Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Not limited to self-help, the concept involves formal and informal activities for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, life coach or mentor. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.[1]

Personal development may include the following activities:

improving self-awareness

improving self-knowledge

improving skills or learning new ones

building or renewing identity/self-esteem

developing strengths or talents

improving wealth[citation needed]

spiritual development

identifying or improving potential

building employability or (alternatively) human capital

enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life

improving health

fulfilling aspirations

initiating a life enterprise or (alternatively) personal autonomy

defining and executing personal development plans (PDPs)

improving social abilities

Personal development can also include developing other people. This may take place through rôles such as those of a teacher or mentor, either through a personal competency (such as the skill of certain managers in developing the potential of employees) or through a professional service (such as providing training, assessment or coaching).

Beyond improving oneself and developing others, "personal development" labels a field of practice and research. As a field of practice it includes personal development methods, learning programs, assessment systems, tools and techniques. As a field of research, personal development topics increasingly[quantify] appear in scientific journals, higher education reviews, management journals and business books.[citation needed]

Any sort of development—whether economic, political, biological, organizational or personal—requires a framework if one wishes to know whether change has actually occurred.[citation needed] In the

case of personal development, an individual often functions as the primary judge of improvement or of regression, but validation of objective improvement requires assessment using standard criteria. Personal-development frameworks may include goals or benchmarks that define the end-points, strategies or plans for reaching goals, measurement and assessment of progress, levels or stages that define milestones along a development path, and a feedback system to provide information on changes.

Personality development is the development of the organized pattern of behaviors and attitudes that makes a person distinctive. Personality development occurs by the ongoing interaction of temperament , character, and environment.

DescriptionPersonality is what makes a person a unique person, and it is recognizable soon after birth. A child's personality has several components: temperament, environment, and character. Temperament is the set of genetically determined traits that determine the child's approach to the world and how the child learns about the world. There are no genes that specify personality traits, but some genes do control the development of the nervous system, which in turn controls behavior.

A second component of personality comes from adaptive patterns related to a child's specific environment. Most psychologists agree that these two factors—temperament and environment—influence the development of a person's personality the most. Temperament, with its dependence on genetic factors, is sometimes referred to as "nature," while the environmental factors are called "nurture."

While there is still controversy as to which factor ranks higher in affecting personality development, all experts agree that high-quality parenting plays a critical role in the development of a child's personality. When parents understand how their child responds to certain situations, they can anticipate issues that might be problematic for their child. They can prepare the child for the situation or in some cases they may avoid a potentially difficult situation altogether. Parents who know how to adapt their parenting approach to the particular temperament of their child can best provide guidance and ensure the successful development of their child's personality.

Finally, the third component of personality is character—the set of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral patterns learned from experience that determines how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. A person's character continues to evolve throughout life, although

much depends on inborn traits and early experiences. Character is also dependent on a person's moral development .

In 1956, psychiatrist Erik Erikson provided an insightful description as to how personality develops based on his extensive experience in psychotherapy with children and adolescents from low, upper, and middle-class backgrounds. According to Erikson, the socialization process of an individual consists of eight phases, each one accompanied by a "psychosocial crisis" that must be solved if the person is to manage the next and subsequent phases satisfactorily. The stages significantly influence personality development, with five of them occurring during infancy, childhood, and adolescence .

Read more: http://www.healthofchildren.com/P/Personality-Development.html#ixzz4Bu5mcsHk

ersonality Development quintessentially means enhancing and grooming one’s outer and inner self to bring about a positive change to your life. Each individual has a distinct persona that can be developed, polished and refined. This process includes boosting one’s confidence, improving communication and language speaking abilities, widening ones scope of knowledge, developing certain hobbies or skills, learning fine etiquettes and manners, adding style and grace to the way one looks, talks and walks and overall imbibing oneself with positivity, liveliness and peace.

The whole process of this development takes place over a period of time. Even though there are many crash courses in personality development that are made available to people of all age groups, implementing this to your routine and bringing about a positive change in oneself takes a considerable amount of time. It is not necessary to join a personality development course; one can take a few tips and develop his or her own aura or charm.

You may have heard this a million times “Think Positive”. It works. Smile. And smile some more. It adds to your face value and to your personality

as well. Read a few articles in the newspaper loudly. This will help in communicating

fluently. Follow table manners and dining etiquettes

Take good care of your health, dress well, be neat and organized Prepare a chart that mentions your strengths and weaknesses. Now concentrate

on the latter and find ways to improve upon the same. Do not forget to strengthen your strengths.

Spend some time alone concentrating on you and yourself alone. Practice meditation and yoga. It will help you develop inner peace and harmony

that will reflect outside. Do not live a monotonous life. Be creative and do something new all the time.

Nothing bigger than the joy of creative satisfaction.

Personality development is gaining more and more importance because it enables people to create a good impression about themselves on others; it helps them to build and develop relationships, helps in your career growth and also helps to improve your financial needs.

After all, personality development is nothing but a tool that helps you realize your capabilities and your strengths making you a stronger, a happier and a cheerful person.