Young people growing individually is the underpinning theme of Personal Department. Included are the development of yourself as a person, and how you acquire capability and knowledge. Additionally it is about how you develop in maturity, in the way you are educated, how you work, and how you develop socially.
True, outside influences from family, through schooling and subsequent education, and in one’s social life, all have their significance in Personal Development. But underpinning this, is the effort we are prepared to make ourselves. A runner can receive the best training, but will not win the marathon unless they have pursued their training vigorously, and are inspired to be the winner.
Individual growth in terms of one’s character, and in terms of one’s skills, represent two important components of Personal Development. And the third is about the growth of self inspiration to achieve. Most of us when we are young, develop personally in a Conventional manner.
This assumes the pretty standard sequencing of school, college and maybe university. Also it assumes several interests and activities outside of academia. In my study of 100 successful people who were world famous, 52% presented themselves as Conventional young people.
Other young people develop personally in more of a Specialized manner. We may have been a great guitar player, or an outstanding athlete. Our family may have been prepared, and inspired us to grow our talent in a focused way, also meaning that we left formal academic education early.
Other Specialized forms of personal development include pursuing vocations, apprenticeships or trades while still young. So developing personally in a Specialized manner, can embrace many alternatives. In researching the patterns of success behind famous people in the world, I found 24% of them were Specialized, as youngsters.
In addition to the more Specialized or Conventional forms of Personal Development, there is one more significant development option. This is Personal Development through Broad Life Experience as youngsters. In so doing, they leave the more typical pathway of academic education.
With Broad Life Experience, young people pursue their own lives, wherever this takes them. This is how they learn and acquire capability, in other words by being involved on the ground in different walks of life. This also comes about by watching other people and life happenings all around them.
So this is very hands on and focuses on reality, rather than on life discovery from a book. May call this reality university, although others may regret they did not complete advanced academic study. Of the successful people I studied, 24% engaged in Personal Development as young people, through Broad Life Experience.
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December 3, 2009 by Peter Stephenson