8 highly recommended personal development activities

In the personal strategic planning of our lives there must be space to get involved in all areas that bring us closer to the fulfillment of our personal and professional goals.

So, personal development activities are essential to help us encourage in ourselves the acquisition of new skills and resources necessary to face other aspects of our life, in this article we will review some good alternatives.

• Related article: "Personal Development: 5 reasons for self-reflection"

What are personal development activities?

These activities refer to all those actions that we undertake with the purpose of obtain improvement on a personal level, in any area of ​​interest to us. They are activities that help us broaden our scope of action in relation to the experiences of our daily lives. In addition, they constitute a way of testing our own abilities and our ability to learn, so they can serve to reinforce our self-esteem.

They do not necessarily have to be formal activities, such as attending a course or seminar on a specific topic. Personal development can be achieved from the comfort of our home, or by going out to do recreational activities that are related to topics that can nurture us individually. The important thing is to incorporate these actions into our daily lives and make sure that they do not set us up in apathy and stagnation, but rather

that allow us to evolve and progress in some way.

This concept of personal development activities is based on the idea that the ability to be happy and have a life with the ability to get excited depends on whether we are able to bring meaning to our lives through Projects. These actions would be the structure that allows us to progress along this path.

The range of alternatives that exists in terms of personal development activities is quite varied, depending on the interests of each one of us. They can be developed through reading, movies, the practice of some sports discipline, meditation, yoga, etc.

Examples of personal development activities

In the next lines we will review a list of activities for personal development that can serve as inspiration, and we will see how we could get the most out of them.

1. Go to the movies

Going to the movies can be a personal development activity, depending on some factors to consider; it will be necessary to make sure that the film that we are going to see deals with some topic of interest, that can generate a real change in the viewer and encourages us to adopt other perspectives on life or on parts of this.

2. the habit of reading

When we develop the habit of reading we are opening the doors of a universe completely designed for personal development. And it is that the simple fact of reading already is exposing us to new ways of thinking, as long as it is reading with artistic or philosophical value.

Reading strengthens our cognitive processes; that is why it is said that reading is the gym of the mind. The classics of literature are always a good alternative to enhance our personal resources, and increase knowledge on issues of general culture. Reading a good book is the best personal development activity available anywhere.

3. Do sport

Physical training causes our brain to secrete the well-known hormones of happiness (endorphin, oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin) which They help us maintain a healthy state of mind and be more willing to achieve our other goals with the best disposition.

The ideal is to have an exercise routine designed for our body type, and thus guarantee that the training contribution will be adequate for us. Physical exercise brings security and confidence to our personality.

4. Outdoor activities

Carrying out outdoor activities gives us a degree of closeness with nature that it is always good to increase our relationship with the environment that surrounds us, and learn to value more the simple things that we have in our daily lives.

Activities such as yoga, Mindfulness or simply going for a run for a few minutes a day can be beneficial for enjoying moments of calm in which to disconnect.

• You may be interested in: "Mindfulness: 8 benefits of mindfulness"

5. Volunteering

The activities you do as a volunteer for a good cause will serve as fuel to increase your personal virtues. For example, the propensity to empathy will be increased as you get more involved in these types of activities for the common good, but which also contribute to personal good.

6. Travel

The trips you make throughout your life will function as a collection of experiences lived in each of those places where you arrive. It will be up to you to make the most of those experiences.; meet people, visit famous places and find out about their stories, etc. It is also one of the most stimulating personal development activities, since it exposes us to situations that we are not used to.

7. Work as a form of personal growth

Work does not have to be only a form of economic subsistence, it can also turn out to be a good activity for personal growth; that would be the best case scenario.

If we find a way to work on something that we like and that generates significant motivation for us, then we will want to acquire the necessary knowledge to continue growing professionally, which in turn is also a way of growth staff.

8. To learn a new language

Language learning is a source of stimuli and motivation that many people come to incorporate into their main hobbies. Mastering a new language is a long-term project that is not only satisfying due to the challenge it entails, but also opens the doors to new ways of seeing the world and cultural content from other countries.

Bibliographic references:

• Ibarra, H. (2003). Working identity: unconventional strategies for reinventing your career. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
• Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation, Psychological Review, 50.
• Rogers, C. R. (1995). On becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy, ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.