Our society has a serious fear of death, to the point where we do everything we can to avoid it. And then struggle to accept it once its taken hold.

But I wonder if we would be so afraid of it if we were all truly living our lives to the best of our potential.

Over the weekend, I had a conversation that revolved around when someone peaks in life when they hit the highest mark they ever will.

A lot of people choose to peak early they focus their life on partying and the next kegger they can throw. And the struggle to meet the demands of life.

Another big group peaks as they get to a point where they can handle all the responsibilities life throws their way. They get to a point where they will grow incrementally in their career, pay for the house and toys they want, and have some fun.

Thats great. They are happy where they are, and thats amazing.

My new friend is in this boat, and Im happy for him.

But when I shared that I dont believe Ive peaked yet, he was a bit confused.

I work incredibly hard, all the time. Im happy where Im figuratively at now, but I wont be happy to stay here forever.

I want to keep growing. To accomplish great things. To push the envelope of my potential, and see exactly how far I can go.

For me, thats the point of life.

I could never be satisfied to peak at 27, with at least 2/3 of my life left. What would be the point of all that time if I ceased to push myself?

Nor do I think Id be happy to peak at 40 or 50.

Every moment Im alive is a moment to expand and to grow. How do I possibly pick a point and say, nope, Im good here for the rest of my time.

I choose to keep growing and keep experiencing.

And I truly hope that I dont peak until Im well past old & gray.

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personal development

This site is about personal development. Its purpose is to assist people who want to improve their lives, reach their full potential and strive towards emotional, spiritual, social and physical success and wellbeing.

We offer ideas, inspiration, information and insights on topics such as goal setting, affirmations, mindfulness, motivation, positive thinking, success, relevant courses and recommended books on self development.

Our ambition is to provide resources to anyone who takes an interest in their self improvement and who is willing to experience profound changes.

Personal growth and development is a process and this site provides free information and tools on how to build a better you, a successful life in every sense of the word. On this site, there is a heavy emphasize on personal responsibility and the freedom to choose our own thoughts, emotions and actions.

The development of yourself comes through what goes on inside of you. If you realize that everything starts within yourself, you will begin to see that it is possible to affect your thoughts, values, beliefs and actions. As a result, you can create virtually anything you like!

For most of us, we have been led to believe that we need to have and do an endlesss amount of things in order to become happy, fulfilled and successful. That is untrue, however. Through self development we realize that we need to first be in order to do and then do in order to have. In that order. After all, we are human beings - not human doings. That is a huge difference!

When you discover your own personal values and believes, you begin to act accordingly, instead of acting on someone elses idea of what is right or wrong, good or bad. When you scrutinize your inner self, you need courage, strength, motivation and tools to continue. You will find the resources here.

Engaging in personal development is sometimes a struggle. However, the rewards are greater personal freedom! Knowing yourself is the road to true success, not just materially, but also emotionally, spiritually and socially.

Your true inner self remains the same regardless of outer circumstances. It is like an orange: The inside (the true inner being) remains the same regardless of where it is or what happens around it. If someone squeezes it (trouble, stress, illness), something pure still comes out (your true inner self). That is one of the reasons this site is called personal development inside out and has an orange in the logo!

As you spend time and effort on your own development, your life changes from the inside out. If you begin with your inside - anything will manifest itself on the outside.

What is personal development?

Self growth, self improvement and self development are all terms describing the same thing: The conscious act of improving yourself in every possible way into something that you choose.

Why engage in personal development?

To reach your full potential as a human being, you want to be in command of your life and take responsibility. You can be a person who influences, not a person who only gets influenced (usually taken advantage of). A consciously living person is more likely to make wiser decisions and ultimately make the world a better place.

How does personal development work?

A number of methods, techniques and tools are provided for free on this site. Goal setting, mindfulness, affirmations and keeping a personal development journal are just a few examples.

When is the time for personal development?

Now. Always now.

Where is the place for personal development?

Here. Development takes place all the time everywhere. Our mission is to help you develop in a positive direction.

Who can benefit from personal development?

Anybody who is open minded enough to try out new concepts. Anybody who has the courage to think out of the box. Anybody who accepts that personal development is a marathon - not a sprint. Anybody who is willing to commit to his or her own personal growth and development and embrace the outcome.

List of personal development benefits:

"It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship."(Norman Vincent Peale)

Newsletter

Most pages on this site display a box which offers a free subscription to our newsletter "Free Inside Out". Please join to take advantage of great offers, updates and lots of inspiration on our sites themes and topics:

positive thinking

goal setting

affirmations

mindfulness

personal responsibility

success

motivation

inspiration

holistic personal development

great books about personal development

Remember to book-mark this site, so you can easily return for more personal growth and development advice!

We also appreciate your feedback on anything on this site. Please use the "Contact Us" form in the navigation bar.

So why not become an insider of your own life? Personal growth and development is the key to unlocking your full potential. Success is having both money and meaning. Personal growth takes place as long as we live. Personal development enriches your life. Self improvement is not a big deal. Anybody can make gradual changes that are doable and desireable. Life is a lesson, make it as worthwhile as possible.

Challenge yourself. Grow. Get out of your comfort zone. Take 100% responsibility for your life. You are the creator of your reality.

"We must become the change we want to see in the world." (Mahatma Gandhi)

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Personal development that transforms you and your life.

252826 Optimizing Your Performance On a Team 5 hours 5 B $219 252590 Customer Service Fundamentals Part 2 1 hour 1 B $169 252589 Customer Service Fundamentals Part 1 5 hours 5 B $199 252567 Optimizing Your Performance On a Team 5 hours 5 B $219 252558 Project Management for Non-Project Managers Part 2 1 hour 1 B $239 252557 Project Management for Non-Project Managers Part 1 12 hours 4 B $199 252555 Perseverance and Resilience 3 hours 1 B $199 252554 Business Etiquette and Professionalism Part 2 n/a 5 B $219 252553 Business Etiquette and Professionalism Part 1 4 hours 2 B $199 252551 Interviewing Strategies for the Interviewee 4 hours 3 B $169 252549 Business Ethics 4 hours 3 B $249 252548 Peer Relationships 3 hours 3 B $219 252547 Personal Productivity Improvement 3 hours 3 B $139 252546 Building and Maintaining Trust 2 hours 2 B $169 252545 Critical Thinking Essentials 2 hours 2 B $139 252544 Dealing with Organizational Change 3 hours 3 B $219 252543 Problem Solving and Decision-Making Strategies 6 hours 9 B $249 252542 Effective Time Management 4 hours 3 B $249 252539 Telecommuting and the Remote Employee 2 hours 2 B $99 252537 Optimizing Your Work/Life Balance 3 hours 4 B $239 252536 Doing Business Professionally 10 hours 6 B $219 252534 Professional Networking Essentials 4 hours 1 B $169 252533 Communicate with Diplomacy and Tact 5 hours 5 B $199 252532 Basic Presentation Skills 3 hours 3 B $169 252529 Listening Essentials 2 hours 2 B $199 252528 Getting Results without Direct Authority 4 hours 4 B $219 252526 Emotional Intelligence Essentials 3 hours 4 B $219 252523 Fundamentals of Working with Difficult People Part 2 2 hours 2 B $199 252522 Fundamentals of Working with Difficult People Part 1 5 hours 5 B $199 252521 Workplace Conflict 3 hours 3 B $249 252520 Interpersonal Communication Part 2 4 hours 1 B $199 252519 Interpersonal Communication Part 1 5 hours 5 B $199 252518 Business Grammar Basics 7 hours 6 B $239 252517 Business Writing Basics 3 hours 3 B $219 252516 E-mail Essentials for Business 4 hours 4 B $199 252507 Leadership Essentials Part 2 3 hours 4 B $199 252506 Leadership Essentials Part 1 5 hours 5 B $199 252470 Recruiting and Retention Strategies Part 2 n/a 1 B $219 252420 Microsoft Office 2007: Beginning Project 14 hours 1 B $199 252408 Microsoft Office 2007: New Features 5 hours 4 B $169 252849 PPE Protection 3 hours 1 B $219 237832 Business Ethics 30 minutes 9 B $75

Continued here:
Personal Development Training Courses in Seattle, WA

If youve ever hung out in the personal development section of the major bookstores, you may have been overwhelmed with the extensive number of volumes related to the subject. With all this information, where do you begin? And of these titles, are there specific must-read books out there which are essential for your own growth and understanding? Well, over the next 52 weeks Ill attempt to answer these questions.

Inspired by Trent over at The Simple Dollar, Ive decided to undertake a project and read 52 books over a 52-week period. I will read one book related to personal development every week and offer an in-depth review, spreading this review throughout the week. These will include many of the classic as well as more modern titles.

Each Monday, I will provide an overview of the book, describing the general premise as well as any reviews or comments that may have been given. Tuesday through Thursday will be set aside for the meat of book, divided into three sections, spread evenly throughout the three days. To wrap it up, each Friday will be dedicated to my own personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

I must admit, some of these will be books that Ive already read, but I look forward to rereading them anyways, as Im sure they will offer new insights and awareness that I may have previously missed. Its my goal with this project, to not only increase my own understanding and knowledge pertaining to personal growth, but also provide you with a well written review of 52 personal development books that you can use to determine which books will be most beneficial for your growth.

Here youll find a complete list of all books reviewed so far with links to their respective posts. UPDATE 03/19/2007: Also included is a link to download each complete review in .pdf format (just right-click the link and click Save Target as) [thanks for the pdf idea Peter Damoc!!]

See the rest here:
52 Personal Development Books in 52 Weeks - LifeTraining

As stated previously, appraisal is about helping the appraisee to succeed, and to perform well or better in the future. So it is vital that the appraisal discussion produces a personal development plan (PDP) for the appraisee to take forward into the next review period. The PDP should consist of a set of carefully tailored clinical, educational and personal development objectives.

There may be a mixture of work objectives focusing on the appraisees agreed and expected contribution to the teams goals over the coming period and personal development objectives based on areas of agreed improvement in job performance in clinical and non-clinical contexts. The word improvement can, unfortunately, suggest that objectives are purely about correcting poor performance. In fact, personal development objectives can be used to manage performance in a number of ways:

The general emphasis when setting objectives should certainly be on seeking improvements. However, continuous development is as much about maintaining standards as it is about more, better, faster, smarter. In this context, the term improvement should be viewed widely to incorporate the three development areas: remedy, consolidation and growth.

Much has been written about how to write good, effective objectives. The SMART or SMARTER acronym is well known and provides a valuable aide-mmoire for those with the challenge of composing them. Three of the letters are particularly key: the s for specific, the m for measurable and the a for agreed or achievable.

It is up to the appraisee to ensure objectives are reviewed. Writing and agreeing objectives that are never referred to again is a supreme waste of effort. Ideally the appraisee should look at them and discuss them in a timely manner as events arise; amend and update them as circumstances change; and above all keep them alive and current as a useful and relevant tool helping to guide their performance. Remember, appraisal should be a process and not just an event.

See Setting Learning Objectives for more details on setting learning objectives and Assessing Educational Needs for more information around personal and professional development plans.

Print module to PDF

Save a PDF of this module, so you can print it and read it in your own time.

Further information

More information about this module, further reading and a complete list of glossary terms.

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Work and personal development objectives E-Learning Modules

Personal Development Programmes at The Rainbow Project.

The Rainbow Project offers free Personal Development Programmes that address the issues that affect gay and bi men.

So what is a Personal Development Programme?

Well personal development is many things and has many traditions and methods, but can be best summed up by the notions of improving self-awareness and self-knowledge, developing potential talents and strengths, and the building or renewing of identity. For gay and bi men, it may prove more difficult for us to self-develop due to the additional obstacles we face as a sexual minority, and the discrimination and prejudice we often face in our daily lives.

The Rainbow Projectscourses are for men who are 18 years plus and there is a maximum of 15 participants on each programme. These courses run over a twelve week period, with a week break mid-way through and a celebratory event at the end. The sessions are delivered in an informal group work setting through a variety of methods. These would be large group and small group discussions, role-plays, individual work, multi-media presentations and lots more. The facilitators are kept on their toes to keep these sessions interesting and fun but with the right pitch of challenge for the participants.

The issues that we address are determined by the participants in week one, but in the past these have included issues such as; mental and sexual health, relationships and intimacy, assertiveness and communication, body image and flirting, parenthood and coming out, homophobia and the law, to name but a few.

If this sounds like the type of challenge that you would like to be involved in then please contact Mal or Martin at Rainbow on eithermalachai@rainbow-project.org or martin@rainbow-project.org or call 90 319030.

See the article here:
The Rainbow Project: Personal Development

Personal development planning(PDP)is a structured and supported process undertaken by a learner to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development. It is an inclusive process, open to all learners, in all HE provision settings, and at all levels.QAA Scotland works with the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA) to help higher education institutions in Scotland to implement PDP.

The PDP Toolkit is designed to help all staff at all levels within institutions to consider, reflect and develop their strategies and policies for the implementation and enhancement of PDP. It achieves this by using a series of self-assessment questions (SAQs) which encourage reflection on the important issues in implementation and development.

The Toolkit was developed for QAA Scotland by Kirsty Miller, Jonathan Weyers, Stuart Cross, Lorraine Walsh and Eric Monaghan of the PDP Consultancy Team at the University of Dundee. In 2011, the Toolkit was extended to include reference to PDP within placement learning and work-based learning.

The Toolkit builds on previous work on the Effective Learning Framework and the Individualised Support for Learners through ePortfolios (ISLE).

Go here to read the rest:
Personal development planning

A personal computer is a general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities and original sale price make it useful for individuals, and is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator. This contrasts with the batch processing or time-sharing models that allowed larger, more expensive minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time. A related term is "PC" that was initially an acronym for "personal computer", but later became used primarily to refer to the ubiquitous Wintel platform.

Software applications for most personal computers include, but are not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, web browsers and e-mail clients, digital media playback, games and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. Personal computers may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless connection. A personal computer may be a desktop computer or a laptop, netbook, tablet or a handheld PC.

Early computer owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, which even did not include an operating system. The very earliest microcomputers, equipped with a front panel, required hand-loading of a bootstrap program to load programs from external storage (paper tape, cassettes, or eventually diskettes). Before very long, automatic booting from permanent read-only memory became universal. Today's users have access to a wide range of commercial software, freeware and free and open-source software, which are provided in ready-to-run or ready-to-compile form. Software for personal computers, such as applications and video games, are typically developed and distributed independently from the hardware or OS manufacturers, whereas software for many mobile phones and other portable systems is approved and distributed through a centralized online store.[1][2]

Since the early 1990s, Microsoft operating systems and Intel hardware have dominated much of the personal computer market, first with MS-DOS and then with Windows. Popular alternatives to Microsoft's Windows operating systems include Apple's OS X and free open-source Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and BSD. AMD provides the major alternative to Intel's processors.

The Programma 101 was the first commercial "desktop personal computer", produced by the Italian company Olivetti and invented by the Italian engineer Pier Giorgio Perotto, inventor of the magnetic card system. The project started in 1962. It was launched at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and volume production began in 1965, the computer retailing for $3,200.[3][unreliable source?]

NASA bought at least ten Programma 101s and used them for the calculations for the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing. Then ABC used the Programma 101 to predict the presidential election of 1969, and the U.S. military used the machine to plan their operations in the Vietnam War. The Programma 101 was also used in schools, hospitals, government offices. This marked the beginning of the era of the personal computer.

In 1968, Hewlett-Packard was ordered to pay about $900,000 in royalties to Olivetti after their Hewlett-Packard 9100A was ruled to have copied some of the solutions adopted in the Programma 101, including the magnetic card, the architecture and other similar components.[3]

The Soviet MIR series of computers was developed from 1965 to 1969 in a group headed by Victor Glushkov. It was designed as a relatively small-scale computer for use in engineering and scientific applications and contained a hardware implementation of a high-level programming language. Another innovative feature for that time was the user interface combining a keyboard with a monitor and light pen for correcting texts and drawing on screen.[4]

In what was later to be called the Mother of All Demos, SRI researcher Douglas Engelbart in 1968 gave a preview of what would become the staples of daily working life in the 21st century: e-mail, hypertext, word processing, video conferencing and the mouse. The demonstration required technical support staff and a mainframe time-sharing computer that were far too costly for individual business use at the time.

By the early 1970s, people in academic or research institutions had the opportunity for single-person use of a computer system in interactive mode for extended durations, although these systems would still have been too expensive to be owned by a single person.

The rest is here:
Personal computer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since people who couldnt attend have been asking me about the recent Conscious Heart Workshop last month, Ill share some details about how it turned out, both from my perspective and that of the attendees.

As a refresher, what was unique about this workshop (our 11th since 2009) is that there was no pre-set theme and no pre-planned content or structure. The idea was to go with the flow of inspiration all the way through. It was also intended to be a co-creative event, meaning that attendees could influence how it turned out if they felt inspired to do so.

Lets start with what the attendees thought of it

A few days afterthe workshop, I emailed the attendees a simple survey to share their feedback with me. The survey gives themthe opportunity to ratedifferent aspects of the workshop, to answer a few questions about their experience, and some space foranything else they want to share. People can include their names or submit it anonymously if they wish. I also invite them to share some feedback that I can post publicly with their name or initials if theyre okay with that. The feedback is used toimprove future workshops and to come up with new workshop ideas.

For this workshop, on a scale of 1 to 5, the average ratings were:

Workshop Content 4.3

Workshop Exercises 4.2

Social Experience 4.6

Workshop Staff 4.9

Transformational Effect 4.4

More here:
Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog

An interpersonal relationship is a strong, deep, or close association or acquaintance between two or more people that may range in duration from brief to enduring. This association may be based on inference, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the context of social, cultural and other influences. The context can vary from family or kinship relations, friendship, marriage, relations with associates, work, clubs, neighborhoods, and places of worship. They may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and are the basis of social groups and society as a whole.

The study of interpersonal relationships involves several branches of the social sciences, including such disciplines as sociology, communication studies, psychology, anthropology, and social work. Interpersonal skills are vital when trying to develop a relationship with another person. The scientific study of relationships evolved during the 1990s and came to be referred to as 'relationship science',[1] which distinguishes itself from anecdotal evidence or pseudo-experts by basing conclusions on data and objective analysis. Interpersonal ties are also a subject in mathematical sociology.[2]

Human beings are innately social and are shaped by their experiences with others. There are multiple perspectives to understand this inherent motivation to interact with others.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, humans need to feel love (sexual/nonsexual) and acceptance from social groups (family, peer groups). In fact, the need to belong is so innately ingrained that it may be strong enough to overcome physiological and safety needs, such as children's attachment to abusive parents or staying in abusive romantic relationships. Such examples illustrate the extent to which the psychobiological drive to belong is entrenched.

Another way to appreciate the importance of relationships is in terms of a reward framework. This perspective suggests that individuals engage in relations that are rewarding in both tangible and intangible ways. The concept fits into a larger theory of social exchange. This theory is based on the idea that relationships develop as a result of cost-benefit analyses. Individuals seek out rewards in interactions with others and are willing to pay a cost for said rewards. In the best-case scenario, rewards will exceed costs, producing a net gain. This can lead to "shopping around" or constantly comparing alternatives to maximize the benefits (rewards) while minimizing costs.

Relationships are also important for their ability to help individuals develop a sense of self. The relational self is the part of an individuals self-concept that consists of the feelings and beliefs that one has regarding oneself that develops based on interactions with others.[3] In other words, ones emotions and behaviors are shaped by prior relationships. Thus, relational self theory posits that prior and existing relationships influence ones emotions and behaviors in interactions with new individuals, particularly those individuals that remind him or her of others in his or her life. Studies have shown that exposure to someone who resembles a significant other activates specific self-beliefs, changing how one thinks about oneself in the moment more so than exposure to someone who does not resemble a significant other.[4]

Interpersonal relationships are dynamic systems that change continuously during their existence. Like living organisms, relationships have a beginning, a lifespan, and an end. They tend to grow and improve gradually, as people get to know each other and become closer emotionally, or they gradually deteriorate as people drift apart, move on with their lives and form new relationships with others. One of the most influential models of relationship development was proposed by psychologist George Levinger.[5] This model was formulated to describe heterosexual, adult romantic relationships, but it has been applied to other kinds of interpersonal relations as well. According to the model, the natural development of a relationship follows five stages:

Friendships may involve some degree of transitivity. In other words, a person may become a friend of an existing friend's friend. However, if two people have a sexual relationship with the same person, they may become competitors rather than friends. Accordingly, sexual behavior with the sexual partner of a friend may damage the friendship (see love triangle). Sexual activities between two friends tend to alter that relationship, either by "taking it to the next level" or by severing it.[citation needed]

A list of interpersonal skills includes:

Social exchange theory and Rusbult's investment model shows that relationship satisfaction is based on three factors: rewards, costs, and comparison levels (Miller, 2012). Rewards refer to any aspects of the partner or relationship that are positive. Adversely, costs are the negative or unpleasant aspects of the partner or their relationship. Comparison level includes what each partner expects of the relationship. The comparison level is influenced by past relationships, and general relationship expectations they are taught by family and friends.

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Interpersonal relationship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia