The power of personal growth should never be underestimated, as not only does it benefit you and the people around you, but it can also significantly benefit your career. We’re here to introduce the 5 areas of personal growth, with some tips on how to achieve them and also the knock on positive effect that has on your career!
5 Areas Of Personal Growth and How To Achieve Them
Emotional
Firstly is the emotional area of personal growth, which is all about being able to understand your own and other people’s feelings. It’s also about being aware of those feelings and knowing how they shape our thoughts and how we act. Often emotional growth happens as we experience new and different experiences throughout our life, however there are ways to improve our emotional growth.
Things like focusing on becoming more self aware when you experience an emotion and trying to pick out where it has come from, recognizing how other people feel and understanding that people process their emotions differently, focusing on communicating your thoughts clearly and also listening to other people’s feedback. Journaling is a good way to improve your emotional growth, as you can use it as an outlet to write down and explore confusing emotions, so you can try to let go of them slightly and then work out ways to better process them next time.
Emotional intelligence is absolutely vital in the workplace, as it helps you to motivate and inspire others by empathising with them and also self-regulating to react as you should in different situations. Not only will you be happier, but you will also likely become more successful as you will possess better leadership qualities.
Mental
Mental personal growth is the second area, which is focused on your mental wellbeing and self-awareness. It’s about being able to manage stress, be productive and contribute to society. It’s also about regulating how we feel and coping with the difficult times in life in a healthy way.
To do this, finding ways to relax and reduce stress, exploring ways to be creative and learn, connecting with others, knowing when you need to take a mental break and finding peace with things you can’t change will all help you to move towards mental personal growth. Again, journalling is really great for mental health, helping you to process mental distress and take some weight off your shoulders.
The smallest things can help you to feel happy and healthy.
Every working environment comes with stresses, so being able to manage that stress effectively and knowing where your boundaries lie are important. When you’re in a positive mental space, it benefits the employer, employees around you and it makes your life all the more fulfilled.
Physical
Next we have our physical growth, which is all about focusing on fuelling our bodies with the right foods, getting enough sleep, looking after our joints and muscles and getting enough exercise. When we are eating the right foods and prioritise our health, it makes all areas of our life easier.
So, you should aim to eat a balanced diet including plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables, fibre and gut health foods, you should be moving your body in some way everyday and exercising more intensely 3-4 times a week, you should throw on your loungewear and stretch regularly to improve posture and flexibility and make sure you get 7-8 hours sleep.
Having good physical health is key in the workplace, as you will generally feel more energised, more focused, improved concentration and mental alertness. When we feel good in ourselves and we’re looking after our bodies, it translates so clearly into all areas of our life, including work. So, create a routine that fits in around work and watch yourself prosper.
Social
Social personal growth involves improving your communication skills, improving social relationships and having a knowledge of how to interact in different groups and settings. Whilst not conforming, it’s about being confident in who you are in different scenarios and having the awareness to make others feel comfortable.
Some ways to do this are focusing on asking interesting questions and then being an active listener rather than dominating conversations or not participating at all, joining some new groups like running clubs or networking groups to meet people, and generally pushing yourself out of your comfort zone as you’ll feel all the better for it afterwards! Changing your social confidence can take time, so be kind to yourself and take small steps.
Having social confidence at work helps you to build meaningful connections with coworkers and clients and generally be an effective team member. Someone who is confident in communicating with a wide range of people will likely progress quicker, of course depending on the type of working environment.
Spiritual
Last but not least, we have spiritual personal growth, which means something different to everyone. However, for most people, it’s about finding peace and connecting with yourself. For some people this is religious, for other people it’s more meditative, so do your own research and find out what kind of direction you’d like to take.
Practicing spirituality outside of work can help you to become a more patient, self assured and understanding person, as well as reducing your stress and anxiety within the workplace, so it can be extremely beneficial.
Final Thoughts
Personal growth is not a tick box exercise or something you can achieve and forget about. It’s all about continuously investing in ourselves to make ourselves happier and healthier in all areas of our lives, which then inevitably will positively impact your working life. Everyone’s goals are different, however making the effort to balance all of the areas of your personal growth can help to transform your life, both in and out of the office. So, write down some of the ways you’re going to focus on it this week and we’re sure you’ll start to feel the benefits.
