, on the contrary, will hinder you. Everyone has the ability for self-development, but not everyone can use it due to their other character traits.

Try to assess your capabilities and abilities as objectively as possible, so that on the path of self-development you will be prepared for the trips that you (often unconsciously) will set for yourself.

A written exercise will also help you in your soul-searching. This time you need to put your positives on paper and Be as objective as possible: you should neither over-praise nor humiliate yourself. Just describe what is there. And to get more accurate information, ask someone close to you to compare the traits you listed with the real state of affairs.

This way you will not only find out what people who care about you think about you, but you will also be able to compare how you position yourself with how it looks from the outside.

Step 4. Making a strategy

Self-development is not only knowledge, but also planning. When you have decided what you want and understand what qualities will help you achieve your goals, it is time to draw up a plan of specific actions.

A self-development program cannot give a universal answer to the question: “What needs to be done?” Everyone has their own priorities and their own desires. But we all have something in common: we want to be happy. But how - everyone decides for himself.

You choose what you need to do to achieve your goal. In this case, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. Assess your capabilities objectively and set goals that you can realistically achieve at this stage of your life. If you want more, take on achieving it a little later, when you reach a new level. The path of self-development cannot be called simple and short, but your efforts will certainly bring you pleasant results.

2. Remember: even the smallest victory is a step taken along the steps leading upward. The more steps you take, the higher you will advance.

3. Set yourself specific deadlines to achieve each goal. When you have everything scheduled by dates (or at least by approximate periods of time), working on a result is much easier than on an abstract desire.

Don't be discouraged if something doesn't work out the first time. your dreams and works miracles. If you have already decided to do something, then go to the end, and personal growth and self-development will help you with this.

Step 5. Let's act!

Everything that was mentioned above is dry theory, and practice should begin right away. There is no need to say that you will change something tomorrow or next week, or from the first of the month. Don’t put off until later what you can do now, because the sooner you start, the sooner you will achieve results.

The tasks of self-development seem simple in theory, but in reality a lot of obstacles await you. Whatever happens, do not doubt your dreams, forget about the failures of the past, because the future is what is happening right now, and it depends only on you what it will be like.

What's stopping us?

On your path to achieving your goals, you will encounter many obstacles. But all external barriers are nothing compared to internal ones. Only by conquering yourself will you be able to subjugate the surrounding reality and reach your destination. You must know your main enemies by sight, because self-development is a constant struggle. So, get acquainted...

Doubts

Inside each of us sits an evil censor who criticizes any of our decisions. Even if at first glance it looks like the most correct and rational of all possible, we still ask ourselves the question: “Or maybe we shouldn’t?”, “Are you sure?”, “Let’s not take risks?”

The voice of doubt... In some cases, it really saves us from making rash decisions, but sometimes it prevents us from making a leap towards our dreams. How to deal with it? His main enemy is desire. Only within him lies the strength sufficient to overcome any doubts. It’s not for nothing that they once said: “If you really want to, you can fly into space.”

Desire gives us an inexhaustible source of energy, it inspires and inspires us, makes us fight for what we really need, kicks everyone out of their comfort zone. Only armed with a real sincere desire can you overcome any doubts.

Laziness

Laziness is another problem of self-development. But it doesn’t exist, it’s a kind of placebo, a fiction. But wrong desires and dreams are quite real. They are the ones who poison our lives, forcing us to sit still and not strive anywhere.

If you don’t have the incentive, then you won’t have the desire either. How can you change something if you don’t want it with all your heart? No way. Dreams are the gasoline of our self-development. The nourishment they give us is equal to their scale. And if the dream is useless, then you won’t be able to really refuel from it.

But when you have a truly worthwhile goal, you don’t even want to think about any laziness. After all, we are driven by a strong thirst for change.

If you don't have a truly inspiring dream, find one. If it doesn’t work out, change your social circle, reach out to people with large-scale goals, and you yourself will have the same ones. Fight for your dreams. And you will certainly be able to defeat laziness!

Habits

Habits are an invaluable fuel for laziness. They appear as a result of actions that are constantly repeated. Habits can be both good and bad. But, regardless of the level of their benefit, we bring them all to automaticity.

Where do they come from? When a person performs the same actions for a long time, he gets used to them, and they become an integral part of his life. Many people fall into a catastrophic dependence on their habits, but they are the ones that prevent us from moving forward.

That is, if we need change, we need to start doing something new that you haven’t done before. If you do not act, you will remain stuck at the zero reference point, not moving forward. Remember: changing habits entails global changes in fate.

Ignorance

Another obstacle in your way is ignorance. Its essence is that a person does not perceive new information and condemns it in advance, without knowing any facts.

As a rule, people suffering from ignorance perceive change very painfully and do not want to notice anything new. They don’t trust anyone or anything, and the saddest thing about their situation is that they have driven themselves into a blind corner.

But they can still fix everything if they change their perception of the world around them. If you belong to this type of person, you must fully understand that everything around you is constantly changing and moving forward. You will either have to keep up with progress, or be stuck in the past for an indefinite period of time.

Change - both the world around you and your life will certainly change for the better!

With age, every person loses his former inner self-confidence, acquires many problems and complexes, and is burdened by everyday worries. And then, sooner or later, everyone faces the question - what next? Go with the flow, or try to change something in your life and get out of your daily routine. A person’s personality, his consciousness is the center of his self-development. The ability to control the body and mind, learn to get what you want from life, the ability to achieve inner harmony and tranquility, the opportunity to reveal your deep, inner potential - this is all that gives us personal self-development.
The first point of any method for self-development of personality The point is that every person must learn to distract himself from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and look deep into himself. Therefore, the process personal self-development does not start from reading books and studying concepts, but from self-realization.

Self-realization.

An adult constantly has to prove his importance to himself and everyone around him, therefore, self-realization becomes the meaning of life for almost everyone. This is continuous work on your mistakes and on yourself, this is creative and career growth. The rapid pace of life and the constant development of technology give rise to an urgent need for constant self-improvement and self-realization. Also, we must not forget about physical and spiritual health, since without this, achieving success is simply impossible. Harmony in development and existence with the outside world is the main principle of self-realization.
And it is not at all necessary to achieve self-realization in your career, because a happy personal life also requires constant investment. It is not enough to simply acquire a wealth of knowledge of a psychological and aesthetic nature; you need to learn how to apply it correctly in practice. And the process of self-realization in this case can be considered exclusively as the self-development of the individual.

Career.

Achieving your goals, either in your personal life or in your career, requires hard work and perseverance. To achieve ideal self-realization, an idyll of emotional and mental state is necessary. Everyone can achieve a high position in the circle of his abilities if he does his own thing. Everyone knows that water does not flow under a lying stone. Therefore, inaction is not the best assistant in building a career, since you can remain a gray office mouse. You just need to believe in yourself and confidently move towards your goal. And then the work, in addition to financial income, will also bring moral satisfaction.

Self-organization.

Another important principle of personal self-development is the ability to effectively manage your time. The secret of such efficiency lies in the consistent execution of tasks according to a previously drawn up plan. After all, compiling such lists is the key point of self-organization. This list includes all priority tasks, and a step-by-step scheme for their implementation is outlined. Goals must be defined specifically, with a mandatory time limit for achieving them. This makes it possible to control all events yourself, rather than depend on them. A prerequisite for any strategic planning is a clear definition of the desired result. It is a correctly compiled list that is half the successful path to personal self-development, prosperity and a successful life. After all, success is not a random event - it begins with a well-thought-out strategic plan.

With the growing number of motivational and developmental books and articles, not only the author’s personal experience in a particular issue matters, but also the presence of any practical evidence that these methods work. Let's talk today about where to start self-development and in what areas you should develop.

Self-development of personality: experiment

A pilot study was conducted with a group of young people. They were given a condition - they had to spend 2 days alone. At the same time, any entertainment, including gadgets, was not allowed. They could still study, read ordinary books, write something, and so on - a set of ordinary everyday activities. Plus, each of the participants could stop participating at any time.

Experiment results

The results are, to put it mildly, shocking. About 100 people took part in the experiment, but only 3 reached the finals: 2 girls and 1 guy. Later they told how they occupied themselves. The young man devoted time to physical training, one of the girls plunged into the world of art and creativity - read books and wrote a diary, and the other - took up meditation.

The remaining participants simply could not stand the torture, saying that they decided to end their participation. But, what’s even worse, each of them changed their internal state - they became more nervous, irritable and developed chronic diseases.

Conclusion

Modern youth are simply not fit to live without what they themselves are accustomed to. They cannot completely abstract themselves from the world and plunge into the abyss of their own consciousness, or even choose more traditional means of pastime.

Most young people devote themselves to watching TV, surfing the Internet and social networks, and texting about nothing. At the same time, the concept of “self-development” is either unknown to them or has no meaning.

Self-development - where to start?

Today, the topic of personal growth is no less relevant than the topic of zombies in media culture over the past few years. They keep repeating on the Internet and in books that the key to a successful life and self-confidence is self-improvement.

Nevertheless, many people have a question not about what exactly needs to be done or how best to approach this process, but simply - where to start?

You need to start, as always, with an understanding of what exactly you are doing. Development is the process of improving or changing everything that exists. Life, in essence, is a constant development, which, if it does not concern any qualities, necessarily passes through the prism of growing up, social relationships and different views on the world.

Based on these judgments, we come to the conclusion that self-development is purposeful actions, the main goal of which is to change or improve certain aspects of life, be it a career, the ability to communicate, or any necessary skill.

Theory is always important, so it would be even more correct to refer to the dictionary: self-development is the intellectual or physical development of a person on the basis of independent studies and exercises, on one’s own initiative, without the assistance of any external forces.

Understanding your own actions is the first step towards self-development. Now, specifically about where to start.

Self-development plan

If a person is standing in the middle of the forest and does not know where to move, the first thing to do is to determine where exactly he is.

It's the same here. Having realized that it is necessary to develop, you need to understand at what point this development will begin, and what specific efforts need to be made in order to achieve a certain result. A series of questions will do this.

Ask yourself questions

• What doesn't suit me?
• What doesn’t suit people whose opinions are important to me?
• What would I like to achieve?
• And so on.

Wheel of Life

It happens that it is difficult to immediately determine which problems prevail in life, so the “Wheel of Life” will come to the rescue. It will consist of 10 sectors, each of which is responsible for vital aspects of the existence of each person.

The main thing here is to approach the implementation as objectively as possible. You must see your shortcomings and gaps that need to be corrected, and not create the illusion of a good life.

Let's look at some of the sectors.

Health

One of the fundamental sections on which success in other areas of life depends. Proper daily routine, healthy sleep, exercise and good food.

Spirituality

The ability to hear yourself, control emotions and direct them in the right direction. A minimum of negative emotions and continuous positivity. Meditation is one of the methods that can help achieve spiritual balance.

Finance

This is that section of a person’s life that, when we feel dissatisfaction, prevents us from sleeping soundly at night and, accordingly, has a very detrimental effect on existence in general. Many people devote their whole lives to the problems of financial well-being, but sometimes it is enough to make a little more effort - to show your perseverance at work or find a new one, start your own business or improve your qualifications.

Sociality

People surround us everywhere, so a lot depends on the ability to communicate. Put yourself in the right position and treat really important people with dignity.

Personal growth

Pay attention to your own skills and abilities, develop memory, creative thinking, fight procrastination, smart time management.

As you can see, there are really many areas, so you need to make a clear choice in favor of one direction or another. If it is very difficult to decide, then you can go in order. By improving your health, finding a common language with yourself, stopping worrying about the financial side of life, learning to communicate with people and constantly developing, you can really achieve great success. The main thing is not to scatter yourself on everything at once.

Be honest with yourself

In order to benefit from the process of self-development, you need to determine where it is really needed, and to do this, take an honest look at your weaknesses and strengths.

You looked the truth in the eye, and with tears identified your own mistakes. But this was not done to show how bad life is. On the contrary, to fix it. First, you still need to decide where to start.

Dividing the goal into subgoals

The solution to the problem of each sector should consist of one global goal, which can be divided into several smaller ones in order to make it easier to approach the implementation of that single one. In order not to get confused about what you have to do along the way, it is better to write down each stage.

How to set a goal

It also happens that it is difficult to set a goal. There are several general rules for this that will simplify the process. It is necessary that the goal be measurable, it can really be achieved and the deadline for achievement must be clearly understood.

For example, let's draw up one action plan. For example, you decided to become a better person by acquiring new skills and solve the financial issues of your life by finding a new job. The problem is a lack of knowledge, inability to concentrate and poor productivity.

What can and should be done for this?

• Take advanced training courses;
• Learn to focus on business;
• Learn to plan your time, attend a training about this or read a book;
• Write a resume, sending it to all the places where you would like to get a job.

Full list of things you can work on:

1. Formation of useful and getting rid of bad habits;
2. Development of personal and professional character qualities;
3. Improving financial situation, increasing financial literacy;
4. Development of useful skills;
5. Work on appearance: style and figure;
6. Lifestyle and attractive lifestyle;
7. Work on voice and speech;
8. Work on behavior, gestures and gaze;
9. Motivation and discipline;
10. Development of thinking and intelligence;
11. Psychological and physical health;
12. Relationships with the opposite sex and friendship;
13. Development of charisma and communication skills;
14. Interesting hobbies and interests;
15. Sports: development of strength and endurance.

On our website you can find useful information on each of the items (see menu).

Each of us sooner or later thinks about self-development. During life, this process is quite natural - a person grows, learns, gets to know the world and searches for his place in it. However, with age, this inner force, which pushes us to meet the unknown, acquires many complexes, habits and everyday worries. And then a thought comes to mind: life is over, replaced by a monotonous journey to old age. A person is faced with a choice: to resign himself to the gray routine of existence, having lost the acquired feeling of the joy of existence, or to try to escape from the cycle of gray everyday life. Many make a choice in favor of the first, and only a few decide to change something, discovering for themselves a new path called self-improvement.

There are many theories about personality development, so an unprepared person may have a number of similar and rather naive questions. For example, “what book should I read for self-development?”, “which theory is the most correct?”, “how to make the right choice without wasting time?” The listed problems, as a rule, stem from a stereotypical delusion, which is often used by many unclean “gurus” of all stripes. The main difference between the self-development of an adult and the stages of personality formation in a child is that when practicing conscious self-development, attention is focused on the freedom of a person’s mind from generally accepted patterns, while the child is given an attitude to comply with stereotypical standards of thinking.

There is no single correct path for personal development that will be suitable for absolutely everyone. After all, everyone must individually make a decision - what exactly they want and how far they can go in their desire for self-improvement. The center of self-development is the person’s personality itself, his self-awareness, which, throughout life, becomes limited by a number of conventions and is in dire need of purification and emancipation. From this it follows that a true teacher helps to free the student’s consciousness from excesses, while a false one occupies the student’s head with many fictitious dogmas, ultimately confusing him even more.

Self-development: where to start?

Where to start self-development - you ask. In the Internet era, it will not be difficult for anyone to download the best books on self-development, or attend special courses. The organizers of the latter promise to turn any person into a real titan of spirit in a matter of time and a small amount, who will ultimately be able to solve any problems that arise without difficulty. It is impossible, of course, to say that all courses are invented solely for pumping out money, and books on self-development are nonsense. But the fact is that the more extraordinary the person and his problem, the less effective standard “recipes” will bring.
For example, in the theories of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity there are many colossal differences, however, the methods of these religions, developed in practice, are surprisingly similar and use similar methods of concentration of consciousness. Buddhism uses the practice of nembutsu ("meditating on the Buddha") - it consists of repeated and almost continuous repetition of the name of the Buddha ("Namu Amida-butsu"). As for Christianity, the Jesus Prayer (“Lord have mercy”) is recommended to cleanse the heart and mind. In Hinduism, for the same purposes, there are a number of mantras, such as, for example, the sacred sound “Om.” In all these religions, words are spoken not to flatter a faceless absolute or deity, but to curb the everyday mind, thereby acquiring stable concentration skills. The first task of any practice is that a person needs to learn to cut off the everyday bustle and look deep inside himself. Therefore, the beginning of personality development is not books and concepts, but self-knowledge.

Self-knowledge and self-development

When a child comprehends the world around him, he, first of all, learns to be aware of himself and his desires, his capabilities and shortcomings. With an adult, it happens a little differently - they are initially convinced that having a passport, certificate, or work book makes them automatically independent and accomplished individuals, but this is not the case. There is no self-development without self-knowledge. Unlike a child, an adult obeys the generally accepted public and unspoken rules of society; over time, he ceases to notice that control over life has been lost, transferred to bosses, neighbors, friends and various idols. However, these “idols,” like societies as a whole, only inspire a person with goals, desires, and even ways of self-expression that are acceptable to him. Most people cannot take a single step without looking at those around them and without thinking about what they will think and say about them. Knowing practically nothing about himself, a person spends his free time idly and in entertainment, simply avoiding this knowledge.

However, self-knowledge should not be confused with silence. After sitting for a few minutes alone, mindlessly, you won’t know everything about yourself and won’t be able to confidently move on. The illusion of calm will help for a short time. Learning to meditate or pray is not difficult. These are the lowest levels that are available to everyone. The point is that you just need to curb your everyday mind. Only those who are able to concentrate on themselves in the very center of a noisy crowd can meditate; this can only be achieved with a certain level of self-development. Someone who, even in the worst life situation, can humbly and calmly turn to God knows how to pray. A huge number of people who practice prayer and meditation are unable to concentrate in a stressful situation, and in our turbulent age, this, alas, is fraught with consequences. This is, in fact, the illusion of self-knowledge.

As a rule, people are afraid to look inside themselves because they are afraid of what is hidden in the depths of their soul. But true self-knowledge begins not with a feeling of peace and tranquility, but with shame, and even disgust.

Each of us sometimes does things that we would never tell our loved ones and family about, but if you reach the right level of self-development, you will be able to cope with them. Over time, we make excuses for ourselves or simply try to forget bad memories, but, alas, it is not so easy to get rid of this burden. It will weigh on us, having a negative impact on everyday life. To free yourself from such a burden, look inside yourself. There are many different techniques that allow you to get rid of painful remnants of the past. However, the most effective are still considered to be a review of one's own life (Carlos Castaneda), meditation (Buddhism) and repentance through confession (Christianity). Below is a brief description of them.

Meditation, an important part of self-development, brings harmony to life and helps to focus more attention on the positive aspects of life. Thanks to it, you can get rid of the negative impact of past actions. As for the recapitulation of one's own life, which Carlos Castaneda describes, here the attention is focused on “re-experiencing and completely reviewing all life events holistically.” The past is a product of one’s own will, and not a coincidence of circumstances; this technique allows one to get rid of self-pity and evokes a demand for special treatment from others. Confession according to Christianity is still considered the most difficult practice of modern man - created for those who are isolated in their own little world of individualism. If all other methods turn out to be ineffective, then honest confession with sincere repentance will always help. Through this very repentance, a person is given the opportunity to free himself from the invisible power of the past.

Self-development theory

There are many theories on personal self-development, which quite often confuses a person. After all, which of the proposed ones is right for you, which path of self-development is true? Wanting in advance to get a guaranteed result, we do not think about the fact that it mainly depends only on us. It is obvious that nothing will work out for a lazy person and a slacker until he engages in self-discipline. A smart and insightful person will be able to find benefit for himself even in erroneous theories. The center of self-development is not a guru, or concepts, but the individual himself. The true path of self-development makes a person wiser and, most importantly, freer. The false one recognizes all sorts of teachings that ultimately reduce man to the level of a primitive animal.

However, we do not recommend trusting all fashionable occult and esoteric movements. Most of them are mainly built around self-proclaimed gurus who try to suppress their followers and are based on faulty translations of Eastern religious texts. Of all the existing teachers of the twentieth century, it is worth highlighting only a few - Carlos Castaneda, Rajneesh and George Gurdjieff, whose self-development books really convey useful information to the reader, while expanding their horizons. The works of these teachers convey new approaches to solving pressing problems and are included in the list of the best books on the topic of self-development. Avoid organizations that operate under their names all over the world, because nothing good will come from the depths of such.
If we look at the new self-development practices in detail, it is not difficult to notice that there is nothing fundamentally new in them. Pseudo-methods for personal self-improvement are often presented as advanced techniques. A modern citizen, unfortunately, is quite skeptical about religions; he is of little interest in history. However, when it comes to the effectiveness of shamanic practices and magic, this skepticism suddenly disappears. That is, a person is also ready to believe in any nonsense if it flatters his pride and gives the illusion of his own greatness. Only those who recognize it have a chance to free themselves from slavery. Anyone who thinks that he is already free, alas, will never find real freedom.

The process of self-development cannot be easy. After all, modern man is not psychologically ready for targeted and systematic practices of self-focus. Despite the fact that we are taught from childhood to absorb external information, the main source of information is initially within ourselves. This wisdom is present in a person from birth, but educators and parents try to suppress it so that the child listens to them, and in no case to himself. The source of information located inside us, in fact, never stops, but a person does not listen to it, because he is always busy with something else, something that is more important to him than the inner voice, the voice of the soul. A true mentor does not pass on knowledge to his student, as many believe, he helps him in finding his own source of wisdom.

In the endless pursuit of new knowledge, a person, as a rule, receives nothing except exhaustion and devastation. It seems to everyone that he is almost constantly busy with important things, but if you think about it, then, by and large, over the past month, week and even year it will be quite difficult to count a dozen really important things. And this is how your whole life flies by. Some people believe that one fine day, one fine moment, everything will change for the better and life will become like a fairy tale, full of joyful events and breathtaking adventures. But the year goes by. In everyday worries, and in vanity. But that expected wonderful moment still does not come. And as if the next moment we find ourselves on the threshold of death, exhausted by the routine of everyday troubles that have followed us like a shadow all our lives.

Creative self-development of a person

A prerequisite for full self-development and growth of a person’s personality is creative self-development. Unfortunately, most of us do not even believe in our own potential, and therefore do not strive to develop our creativity. Every person is born with the ability to create. After all, talents and unique abilities lie deep within each of us. Many works of outstanding philosophers and psychologists speak about this. If a person can hold a brush, then he has been given the ability to paint. Anyone who can move can learn to dance. If you are endowed with the ability to make sounds, you can master vocal skills. However, do not make the mistake of thinking that creative activities only include painting, poetry and acting. The opportunity for creative self-development includes any type of activity. If you want to achieve truly great success, strive to achieve the development of your potential in creativity. It’s surprising, of course, but sometimes it takes us a lot of time to realize obvious things. If you want to fill your life with new meaning, let your creative potential unfold. Those who do not engage in creative self-development, sooner or later, can turn into an eternally sick, aching and bored average person.

Often people are simply afraid of the opportunity to express themselves. But beyond our phobias the most amazing creative possibilities can be hidden. To achieve the formation of high self-esteem, which will allow you to discover new horizons of vision, engage in self-development - both personality and spiritual potential, by drawing up a personal growth program.

The most difficult thing in self-development is to take the first steps. It’s not easy to decide where to start. We recommend to your attention an example of a step-by-step self-development plan:

Awareness of the need

Before you start self-development, you need to figure out why you need it and whether you really need it. At this stage, the main thing is your desire to make fundamental adjustments to your life. If you are not afraid of change and are ready to leave your comfort zone, then you can consider the following point.

Study of human needs

Next, you should decide for yourself what exactly you want to change for the better. All your other actions will depend on this choice. Try to clearly imagine what specific goals you want to achieve. However, you don’t need to try to change everything right away - you risk returning to your old life soon. We advise you to engage in self-development gradually, even step by step. Set certain goals for yourself and achieve them, overcoming one by one, incrementally.

Self-knowledge for self-improvement

The next point is to engage in self-analysis. Decide for yourself what will help you achieve your goals and what will not. What do you think is a positive trait in your character and what is the opposite? The main thing is not to engage in self-deception, look at your life honestly. For convenience, write the results of the “research” on paper, making a list of all your shortcomings and advantages.

Drawing up a self-development strategy

If you have already completed all the previous stages, then begin to develop a strategy for further action. Here the advice of strangers is not appropriate - you must decide everything yourself. One has only to note that here it is important not to overestimate your strengths and draw up a more or less realistic plan. Again, it is recommended to record your plans on paper and record them in the most visible place for you.

Actions

And finally - the main stage - start acting right now! Throw away excuses like “starting next week” or “in a few days.” All previously described points are just preparation, which will cost nothing without real action. Having cast aside all your doubts and fears, take the first step towards self-development. Moving forward, be sure to record the results achieved on paper, comparing them with the original action plan. Purposefully and non-stop continue moving in the same direction and you should succeed!

Psychology of self-development

To make it easier to understand self-development, we suggest considering it from the outside. And so - what is the psychology of self-development? Each of us is designed in such a way that we perceive any difficulty or event in a similar way, reacting to it in a stereotyped way. Moreover, no matter in what area of ​​our life this happens. Everyone has a standard set of solutions for such cases - some go completely into illness, some simply avoid solving pressing issues for self-development, some look for those to blame among everyone, and some simply fall into the world of their own illusions, abstracting from the harsh the reality of what is happening. However, this does not cease to have a different impact on the life of the individual. There is a certain stimulus - a corresponding reaction appears. In other words, in the most diverse problems we are characterized by the same, template actions. Moreover, all this happens instinctively. But people are rational beings. Therefore, a kind of layer appears between the stimulus and the reaction, which distorts the reaction - our learning.

The essence of self-development lies in the presence between the stimulus and the reaction of one more moment, which is given to us for awareness. That is, the opportunity to adjust the reaction. To do this, you need to understand how you acted before. Only with awareness of this process of personal growth and self-development will it become active. What is described tells us what it looks like from the inside, but externally it’s like a readiness to leave the framework of the usual, doing something that you were previously afraid of. That is, self-development is the choice of a different reaction of behavior, a kind of overcoming oneself, which is based on the strength of your will. In fact, the psychology of self-development is accessible to everyone. To do this you need to understand yourself as a person.

An important role in the process of self-development is played by knowledge about the formation and implementation of intentions - about the law of attraction.

It is no secret to anyone that the main reason for the fulfillment of desires and goals is the person himself, directly. Statistically, 80% of 100% of our thoughts during the day are negative. But thoughts are material. Therefore, you need to let what you dream about into your thoughts. Every thought has its own energy. Only the one with more energy achieves realization. After all, each of us has had a moment in our lives when an event happened that was not desirable for us, but was constantly present in our thoughts. Thoughts gain more energy with each of our reminders, and ultimately have a greater chance of being realized. This situation is aggravated by fear, which is a strong negative emotion and has quite a capacious energy. By scrolling through images associated with our fears in our heads, we program ourselves to attract what we fear. By forming an object of thought for oneself, a person creates an emotion that programs the person’s subconscious, and then, as a result, contributes to the implementation of what was programmed. The result obtained depends entirely on the object of reflection. Without the ability to consciously choose objects for reflection, self-development is impossible. Each of us is accustomed to accepting our failures without putting positivity into what we have achieved. But when a person does not receive what he wanted, he begins to think about it intensely, which, in fact, gives the opportunity for negative moments to repeat again and again.

One of the basic recommendations on the path to self-development is a feeling of gratitude. It gives a great charge of positivity, but only if it is from the heart. Try to cultivate this feeling in yourself, to strengthen it. If something unexpected happens, do a quick analysis of what happened and, having drawn conclusions, try to forget about the current situation as soon as possible. You need to keep your mind clean from the negativity that regularly comes from the world around you. The information you receive must be carefully filtered. Formed and most burning desires will never come true if you set yourself up for them in the wrong way. For example, when you ask yourself the thought “I want to have...”, you automatically claim that you don’t have it, that you feel bad without it. The structure of intention formation must be built in a special way. When formulating for yourself a positive object to think about, do not forget that it also contains negative feelings that arise due to the lack of what you want. That is, of course, it is necessary to form desires, but at the same time extremely carefully.

To achieve your goals, use intention. It involves developing the feeling that you already have what you want. First, you must understand what exactly you want. When formulating your goal, be sure that most of the path to achieving this goal is already behind you. Analyze the sensations and qualities that should appear in you after the final achievement of the goal. Try to act as if you have already achieved it. As for failures, they should be accepted as a proper part of this path. After all, success does not happen without difficulties. Don't dwell on failures. Try to resort to self-hypnosis methods such as visualization and affirmation more often. They will ultimately help you stimulate positive changes in your life and help improve your psycho-emotional background. Ultimately, try to be relaxed about achieving your goal. We achieved our goal - great, no - not bad either. Only constant action can lead you to the realization of your plans. Also, an important fact is confidence in success. She will be able to support you and will not allow you to give up and retreat.

Professional self-development

Not everyone has all the qualities that are needed for purposeful work on oneself. Professional self-development is not a change in the level of skill to one degree or another, but its significant increase. For example, self-development of a manager is a conscious process of purposeful development of leadership qualities. This includes improving knowledge and skills, and competence in general, and, of course, personal qualities, which ultimately ensure more effective professional activity.

For professional self-development, you need, first of all, to internally motivate yourself to achieve the necessary results in a specific field of activity. For example, effective self-development of a manager is directly related to the corporate culture of the enterprise, as well as readiness to work with modern information systems. These factors mainly provide further conditions for professional development. Simply put, a manager must be able to initially motivate himself internally towards his professional activities and have the ability to self-develop in this area. Of course, the level of his literacy and competence, as well as the desire and desire to perform his duties efficiently and effectively, are also important. That is, the first diagnostic sign of a self-developing manager is his attitude to work.

The main thing on the path to self-development, in this case, is the ability to sensibly comprehend shortcomings and, ultimately, the results of work, analyzing everything that leads to failures and successes.

One of the areas that shapes skills and qualities is organizing efforts in the right direction. It is also important to develop and strengthen the skills already acquired in the process of working on yourself. At the same time, you need to try to eliminate all possible shortcomings that negatively affect the effectiveness of activities and interfere with professional growth. Of course, working on yourself in these directions is a rather difficult psychological task. However, this path can become most effective only in the case of self-development in the chosen field in all respects simultaneously.

In general, if you have set yourself the goal of self-improvement and self-development, decide what exactly you mean by this. The expected list may include the desire to gain good health, be financially independent, be respected by others, and develop highly spiritually. Some need to start with restoring their health, others with creating a financial basis for the implementation of their plans, but for the vast majority, with the comprehensive implementation of all of the above. The main thing is to believe in the reality of what you have planned, visualize these goals and take confident steps towards achieving what you want.