Personal and Professional Development

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

Personal and professional development is an area in which everyone needs to improve.
The most successful people continually strive to improve themselves. Personal and
professional development carries over in each aspect of your life. There are personal
skills that you may learn that will help you in professional situations. Likewise, there are
professional skills that will help you in personal situations. Anyone who is career
minded and wants to advance in their chosen field or change the field in which they are in
should look carefully into personal and professional development to see how this could
assist them in accomplishing their goals.

Personal and professional development starts with identifying the areas in which you
want to excel but currently are not. Take a long look at where you are now and where
you want to be. This is the first step in personal and professional development. Then,
discuss your goals with your employer. This is a great way to get feedback on areas of
your career. It accomplishes two goals. First, it puts your employer on notice that you
have goals and ambitions and that you are ready and willing to make changes to
accomplish those goals. It also allows you the opportunity to get valuable feedback and
possible assistance from your employer. Perhaps there are courses your boss can
recommend and ways that you can improve. This insight can be invaluable to your
personal and professional development.

Find ways to accomplish your personal and professional development. This is a great
time to look into classes that will help you advance in your career. Management courses,
motivational classes and practical advancement classes will all help you in your
professional career and you will also learn valuable tools that will transcend your
professional life and help you with your personal life as well. Personal and professional
development is a continuing process. Regularly evaluate where you are and where you
want to be and make an effort to get there by setting short term goals.

Parenting classes are a great way to assist in your personal development. However, they
also teach certain skills such as anger management, negotiation and patience that will
help in your professional life, especially in a managerial or supervisory position. Do not
discount the benefits of personal experience that can be translated into the professional
world. Often the skills learned in personal life will help you greatly in your professional.
Personal and professional development goes hand in hand. It is rare to find someone who
has it all together in their home life but is a mess in their professional life or vice versa.
Most people have specific areas that need improvement and you can see the effects of
these deficiencies in both areas of their life.

Seeing personal and professional development in your life will also instill a sense of self
worth and higher self esteem. It will give you the confidence that you need to be able to
ask for that raise or submit your application for a better job. You will begin to see your
life improving professionally, which will often lead to a more stable and worthwhile
home life. People who have a chaotic personal life will often be distracted and edgy at
work. Personal and professional development definitely is related and one area
influences the other quite often.