Earlier this week we shared with you one of Doceo’s key definition’s for success. Personal Development. Here at Doceo, personal development is one of our key values but what does this actually mean to us? Personal development is “a programme of activities designed to help you realise your dreams and aspirations. We focus on developing key life skills, building human capital and boosting your employability.”
Exam season is around the corner and we want to ensure that you can revise in the most effective way possible. Understanding how to revise and the science behind how we learn was something I started to get interested in …
This can and will look different to everyone but to give you an idea of how this plays out practically, I’ve asked members of the Doceo team what personal development means to them and what they do to ensure that they’re constantly learning.
What does personal development mean to you?
Seun– To me, personal development is about being introspective, having the ability to make a fair assessment of one’s own strengths and weaknesses and to then try and improve in the areas which need improvement. It’s about the continuous improvements of one’s skills, capabilities and expertise.
Steph– I agree with Seun’s definition, said it perfectly!
Zoe– Personal development to me is a verb. It’s the act of developing intangible aspects of the human existence such as social skills, intellect and emotional intelligence. It requires self reflection and intentionality.
Sara– I agree with Seun’s definition and I would add that it’s about tapping into my real potential as well.
How do you ensure you’re constantly learning?
Seun– I try to do new things that challenge me (academic or otherwise), seek the counsel of those more experiences than me and regularly exchange ideas and experiences with my contemporaries.
Steph– I use Habit Stacking (Atomic Habits speaks on this topic really well) but I’m always listening to well-being podcasts when I’m doing menial tasks e.g. when I’m on my commute, doing household chores, cooking etc. I think an important part of fully learning is teaching, so I make sure I use any new knowledge I learn within 48 hours, and I usually do this by teaching someone else what I’ve learnt.
Zoe– By building my knowledge- research, reading, listening to podcasts and having conversations with intelligent people. Sharing knowledge with others and having people challenge my perspectives and philosophies also reveals gaps in my knowledge and gives me targets of new things to learn.
Sara– To help me grow, I love to read personal development books and speak with people who have different points of view on all sorts of topics.
Reading seems to be a common theme here so if you’d like to see some of Doceo’s book recommendations, have a look at our recent post titled ‘Our March Favourite Resources For a Growth Mindset’.
For me, personal development means fully embracing the fact that my capacity to constantly learn and develop is endless- this is really important to me because I often told myself the narrative that I wasn’t ‘naturally clever’ or ‘one of those people who was good at X’. To keep myself constantly learning, I like to: follow my curiosity (even the slightly random ones!), read and listen to other people’s experiences.
You’ve heard what personal development means to us and now it’s your turn. What does personal development mean to you? How do you ensure that you’re constantly learning or how would you like to do so moving forward?