Self-Improvement & Personal Development

I often refer to two seemingly like concepts; self-improvement and personal development. As you read, you may ask yourself; isn’t self-improvement and personal-development the same thing? Somewhat but there is a difference. Both are important, and both are necessary for growth. Here is the difference between the two.

Self-Improvement

Self-improvement is all about ending negative behaviors. It is discontinuing destructive activities and habits; putting an end to those activities that we know are bad for us. More importantly, we substitute those negative habits with constructive and positive activities and habits. Self-improvement activities are geared toward improving one’s knowledge, status, and character. These efforts can be aimed at improving any part of your life. Self-improvement addresses areas that align with a healthy state of mind and body. You self-improve in one area of your life, and you move on. But, when you address and correct one life area, the benefit is that usually, other life areas benefit as well.

Personal-Development

Personal-development, on the other hand, is about learning, growing and further developing as a person. Personal-development efforts are activities that expand awareness and identity; develop talents and potential; they build human capital and facilitate employability. These are activities that enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. The two, self-improvement and personal-development work together; each performing their respective roles. As previously stated, self-improvement addresses areas that align with a healthy state of mind and body. Once all life areas are in a healthy state, personal-development provides a stronger foundation to build upon — you further develop, taking your life to the next level. Personal-development takes place over the course of a person’s entire life and involves both formal and informal activities.

By formal, I am referring to the things that we learn at home, in our communities, in school, from society, and in our religious practice. By informal, I am referring to the things that we learn when we open our minds, explore, drop our defenses, and look beyond ourselves. This can involve efforts such as reading, studying, traveling, trying new things and looking within ourselves. Now that we have a better understanding of the distinction between self-improvement and personal development, I would like to provide some clarity on this book’s approach and how it is organized.