Want future career success - it requires a whole person career strategy.
A Whole Person Development practice recognises that the different parts of our lives are interconnected, and success and fulfilment come from overall life balance. Rather than focusing on developing one or a few areas of our lives, using a Whole Person Development practice helps us to focus on six core components: emotional, physical, spiritual, social, psychological, and professional. Developing these six elements allows us to live a balanced and successful life.
Here are some of the benefits of using a Whole Person Development when pertaining to your Career Strategy.
Emotional Development
Emotional intelligence is a vital aspect of the Whole Person's Development. It involves recognising your emotions and using them to guide your thinking and actions. Emotional intelligence has been shown to be a driver of success in more ways than one, creating leadership skills, social skills, and self-help skills. Working on emotional intelligence can help you to become more productive in many different areas of your life.
Physical Development
Physical health is an essential part of the Whole Person's Development. It entails having the right nutrition and exercising to maintain a healthy body, getting enough sleep, in order to be to manage stress. When you’re eating right, exercising, and taking care of your overall well-being, you have more mental clarity and energy to push through daily responsibilities. It keeps you happy and confident, which translates into fulfilment in other areas of your life, such as work, parenting, and social relationships.
Spiritual Development
Spirituality is an essential piece of the Whole Person's Development process. It’s a means of finding purpose and connection with both yourself as well as with the world around you. Purposeful awareness helps fulfil a variety of human functions. It promotes compassion and empathy for others, fosters positive relationships, and creates a greater sense of purpose, honesty, optimism, and hope. These characteristics make up a crucial part of success and happiness.
Social Development
Almost everything we do in life involves interacting with others. It’s imperative that we understand how to form and maintain good relationships, and to communicate well with others. It’s important to understand how to present yourself in a variety of different social atmospheres, where you can listen, and collaborate but equally have the ability to contribute and be heard.
Psychological Development
The psychological aspect of Whole Person Development relates to knowing your true inner self. It promotes self-esteem and self-acceptance. Your relationship with yourself is arguably the most crucial driver of success. Self-belief, self-worth and understanding of the value you add create optimism, drive, motivation, and ultimately, success.
Professional Development
We spend a lot of our time at work. It makes sense then that your professional life and happiness are closely linked. A high-stress job that causes you to work overtime is likely going to bring stress and time-management issues into your personal life. Every job comes with problems and stressors, but if you are generally happy and doing something that fulfils you, you will feel accomplished in other areas of your life as well. Understanding the whole person process helps you to establish and set boundaries and helps you move forward with a more complete personal career strategy and sets you up for success.
By focusing on developing all six areas of Whole Person Development, we can achieve overall balance in our lives, leading to greater fulfilment, happiness, and success.
According to a study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, "employees who feel their job fits their personality, interests and abilities report less stress, greater job satisfaction and are less likely to quit than employees who feel a poor fit."
Another study published in the Journal of Career Development showed that a whole person's career strategy positively correlates with job satisfaction and overall life satisfaction.
In conclusion, incorporating a whole-person career strategy will bring you numerous personal and professional benefits. By recognizing that each part of our lives is interconnected and developing all six aspects of the Whole Person Development process, we can achieve overall balance, leading to greater fulfilment, happiness, and success in all areas of our lives.