You're not the same person you were a decade ago or even a year ago. You constantly change as you learn new things and have new experiences. That growth and development supports you on a personal level by helping you improve yourself and your relationships with others.

What is personal growth and development? It's a concept that basically means you're actively growing and improving in all areas of your development. You're actively trying to become a better person on all levels to make your life and relationships more productive, fulfilling and meaningful. Think of it as your quest to become more mature, successful and happy.

You may already be doing things to grow and develop on a personal level even if you don't intentionally set aside time for it. Taking your experiences and learning from them is part of growing as a person. Perhaps you went through a bad breakup, but you reflected on the relationship and realized you had room for improvement. Maybe you faced a financial or health crisis but came back stronger from the situation.

Personal growth and development is different for everyone. Your experiences aren't the same as anyone else's. Your current state is unique to you. Your goals and ambitions in life are different than your friends' dreams.

Staying the same is comfortable, but it doesn't help you achieve new goals or improve yourself in any way. Everyone has room for growth. Personal improvement helps you uncover a better version of yourself. You don't have to completely reinvent yourself, but making improvements throughout your life helps you achieve more, whether that's excelling at your job or being a kinder person who makes a more positive impact on the world.

Personal growth and development helps you get excited about life. It becomes a challenge or an incentive to see just how far you can go. You may find yourself more excited about life in general when you focus on your growth. It's exciting to learn new things and uncover new talents you didn't realize you had. You become more aware of how many opportunities there are in life.

Working on yourself can also improve your interactions with others. Your growth may help you become less self-centered and more focused on other people. As you grow emotionally and spiritually, you treat people in a more mature way.

The way you work on yourself varies depending on your own goals and areas you want to improve. You can find hundreds of books focused on personal growth and development, but you can also work on yourself without the guidance of experts. It's often the little things that help you improve personally. Taking a chance to try something new might get the ball rolling, for example. Organizing your space and filling it with inspirational items may encourage you to start improving.

Start by figuring out how you want to improve yourself. Perhaps you want to be more patient, organized, assertive or compassionate. Look at your strengths and weaknesses to help you identify the areas where you want to focus your attention.

Once you know what you want to do, you need a plan for getting there. Essentially, you're going to break down the overall goal for growth into actionable steps that you can do. For example, if you want to become a more confident public speaker, you might start by joining Toastmasters International to get practice and learn speaking skills.

Being open to new experiences can be a major stepping stone to personal growth and development. Those experiences give you new knowledge and may change your perspective. You may also discover new interests and develop a stronger sense of self-awareness simply by being open to the opportunities that present themselves to you.