Why do we believe our team’s personal development is important?
At Evolution, we always put our team at the top of our priorities. To obtain our business results, we genuinely believe that you must listen to all your evolutioners’ needs, contributing to their well-being, development, and physical and mental health. For this reason, Evolution’s ultimate goal is that everyone can grow and find their true passion.
To guarantee the corporate culture that makes us unique, we should understand concepts close to psychology and key for our People department, such as personal development.
By now, you have undoubtedly heard of this topic since we are experiencing a boom in this sector. We all know that when something becomes famous, it tends to lose its essence and may be confusing.
For this reason, we wanted to explain to you what personal development consists of and why it also benefits us professionally.
What is (and what is not) personal development?
We often focus on our professional development when defining our goals or purposes, but… That is not personal development!
Because of our society’s rules, we all tend to create a mask for ourselves, playing the role of someone else who doesn’t trully represent us. This is motivated mainly by fear, such as lack of approval, wanting to fit in with others, what others expect from us, etc.
Personal development is to look for our way beyond all social standards. It means learning from ourselves, knowing ourselves, and detecting what does or not motivate us. We should leave aside the idea of achieving any economic benefit or rewards. We have to identify ourselves by who we are in essence and not by what we do or have.
When we know who we are, our goals will be much easier to define. In addition to that, self-knowledge is an essential weapon to fight against stress and anxiety. If our employees really know themselves, they will be able to grow professionally.
We are going to lend you a hand to ease this process through 4 questions. To do this, just take a piece of paper and write everything that comes to your mind as a brainstorming. From there, you will discover yourself in a more definite way.
Remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect! This is part of a process… And we are only at the beginning! So please don’t push yourself and enjoy the journey.
1. Who am I?
From the moment we are born, virtues and defects are with us: things that we like and others that we do not, an individual personality that we develop over time. So, to answer this question, it is essential to think: “Who was I when I was born? When I was little, how did I behave with myself when nobody saw me? What did I like most about myself (and what less) when I was with others?”
Do not use to define yourself your studies or your work positions. Think about who you are, not what you have or what you do.
2. What hurts me?
When you are feeling bad, what does it hurt you?
This question is more complicated than it seems. We tend to make excuses, and it is easy for our pride (or the mask we have created for ourselves) to take control.
However, everything that makes us angry, scares us or makes us feel bad, has the same origin: our source of pain.
Think about different conflicts you have had with yourself or your environment: what hurt you at that time? Why did you have different expectations than what happened later? Are there any common feelings? Get to the root cause!
3. What makes me happy?
The process of self-knowledge is not completed until we think about what makes us happy.
Imagine you can focus on enjoying your hobbies without any economic barriers: what would be your life goals?
By asking yourself this question, you will find out what makes you truly happy, regardless of whether it has a specific purpose or not. Maybe you will find your way in another profession, in another relationship or surrounding yourself with other people, do not be afraid to make the leap! The person who knows best what is good for yourself is you. Trust yourself and your intuition.
4. Do I accept my circumstances?
All these previous questions and thoughts you may go through will lead us to the next step: acceptance.
Quoting Borja Vilaseca, accepting ourselves in terms of personal development is to understand the pedagogical purpose of everything happening to us. When we realise that we need to learn to reach our final goal, everything gets clear. Remember that life does not give you what you want, but what you need. Everything should pass through the concept of acceptance: have you already accepted what happened to you years ago? Have you accepted your present situation?
A team who knows themselves advances together
Knowing ourselves reduces internal and external conflicts. Suppose we combine our internal knowledge with active listening, a feedback policy and constant collaboration between us. In that case, we can guarantee a better corporate culture and lower problems related to routine and cooperation.
At Evolution, we faithfully believe that personal development can be spread in our environment (even when it begins from ourselves). Self-knowledge gives us tools to find our essence, which positively impacts all aspects of our life. It is the tool that makes us move forward. As Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in the world.