Each of us has a personality which gives us our uniqueness. It is what makes us shine and brings success in the various aspects of our life such as work, home, social circles and personal spheres. By honing our capabilities and qualities, we ensure and help ourselves to grow from strength to strength. Some of the key ways for personality development are listed below. With consistent practice on these fronts, you become a person with a pleasing and dynamic personality.

Confidence: It is a necessity not a luxury in your life. You need self confidence before you take upon a task or a venture, during the performance and after having completed the responsibility. It is in our power to instill confidence inside of us. It determines the very course our lives take, the successes that come to us, the kind of relationships we nurture and our peace of mind. Believe in yourself and your capabilities, you will automatically gain the strength to deal with the challenges you face. You can say that developing confidence in yourself is one of the most important requisites for personality development.

Define goals: Goals give a sense of purpose and direction in our lives. Without goals, our lives seem to wander and our energies get depleted by unnecessary or meaningless things. Goals instill a sense of positive energy, enhances determination.

Time management: We cannot go back in time or step into the future, the present is what can be made best use of. Effective usage of time ensures we get that much closer to success. Prioritize your tasks and sort your to-do list accordingly. This will help you give your precious time and energies to people and things that are important to you.

Positivity: The entire world works on the basis of positivity. Positive frame of mind propels you to achieve things that you thought are impossible. Practice positive thinking and see the difference it makes to your attitude towards work, family, friends, towards your own self! It is quite natural for you to get worries or feel pessimistic when something goes wrong, but the quicker your comeback to a positive mental state, the quicker is your chance at finding a solution to your problem.

Appreciation: The moment you stop thinking about the goodness in others or charms around you, you may tend to feel bogged down by the faults or the monotony of life. Keeping an open mind and appreciating yourself and others keeps you happy and open to new challenges.  Other people too tend to feel good about them and this will help being out the best in them.

Balanced approach: Oscillating towards the extremes can be quite stressful. Remind yourself and keep a check on your emotions, your thoughts. A balanced approach to everything makes it easier for you to accept successes and failures with elan.  Have a good support system in the form of family and friends who can be your sound board and guide you when you tend to react or think in extremes. Balance is also essential to differentiate the different aspects of life such as work and personal time. Bringing work home disrupts your family or personal time; similarly, losing your temper in the middle of a crisis only makes it harder for you to think of solutions.

Sense of humour: Having a sense of humour is not only for the health but also acts a stress buster.  Being able to laugh at your own self also is an endearing quality. It is not required to be serious all the time and stress out about every failure or misfortune. Many a times, a laugh at a very stressful situation indeed makes the tension less and eases people around you to lighten up and see the situation in a better light.

Continuous learning: Learning new work at office, or teaching your child grammar; fixing a broken car or cooking a dish for your friend…everything is a learning experience.  We learn and unlearn consistently. Having a passion to learn about things you do not know keeps your mind active and geared up for grasping interesting things all the time. Your personality keeps getting better as you learn.

Personal habits: Personal hygiene and habits can make or break our personality. Each of us has our own eccentricities, mannerisms and personal traits that are bothersome or endearing. Practicing good habits makes us a pleasing personality and you will find it easier to be accepted by others.

Creative: Think out of the box, fire your imagination and get creative whether you are planning a vacation or explaining a concept to your team at office. Creativity not only makes life interesting for you but also brings rewards and appreciation. Reality may have limitations at times but you can work your way around problems with your creativity.

Personality development does not end with just these guidelines but these are definitely some of the key pointers.

Meenakshi Gaur is an expert author for Career Development, Coaching and Mentoring. She has written many articles like Goal Setting and Career Planning, Personality Development.
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