The Difference Between Personal Growth & Personal Development

When you begin to focus on your growth, you tend to run headlong into tons of jargon. Self-growth, personal development, mindfulness, affirmations, intentions, self-care, self-love, self-acceptance…I could go on for days, but I won’t. You get it; the journey to becoming your best self is filled with an abundance of terms and concepts. You’ve heard me mention all of the above if you have watched any of my Get Your Life Together Monday Lives on Instagram.

With so many concepts available, many start their inward journey feeling overwhelmed and even shaken by how much there is to learn. I want you to know that feeling is perfectly normal. Many in the “Self-Help” field do their best to overcomplicate just about everything, which is frustrating. Why dissuade someone who is trying his or her best to learn? That seems counter-intuitive.

With that being said, it’s my goal to make your journey toward healing, to becoming your very best, and living mindfully as simple as possible. That includes helping you understand the basics.

Let’s start with an understanding that most get wrong—the difference between personal growth and personal development. These two concepts are often interchanged, but they are actually different. In fact, one is the way to becoming, the other is the becoming. Don’t worry, I’ll explain.  

Personal Development:

The definition of personal development comes down to the activities used to improve your awareness and identity. It’s the development of your talents and potential. It’s learning how to live an enjoyable, grounded, and realized life. Think of it as your tools and systems to get where you want.

The goals of personal development are plentiful.

Improving self-awareness

Extending the knowledge of the self

Improving existing skills and developing new ones

Building or renewing strong self-esteem and personal identity

Developing your strengths, talents, and purpose

Improving your life’s potential

Improving your health

Creating and living within a personal development plan

Improving relationships

Increasing spiritual awareness and spiritual growth

Some even place building personal wealth under the framework of personal development.

As you can see, personal development is, well, personal, naturally, but it also entails an emotional, physical, and spiritual journey. Personal development is all about taking deliberate steps toward making substantial and grounded changes in your life.

While all of this sounds wonderful, you may be asking how personal development happens…

This is done through active, intentional learning. Intentional learning spans everything from reading books, listening to inspiring podcasts, hiring a life coach, following educated therapists and thought-leaders on social media, watching videos and TED Talks, attending workshops and seminars… the list goes on. It’s an active, conscious state of development.

When you are focused on personal development, you become driven to create more despite where you’ve been, where you are currently, and begin to shape and identify who you are working to mindfully become.

PERSONAL GROWTH:

With personal development being the tools to get you where you want to be, personal growth is the benefit of your action. Personal growth does mean different things to different people, but ultimately, think of it as your end goal. I should add it’s an end goal that is always a moving target and frankly shouldn’t be an end. Active growth adds meaning to your life. Why would you want that to stop? You don’t. Besides, when you increase your self-awareness, given a choice, it’s unlikely you’ll go back to a life of dissatisfaction.

While this growth can happen intentionally and unintentionally—unintentionally being due to outside circumstances—understand there is no universal strategy for personal growth and gain.

Even without a universal, set-in-stone plan, actively being within your growth helps you evolve. It guides you into becoming the person you were motivated to be when you began your personal development journey.

There are symptoms of personal growth that become active, everyday behaviors and habits once you begin to live in a mindful, growth-framed lifestyle—besides being happier and more grounded, of course.

You’re likely to experience:

Increased confidence

Embrace empathy and sympathy for others

Improved mental, emotional, and physical health

Improved relationships

Self-love

Release of self-doubt

Increased motivation

Personal care

Become more proactive and goal-focused

Less likely to react negatively to outside forces and situations

Mental clarity

Healed past

Let go of habits, relationships, and things that no longer serve you

Release the idea of limitation

Become far more resilient

Manage stress far more effectively

Share more of yourself

Increased willpower

Make better decisions

Help and serve others in a grounded way

Goals increase

Inner strength and power

Live in a growth mindset, mindfully

Sign you up, right?

As you begin or continue in your personal development and growth journey, it’s essential to understand that each thing you engage in lends itself to the next. Don’t get caught up in the jargon. Instead, do what feels right for and to you. The journey to your best self is an individual one, as I mentioned. So, let go of the comparison factor. While our lives may have many of the same elements, circumstances, and experiences, they are never the same. Two people that experience the same situation will always view it from different perspectives; remember that. Why? Your thoughts. Your thoughts dictate where you are headed in this life and how you experience it.

Let me ask this: Where are you in your journey? Are you focused on the development, or are in enjoying the benefits of personal growth? By the way, that’s a trick question. Ideally, you always want to be in the development of personal growth. The more you learn, the greater your life experience.

Cheers to your growth…

Danielle A. Vann is a 19-time international award-winning author, a certified Life Coach with a specialty certification in mindfulness, a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner, and a certified meditation coach. She is also the creator behind Get Your Life Together, Girl. To learn more, visit the bio page, and follow @Getyourlifetogethergirl on Instagram.

Copyright of Author Danielle A. Vann 2020