What Are the Different Types of Personal Development Tools?

Personal development is a proactive way that an individual can use to acquire, expand or refine personal skills that may affect not just his personal life, but may also affect his professional life. Some of the different types of personal development tools include personal development courses, personal development classes, personal development seminars, personal development training, self-help books and on the job training.

Personal development tools can come in the form of courses which can be taken in an online environment, a home course study format, CDs that individuals can play in their vehicles or DVDs the person can play at home. Format options for personal development tools can vary according to the type of personal skills the individual is trying to develop. If the individual tends to be self-motivated and doesn’t need a lot of instruction or personal training to learn these skills, then these formats are typically the most affordable and just as effective as other options.

For example, if the personal skill is to overcome shyness, then a format that does require the individual to interact with other people on a face-to-face basis may not be beneficial. Individuals trying to acquire skills of this nature may turn to personal development tools, such as personal development classes.

Personal development classes are usually held in a traditional classroom setting. It may be one course that covers one particular skill or topic or it may be a series of classes that elaborates on the topic or skill, or that covers several different skills. Often, personal development classes include some book work or exercises in workbooks, but also include interactive lessons, such as role playing and situational analysis.

Seminars are other options for personal development tools. Seminars tend to be short-term and intensive courses that teach the skills the individual needs to acquire. A seminar tends to be a one-day intensive course. Other seminars, however, may last two or three days. Seminars tend to be less interactive when comparing the development tools to classroom training, but more interactive than online, CD, or DVD format course deliveries.

Two primary types of personal development training exist. Individuals can choose one-on-one training sessions, where the trainer works directly with the individual. Other training courses may include a small group of individuals. Training sessions of this nature tend to provide more individual attention and training because the groups are smaller than those attracted by seminars and workshops.