Written by: Ashima Bharadwaj
Personal development is a process by which one enhances one's awareness and develops skills. We have carefully curated a list of resources that you can consider in your personal development journey!
READ OR LISTEN TO BOOKS
Books are the gateway to the world of knowledge and as much as one read or listen, the more they know. Following is the list of sites where you can read books and listen to audiobooks:
For Books:
www.bookboon.com : 1000+ e-books are available for free and 30-day free trial available for other e-books that requires subscription.
www.obooko.com : 2500 free e-books are available for download for free of cost. Their aim is to promote reading worldwide.
www.manybooks.net : Around 50,000 free e-books available for free with their recommendation of books to read in every genre.
www.bookyards.com : Different e-books are accessible for free.
https://1lib.in : It’s an electronic library where lakhs of books are available to download for free. If you have a book in mind that you wanted to read for a long time, check it out here, it’s a 95% chance that you will get it. It’s a treasure house for book lovers.
www.pdfdrive.com : It’s another site that has plethora of books available in all genres. More than 8 crore books are there for free download.
For Audiobooks:
www.audible.in : There are many different genres of audiobooks available here from fiction to non-fiction, all kinds. Few audiobooks are available for free whereas large portion of books are available either on 30 days free trial or at their regular price mentioned or annual subscription is available for Rs.199 only.
www.loyalbooks.com : Almost all genres of books are present on this site; books here are added as public domain by different volunteers from varied websites. Purpose of this site is to make books accessible for all.
www.scribl.com/info/podiobooks-now-scribl : On this site, e-books, audiobooks and podcasts are available. All podcasts and few e-books and audiobooks are available to listen for free of cost. Other e-books and audiobooks are available at minimal price range.
https://librivox.org : Just like loyal books this site is in public domain and has many books form many different genre available absolutely free of cost.
2. PHYSICAL EXERCISE
Physical exercise is really important for the body and mind. Here are few apps that can be helpful:
Sworkit : This app has different workouts based on the individual’s preference. 7 days free trial and then the subscription will be required, Rs.5,100/year or Rs.850/month.
Simple soulful: yoga, weight loss exercise and diet: Beginner level asanas, exercises and live sessions are available for free. For customized workout pro needs to be purchased which is for Rs.2499/year or 499/month.
FitOn: This is an amazing app; it offers free workouts and personalized plans. Premium is also available at Rs.1,700/year with extra benefits.
3.MENTAL HEALTH:
Just like physical health, taking care of your mental health is equally important. A healthy routine, self-care, brain exercises, journaling etc. are an important aspect of taking care of mental health. Here are few apps that can help you in taking care of your mental health.
Shleep: This app takes care of your choice of sleep time and helps you maintain a healthy habit. There is a prior bedtime activity to ensure sound sleep.
Lumosity: This app is my personal favourite; it’s a great app for mind workout in form of puzzles, memory games, logic problem, meditation technique and more. It helps in learning strength, weakness and cognitive patterns. This app gives daily basic mind workout for free. To boost the training, premium is available at Rs.375/year.
Day One Journal: This app is absolutely free of cost and the best medium to reflect back on the day in most amazing ways. One can insert or click photos from the day and write their journal and can preserve memories.
Bliss Gratitude Journal: There are many things to be grateful for in a day that we hardly pay attention to. This app is a great app that helps one in being grateful for those things in 8 different ways. It’s absolutely free of cost.
Hello mind- meditation, relaxation & mindfulness: Meditation, relaxation and mindfulness are calming exercises for the mind and this app comes to aid. There are few free sessions. To unlock the major part which includes 300+ treatments, boosters and quick fixes requires a subscription. The charges are Rs.1990/ year ( it’s a family subscription in which 4 members can be added for free) and Rs.199/month (Single subscription).
21 Days Challenge: It’s one of the best apps that I have ever used. There are challenges for 21 days in different categories like positive mindset, study, gratitude, morning routine, confidence among many others. Each day a new challenge is unlocked and you get points after completing them. Apart from these, it notifies daily inspiring reminders to end your day with a healthy thought. You can also find weekly blog posts that can further contribute to your personal development. All these activities are absolutely free of cost.
4. LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE
Learning a new language is a great and fun way to increase focus along with adding to your existing skillset. Here are two apps that can help you in learning:
Busuu: 12 language courses are offered by this app. It offers a 7-day free trial and then charges are applicable. Premium charges for this app are Rs.699/year.
Duolingo: This is my personal favourite app; this app offers 95 different language courses and also takes care of the user’s time. This app has a website on which one can take digital language-proficiency assessment exam for free. This app can be used free of cost and for additional services, a premium level is available which is chargeable.
5. ENHANCE VOCABULARY:
Good vocabulary boosts communication skills and sparing some time of a day for learning vocabulary is a good idea for personal development. Here’s one app that we feel is the best for this:
Knudge.me: It is a very motivating app and one keeps coming back to learn more from it. One can access daily new words on a flashcard with pictures, pronunciation and sentences. Constant reminders are given. There are few fun vocab games to remember the learned words. All these are available for free. To unlock all the games and other benefits there is a premium available which is chargeable, Rs.1920/year.
6. ENHANCE YOUR SKILLSET:
There are three sites that have many courses available that can help in enhancing your skillset:
www.edx.org : There are many courses from prominent universities that are available for free and some of the courses require payment only for certificate. There are also courses which are chargeable.
www.coursera.com: Many personal development courses are available for free like creative thinking, well-being, mind shift etc. from prominent universities. These courses also offer free certificates after completion. Few other courses take fees for certificates while the learning is free of cost.
www.udemy.com : There are many certified personal development courses available at minimal changes. Also, there are many free courses available.
You may be thinking that you could have achieved all this IF ONLY procrastination was not a concern! Well, we have a solution for that as well! Try this app to keep procrastination at bay!
Tomato Timer- Pomodoro timer & Productivity Timer: This app keeps one hooked to the work until it’s done. It saves a lot of time and the best part- This app is free of cost!