Introduction to Personal Development

Introduction

Personal development is a very large topic. At the Marstan Group, we concentrate on the development of skills which will help you in your management career, whether that be in business management, change management or project management.

However, there is no doubt that developing the right skills has a profound effect on your productivity, confidence and demeanour. In other words, personal development for your professional life has a positive effect on your personal life too, resulting in less stress and greater fulfilment.

Working towards your definition of success

People have widely varying definitions of success. At one extreme there is fame and fortune, where both personal wealth and wide recognition are essential to make the person feel fulfilled. At the other extreme is the person who leads a quiet life with modest means. Both are perfectly legitimate ways of living your life, as is any method between these two extremes.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to divide life into “home” and “work”, thus triggering the need to find a home/work “balance”. It has, perhaps, never been possible to separate things clearly, but with longer opening times for most businesses and the ready availability of electronic and telephonic communications, it is even more important to look at managing your whole life, rather than a series of distinct compartments.

Whatever your personal definition of success, there are certain fundamental laws which, when obeyed, deliver success, fulfilment and happiness.

In order to tap into these resources, it is important to understand what you need to do, why you need to do it and use and develop a small number of core skills.

The three areas of your life

We all have 24 hours each day, but how we choose to use them varies dramatically from person to person.

The simple fact is that all parts of our lives are connected. Most people work to provide the means to support their family and enjoy themselves. This does not mean that work is devoid of pleasure and fulfilment, but we should note that it is more of a “must do” than a “want to do”.

So what are the three main areas of our lives?

1. Home life – leisure and relationships
2. Work – providing a living and fulfilling potential
3. Maintenance – the things you need to do to maintain your physical and mental health.

Each of these items needs planning, action and time.

What would you really like to do?

A little bit of self analysis is essential to find out what you really want to do. There is not enough time to become involved in everything, so it is well worth giving some thought to what really matters to you; both personally and professionally.

1. What do you regret not doing at the moment?
2. Is your career as you would like it to be? If not, what would you change?
3. What are your skills? Are you using them to the full? If not, what would you need to do to use your skills properly?
4. What are your main hobbies? Are you spending enough time on them?

The above questions can provide a framework for assessing your current position, without being over-analytical. Feel free to add your own questions, but the key thing is to write down both the questions and your responses to them. These will form the foundations of your new life.

Balancing your life = balancing your time

The majority of people spend so much time doing things that are urgent that they leave little time for what is important. When this happens it leaves them unfulfilled, stressful and with a feeling that there are not enough hours in the day.

This is because they have forgotten that we “work to live” not “live to work”. More often than not it is the important things like attending a child’s sports day which are squeezed out by things like a business meeting which could have been missed or re-arranged.

It is, therefore, a good idea to plan the important things in as much detail as you would plan your work, rather than try and fit them into the small amount of time left from your work.

The idea of a time-log has been around for some time, but more often than not, it is used to assess work time – not a 24 hour period. So how should we allocate our time?

Maintenance

We can achieve little without our health, so the first thing to plan is the time that we need to look after ourselves. The main areas of maintenance are:

• Sleep - how much do you need and what are the effects if you have a sustained deficit of sleep?
• Exercise - if you do not have enough exercise built into your day (most postmen do!) you will need to allocate some time.

Leisure

This includes all of the things we want to do, including things with our family and friends. The main ones are:

• Relationships - allowing time for parents, children, partner, colleagues and friends
• Hobbies
• Social occasions
• Relaxation

Work

This includes working time, travel and any preparation which you do from home.

Many people work beyond their contractual hours; indeed self-employed people tend to work much longer hours than employed people, even though they theoretically have the freedom to choose. Most people would benefit from placing a limit on the time that they spend at work, in order that they could spend more time on the things that they would choose to do.

The core skills and attributes

There are 4 core skills which can be applied to all aspects of your life:

1. Self management
2. Organisation
3. Interacting with people
4. Processing information

There are also 3 key attributes which are invaluable in everything that you do:

1. Self-discipline
2. Positive thinking
3. Perseverance