Personal Development : Being A Better Person

The benefits of and growing as a person and making constant expansion is an innate part of us as human beings. All of us want to grow more and more and one's definition of personal growth along with a list of personal skills for use in your personal development is of paramount importance. Reaching your potential personal and professional development becomes more and more important as time goes by as everyone wants to get better in his or her life in every way possible.

Now when considering one's personal development, looking at wanting or having more with a list of personal skills does not necessarily make you better. To become a better person you need to get better inside and in reaching your potential personal and professional development quicker that you otherwise would have. You need to improve your inner self. Personal development helps one to become a better person and the our definition of growth is one of the first things to get defined.

Taking on personal development is a serious task. To make the world a better place (reaching your potential personal and professional development) we have to start with ourselves first. When your ideas, habits and attitudes change for the better, you could help others live their lives better. Though it sounds simple, it takes a lot of effort on your part. If it is so easy then why aren't others trying to become better? The theory of Self-actualization states that in order for human beings to grow to a higher level, they have to get their basic needs satisfied. The basic needs of a human being are: physiological, safety, acceptance or belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization. Let us see why these factors are important in helping us to become better persons.

o Man's physiological needs are food and water, i.e. basic survival. If you are starving and not having enough food and water to take care of your hunger and thirst, where would you get the strength from to think about becoming better? Only when you physiologically satisfy these needs can you think about your psychological hunger and thirst for self-knowledge. Your basic survival needs take the first place in your life and then your personal development.

o One has to ensure his personal safety above everyone else's security. If you do not feel safe in your personal life, how can you try to bring safety to others? Your constant fear would not make you think about others.

o With personal development acceptance or a sense of belonging is another essential need for human beings. We need understanding and love from our family and friends and the society we live in. This acceptance will make us think of doing good things for the people who accept us and in that process we become a better person.

o The need for self-esteem along with a list of personal skills - once you are a recognized person among your people, you believe that they respect you. This feeling promotes power and prestige in you. To maintain this self-esteem you would do good deeds to better their lives. This in turn would reflect on your goodness. People would recognize you as a better person among them.

o Finally, we all have a definition of personal growth and when you satisfy most of the above needs, the concept of Self-Actualization will dawn on you. With a satisfied hunger, security, acceptance and power, you want to develop stronger ties with others. You rise above yourself, in the sense you start giving more importance to other peoples' needs and wants. You believe in being committed to a greater cause than yourself.
Once you enter the doorway for self-realization you would eventually learn to put other people ahead of you in life and you become a better person, naturally!

When is comes to personal development and our lives, the reality is that you can be whoever or whatever you choose to be, if only more of us would believe and act upon this then we would not have the level of apathy and the situation we see in our society.