Personal and Professional Development - What's the Difference?



Learn Motivational on motivational-info.com. Personal and Professional Development - What's the Difference? article will help answer your questions on Motivational.We at motivational-info.com specialize in Motivational. Motivational at motivational-info.com provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

When people ask me about my business, I tell them I'm in the learning business - that we help organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential through learning. This is a fine statement and it does describe the breadth of what we do, but it often leads to the follow-up question like . . . 'Do you do personal development stuff or just business skills training?'

My answer is yes.

Because I don't believe there is a significant difference between personal development and professional development.

Why do I say that?

The Reasons Why

Since my opinion might differ from yours, or perhaps you've never thought about it this, it makes sense to explain myself. There are at least five major reasons why I think personal and professional development are the same thing.

Learning is Learning. We were granted an amazing potential for learning at birth. Most of us haven't used very much of that potential. It's like we are mowing our lawn with a jet engine. Sure the jet engine has enough horsepower to turn the blade, but it has virtually unlimited potential that isn't being used. When we are learning we are increasing our capacity to learn more because we are flexing and exercising our 'learning muscles.' In other words whenever we are learning we are increasing our capacity to learn even more.

All Experience Counts. One of the powerful ways that we learn is by connecting new learning to what we already know. As we continue to build our knowledge and experiences, it allows us to make new connections faster. In other words, the more we learn, the more successful we will be at learning new things and in most situations; more quickly with deeper understanding.

We're a Whole Package. It isn't like we go to work and don't use anything we know from our personal life to be more effective professionally. And while we may not need to know how to repair rotating drum equipment at home - those skills might help you diagnose the problem with your washing machine. And even though you don't have to back up the system database at home, you might be able to deal with your home PC better because of what you learned at work. And while you hope you'll never need to follow the new Customer Service procedure at home, that procedure might teach you something a following a process, or being more understanding when you are the Customer.

The bottom line is that we are complete humans, and as such we take our entire work knowledge home, and bring all of our personal knowledge and experience to work. So any form of growth or development will benefit you both personally and professionally.

The Most Important Skills are Always the Most Important. Where does being a better listener help you - at home or at work? Both, of course. When you learn how to coach more effectively at work does it make you a better parent? It sure can!

We could make a long list of these valuable skills, from communication to dealing with conflict, to learning how to learn, to giving better feedback to being more creative... you get the idea (and have probably thought of five other examples yourself by now). There are many skills that we might learn as 'self improvement' that will help us at work, and vice versa. So why label it one or the other?

Serendipity Rules. Because our learning grows based on connections, you never know when something you learned on the Discovery Channel might give you an 'aha' at work, or that the insight shared by the seminar leader at work helps you solve a vexing problem at home. Again, all development, all learning, all growth helps us in all parts of our lives.

But Wait

Does all of this mean that as I become a better knitter or bowler, I'll be more productive and successful at work? Yes, for the reasons I described above (and some others too).

That doesn't mean that your organization should send everyone to knitting class or bowling lessons, but it does mean that there is substantial merit in supporting any form of learning regardless of the content.

In the end, my goal is to help you view all skills more broadly in their application - instead of classifying some things as 'personal development' and therefore they don't matter at work.

Learning is learning. Personal development is professional development.

When you stop worrying about the distinctions, but rather think about the applications, you serve yourself and others much better.


AstrologySource. - Professional Astrology Services, Original Content for your site. Put our Astrology Cookbook Search Engine on your site!
The Truth About Building Muscle. - 245-Page Bodybuilding E-Book, Full Exercise Database, Free Online Personal Training and More! High Conversions & Low Refunds!


Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14


Advice
Home Business
Technology
Online Advertising
Motivational
Internet Marketing
SEO Help
Online Games
Science Articles
Happiness

More Articles:


1. PRIME THAT PUMP! Part 1
Perseverance. Tenacity. Stick-to-it-iveness. Patience. All these words are driving at the same thing: DON’T GIVE UP.Now I don’t particularly like negative statements, so let me reword this. Keep on keeping on. Hang in there. Keep on truckin’. There, that’s better, because you see, I want to be your favorite cheerleader. I want to point out to you what you’re doing right so that you can keep on doing more of it. I want to show you that you already have the qualities you need to make it (and make …

2. End Your Fear of Failure
It is dangerous to have your own fears working against you, especially the fear of failure or success. Either can cause you to freeze and create the situation you fear, even causing failure to thrive. Everyone is going to fall short or experience failure. The important question is not 'did you experience failure?' Rather the important question is 'how did you react to the failure?' Coming up short of a desired outcome can be a great teacher. Much of what people have learned, which has been the k…

3. Changing Destinations ... Universal Detours for a Better Life
I recently worked with several people who are in the lowest points intheir lives. It seems that everywhere they turn and everything they docreates a new avalanche of loss. Some of these people were, at onetime, wealthy individuals, but, because of changes around them, theysuddenly lost everything. The others were living comfortable lives andit seemed like everything just stopped working for them. In all cases,they were slowly sinking into despair because they couldn't see thelight at the end of …

4. The Self Appreciation Enhancer
Do you like receiving compliments? So do I! And when someone doespay you a compliment do you enjoy that wonderful glow that only comes with feeling appreciated and valued by another person?Very often when you are talking to people what you really want deep down is to feel significant, liked and important. Consequently you watch what you are saying and are careful not tosay the wrong thing. This in turn can mean that the way you express yourself is stifled and constricted.What if there was a bett…