Best Personal Development Courses Online
17 best personal development courses online for personal success
Making it a lifelong pursuit to continuously increase your own value through education has been proven to yield big returns for the investment you make. This pursuit is encapsulated perfectly in two words: Personal Development. The more you level yourself up, the greater your contribution to the world.
That greater contribution benefits both the recipient and the giver. So, here’s a roundup of 18 of the best personal development courses online that could be pivotal on your journey to steadily improve yourself. You may find one here that can help you change your life.
Personal Development Courses Online – Overview
Dave Martin perfectly describes the why of personal development when he said “growth today brings success tomorrow.” Whatever is happening in your life right now is a result of choices you have already made, steps you have taken, or something you have neglected.
You are what you did – For example, if you are obese at the moment, that’s due to the dietary choices you made 3-6 months ago. You may currently be making different, healthier dietary choices, but you won’t see results until some point in the future.
Take control – Personal growth and thus self-development courses can help improve your quality of life for the future. Here are some ways you can achieve this:
- Learning new things or increasing knowledge in specific areas,
- Targeting bad habits and forming more positive ones,
- Increasing productivity and improving time management,
- Improving memory, visualization, leadership and common life skills
- Qualifying for a new job, career or entrepreneurial endeavor, and
- Changing your worldview.
Two strategies – Overall, if you dedicate yourself to consistent personal improvement, you give yourself a chance to become a better version of yourself. There are two ways you can go about personal development. You can either go all-in on your strengths, taking steps to develop your strongest skills further, or you can target weak areas.
Strengths – Generally, the most successful people in their fields focus on and invest heavily in their personal development skills. That is how they become the best. That said, if you are weak in some fundamental areas, you can improve those to an acceptable level of proficiency so they cease to be hindrances. So, here are the best online personal development courses to get started.
Best Personal Development Courses Online – Top Picks
Mindvalley | MasterClass | Udemy | Skillshare |
---|---|---|---|
from $41/month | from $10/month | from $11.99/course | from $15/month |
Get 60+ Courses | Get 180+ Courses | Individual Course | Get All Courses |
Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website |
*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Read the full disclosure at the end of this post.
Note: This review aims to give an overview of the best self-improvement courses online. We cannot claim comprehensiveness as there are many other classes available.
1. Be Extraordinary – Mindvalley
Taught by the founder of Mindvalley, Vishen Lakhiani, Be Extraordinary (visit website) is a highly popular mind enhancement and personal development online course with 2.5+ million students enrolled. It’s suitable for anyone who wishes to lay the foundations for a successful personal and professional life and thus looking for effective strategies.
Be Extraordinary is directed at students of personal growth who somehow always find themselves short of attaining the optimum level of success and self-satisfaction. This self-development course will teach you how to achieve this optimum level by simply evolving from the level of consciousness in which you daily operate.
Each day during the 30-day program, participants will master a unique aspect of ascending through the 3 stages of peak performance. Students will pick up the 18 tools that will help them upgrade their inner programming.
Starting from structures of consciousness to the state of human existence, intuition, bending reality, and finally embracing your calling, this is among the best personal development courses to help people reach newer levels of self-awareness and growth.
Platform: Mindvalley | Instructor: Vishen Lakhiani | Training: 8.5 Hours
Price: $99/month or $499 annually. Access to all classes.
Info: View course page. Discount on Mindvalley Membership? View website for details.
2. Become a SuperLearner – Udemy
Superlearner (visit website) is among the best online courses for those who want to read faster and improve their memory performance. Instructors Jonathan Levi, and Lev, and Anna Goldentouch will arm you with the skills used by “the world’s fastest readers and memory record holders”.
They will give you memory techniques to help you retain and recall a great deal of information with speed and accuracy, as well as develop “the cognitive infrastructure” you will need to handle the deluge of new things you will now have the capacity to learn.
If nothing else, this course will help you become a better, more efficient student. This could be handy in careers that require continuing education and lots of reading, such as teaching and research. Those who have taken the course have said good information was abundant and it helped them to better understand why they had challenges in learning.
This popular personal growth course is packed with exercises and tips to actually ingrain what you learn. However, it also requires individual initiative to achieve great results here.
Instructor: Jonathan Levi | Level: All levels | Video Lectures: 5.5 hours
Price: from $11.99 | User Rating: 4.5 ★★★★☆
Info: Visit website. Up to 95% off. Browse category on Udemy.
3. Chris Voss Teaches the Art of Negotiation – MasterClass
FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss has had the negotiation game down to the tee. He’s worked his skill to persuade criminals, robbers, terrorists, and kidnappers to understand perspectives other than their own. Now, he offers his MasterClass (visit website) to share his foolproof methods of effective negotiation.
Undoubtedly, this is a field that somehow overlaps with whatever career or life situation you find yourself in. You can use what you learn to raise your salary, improve the services you receive, or mend your relationships. What Chriss Voss is offering are “field-tested strategies for everyday negotiations.”
Chris will teach you how to read body language and the neuroscience that can help you bend people’s reality. Learn to mirror the script and language of your listeners and create the illusion that your great ideas are actually theirs.
This personal growth course will take you through important negotiation and communication concepts such as tactical empathy, mirroring, labeling, master delivery, creating the illusion of control, the value of “No”, bending and bargaining. You will also undergo a practical exercise to apply what you have learned effectively.
It’s one of the best self-improvement courses online you can take to improve yourself.
Instructor: Chris Voss, MasterClass | For: All levels
Price: from $10/month or $120/year. Access to all 180+ courses.
Info: View course page. Compare pricing plans and browse all online classes.
4. The Silva Ultramind System – Mindvalley
The Silva Ultramind System (visit website) on Mindvalley is a powerful 12-hour training program for anyone who wishes to fully activate their mind’s core potential. Available in seven languages, the class aims to help learners quickly manifest their goals.
In this mind empowerment program, students will learn how to access the altered states of consciousness that everyone is born with but not everyone learns to unleash. The Silva Ultramind System is actually based on the mind technique pioneered in 1960 by Jose Silva. It has since been practiced by over 6 million students in 110 different countries.
During the class, aspiring mind-whizzes will learn about the four states of consciousness our mind operates in: the beta level, the alpha level, the theta level, and the delta level.
After learning about the Ultramind foundations, you will discover how to access your mind’s complete intuitive abilities. A follow-up module, Attaining your Soul Desire and Healing, will then help you control the theta states of consciousness. The last section will show you how to “channel your Ultramind into your life”. Implementation is key.
This could be a great program online if you are looking for goal-driven strategies and mindfulness practices to understand and access your mind’s real potential.
With: José Silva, Vishen Lakhiani | Languages: 7 | Training: 12 Hours
Price: $99/month. $499/year. Access to all online courses on Mindvalley.
Info: View course page. Discount on Mindvalley Membership? View website for details.
5. Designing Your Life – CreativeLive
Instructors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (visit website) will show you “how to build a well-lived life”. In this unique approach to self-development, you will learn to apply design principles to making big life decisions. Both tutors are Stanford University professors and they bring you this class based on their eponymous #1 New York Times bestselling book.
In one of the first lectures, they give you an overview of design thinking. In subsequent video lectures, they help you examine the story of your life to this point, show you how to shift your perspective, align your views on life and work, and target dysfunction.
Reviewers commonly refer to this as one of the best personal development courses online on the platform. They say that it was a great supplement to the book and that they got a lot of useful information out of it. Some mentioned the course needed to show more about how to implement great ideas.
One reviewer said that it was not an ideal course for “creatives”, as it focused more on getting a job. If you feel the need to make some fundamental changes to yourself to land a job or start a new career or business, this personal growth course may be right for you.
Provider: CreativeLive | Instructor: Bill Burnett, Dave Evans
Level: All levels | Time: 4.5 hours
Info: View course. $149/year or 39/month. View CreatorPass plans for all online classes.
6. Unlocking Your Potential – Skillshare
If you recognize the pain of self-doubt, fear of failure (or success) or self-sabotage, this course (visit website) could help you out. Author and podcast host Emma Gannon has been there, and she will teach you what she learned that helped her overcome those problems. Ms. Gannon offers learners “5 exercises to build creative confidence”.
She will help you identify patterns and habits that don’t serve you, determine what you really want and target and overcome negative self-talk. Specifically, if you have started a creative work, such as a book or launching a business venture, and find yourself stuck, this online personal growth course can help you get unstuck and find inspiration.
Reviews found that the course had actionable steps they could put into practice to get out of a creative rut. Generally, Ms. Gannon successfully motivated her learners, and I certainly found it one of the best personal development courses available on Skillshare.
Instructor: Emma Gannon | Level: All | Lectures: 8
Info: View course page. Browse full category.
Price: $15/month. Get 30% Off Premium to try all personal growth courses online.
7. Elaine Welteroth Teaches Designing Your Career – MasterClass
Former editor-in-chief Teen Vogue, multimedia trailblazer, and New York Times bestselling author, Elaine Welteroth offers students a MasterClass (visit website) on designing their own career. The building blocks of this journey are getting out of your comfort zone and harnessing your values and personal skills.
Elaine has tailored her class to the entrepreneurs, the “multi-hyphenated” or as Elaine likes to say, the Moghuls in the making. She wishes to help these entrepreneurs find the spot that lies at the intersection of their talent, passions, and goals.
Upon enrolling in the class, you will learn about the necessary ingredients for custom-designing your own unique career path. Through a series of 15 lectures, you will learn how to uncover your zone of genius, build a career blueprint, create your network, look up opportunities, indulge in side-hustles, financial confidence, and become your own boss.
Additionally, students will learn how to market themselves the right way and build a great and dedicated team: two key characteristics for a successful career. This is one of the best self-development courses online for those wanting to broaden their career prospects.
Instructor: Elaine Welteroth | For: All levels
Price: from $15/month. Access to all 180+ courses.
Info: View course page. Compare pricing plans and browse and visit MasterClass.
8. Energy Medicine – Mindvalley
Energy Medicine (visit website) is an online class by one of today’s most respected energy healers, Donna Eden, and trains individuals to self-heal physically and mentally through energy healing, which involves “simple steps to harnessing your personal energetic systems,” of which there are 9 in total. However, this 8-week program focuses on 5.
As a successful self-healer of her Multiple Sclerosis and co-founder of the world’s largest Energy Medicine school, Eden invites you to reconnect with your body’s natural ability to self-heal and use energy medicine to complement Western medicine. During this program, you’ll learn to find your body’s rhythm, increase your vitality, and feel more alive.
Eden promises to help you identify which of your 9 energetic systems need attention and share techniques for making them work synergistically. In your first session, you’ll learn a 5-minute daily energy routine that, when performed consistently, shifts the energy habits in your body. Next, you’ll learn to clear, ground, and center your energies.
Moreover, you’ll also learn about the immune system and the flight-or-fight response to help you manage stress and pain while using energy testing to empower yourself to make good choices for your health.
Not surprisingly, Eden covers the chakra system, cleansing your aura, and plugging into your radiant circuits, which govern your vitality, passion, and gratitude. Energy Medicine is a personal growth program to feel strong, connected, and energetic no matter your age.
Platform: Mindvalley | Instructor: Donna Eden | Duration: 8 weeks
Price: $99/month or $499 annually. Access to all 60+ online courses.
Info: View course page. Membership: View website for details and discounts.
9. Learning How to Learn – Coursera
The tagline for this personal development course reads “powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects”. This could be very useful in numerous contexts. In this University of California, San Diego course, instructors Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski endeavor to help you “become better at learning”.
Among the new skills you will learn in this course are how to maximize learning, deal with procrastination, and prepare for tests. They also teach the Pomodoro technique, which is useful for time management, and meta-learning, which is related to artificial intelligence. They spend a whole session on “chunking”, which may sound a bit weird but is actually an effective way of processing information in smaller, more manageable “chunks”.
Some reviewers say the course changed their lives for the better. Critics of the course said they walked away not clear about applying what they learned and that there was a lot of obvious information to sift through to get a few useful nuggets. To this latter criticism, one could argue that being reminded of seemingly obvious points can be valuable.
Provider: University of California San Diego. | Complete in 15 hours.
Instructor: Dr. Barbara Oakley
Info: View website. Get Certificate with Coursera Plus. View details.
10. Career Success – Coursera
This program from the UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education offers to help you “build essential personal skills for the workplace.” The instructors will help you add problem-solving, written communication, negotiating, project management, and leadership to your skillset. The goal is to improve students’ employability and advancement in the workforce.
Students can take these personal development courses individually. Choose from Finance for Non-Finance Professionals, Communications in the 21st Century, Hi-Impact Business Writing, and more. If you choose to take the whole specialization, the capstone project gives you an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned.
Students appreciated the opportunity to brush up on their management skills. Others found it useful to refresh their memories in some areas they had already learned in the past but have forgotten. Some were critical of the format, but their complaints (hard to get feedback on work, little interaction) are not uncommon in general for online learning.
Provider: UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education.
With: Rob Stone | Time: 11 months.
Info: View website. Get Certificate with Coursera Plus. View details.
11. Jessie Krebs Teaches Wilderness Survival – MasterClass
Jessie Krebs (visit website) is a former Air Force SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, and escape) specialist. She is now bringing to MasterClass her three decades’ of experience in adapting and adopting remarkable survival strategies in unexpected situations.
She is a veteran at helping trainers get into the survival mindset and internalize the skills necessary to beat the odds when thrown amid an unprecedented emergency. Jessie Krebs’s MasterClass essentially revolves around the five basic needs of a survivor: signaling, personal protection, sustenance, navigation, and health.
Some of the methods, personal skills, and strategies taught in the course may seem like common sense but it is surprising how panic and distress can cause this sense to fade out. Krebs’s mission here is exactly to reinforce our natural instincts to survive, signal help the right way, read maps, find water, make shelter, and more.
If you want to know the ins and outs of wilderness survival and also apply that to the urban jungle, well this is among the best personal development courses online to take.
Instructor: Jessie Krebs | For: All levels | Rating: 4.8 ★★★★★
Price: from $15/month. Access to all 150+ courses.
Info: View course page. | Browse all classes and topics.
12. The 4-Hour Life – CreativeLive
Taught by Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek”, this course (visit website) aims to give you “Solutions To Everyday Problems.” Some of these solutions come through physical body conditioning and sports wisdom that can be metaphorically applied to other areas of life. Tim invited a variety of special guests to present in their areas of expertise.
Based on the reviews, it might be more up to you to figure out if/how you can apply what is being taught to your own life. Also, some of the information is not universally relevant. Numerous female reviewers expressed that some of the content was more for guys, while some entrepreneurs said the business advice was too random.
A careful look through the curriculum will help you decide whether to invest in this personal development course or not. However, if you have a subscription with this platform, you can check it out for free and without obligation.
Provider: CreativeLive | Instructor: Tim Ferris
Level: All levels | Lessons: 16 | Video: 8.5 hours | Rating: 94% ★★★★★
Info: View course. $149/year or 39/month. View CreatorPass plans for all online classes.
13. Discovering Your Strengths – LinkedIn Learning
Do you know what your areas of greatest expertise are? Are you clear about what it is that you do best that can add value to the world? If you need some guidance in this area, then here is one of the best personal development courses online that will endeavor to usher you on a journey of self-discovery.
Using a framework and exercises, instructor Dave Crenshaw will guide you through this class. He will help you identify your natural gifts and passions, and your greatest skills and abilities. Learn how to build upon your strengths and increase your marketplace value.
This information could be valuable to you if you are unsure whether or not your job is the right one for you. This popular personal growth course promises to show you what you can do to “address a mismatch”. If you have a LinkedIn Learning subscription or started a free trial you can check this class out without obligations.
Instructors: Dave Crenshaw | Items: 6 Lessons | Content: 36 Videos
Plans: $29.99/month or $17.99/month annually. Access all courses.
Tip: Languages, communication, personal productivity, and creativity can be an essential part of your personal development journey. Browse our lists of the best language courses, public speaking courses, or photography courses or productivity courses.
14. Investing in Stocks – Udemy
This popular course (visit website) teaches you practical investing skills. These include placing stock orders, selecting funds and stocks for an investment portfolio as well as doing qualitative research, evaluation, and risk management.
It is among the best personal development courses online if you want to better understand the world of finance but have no idea where to start or are on a small budget. There are many more options available on Udemy (browse category) if this isn’t the right fit.
The course covers stocks, mutual funds, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and even shows you how to vet a broker or financial planner. This course will probably not prepare you for a career in the financial services industry but is a sound introduction to the field.
Instructor: Steve Ballinger | Level: All levels | Lectures: 97 | Video: 11 hours
Price: from $11.99 | User Rating: 4.4 ★★★★☆
Info: Visit website. Up to 95% off. Browse category on Udemy.
15. Real Productivity: Build Habits That Last – Skillshare
The subtitle, “How to Build Habits that Last” (visit website) gives you some insight as to the focus of this course. Author Thomas Frank teaches his “favorite habit tracking and reflection systems”, as well as goal setting and how to reach the goals you set. He will also teach you how to handle failure and identify habits and take ownership of them.
Students said the class had plenty of actionable points and resources that they found useful. I personally loved the impossible goal list that I kept maintaining since taking the course. On the flip side, some participants didn’t like the heavy focus on using apps to assist with personal productivity improvement.
Overall, it is among the best personal development courses online to tackle productivity issues and is suitable for beginners. There are also similar classes available on Skillshare with one subscription. You can get 30% off the annual plan (see below).
Instructor: Thomas Frank | Level: All levels | Lectures: 9 | Review: 4.5 ★★★★☆
Info: View course page. Browse full category.
Price: $15/month. Get 30% Off Premium to try all personal growth courses.
16. The Science of Well-Being – Coursera
Any opportunity to get a taste of Ivy League education online appeals to me! This Yale University course, taught by Laurie Santos, aims to increase students’ happiness and help them build more productive habits.
The class consists of a series of challenges that are created to increase happiness and “build more productive habits”. Learn about misconceptions connected to happiness. Many found the course valuable for learning the insights and science behind well-being, while for others, the quality of the learning did not measure up to their expectations.
With the bar so high, such critiques were to be expected. That said, one could never expect any of the personal development courses available to truly improve their happiness. Nonetheless, there certainly is value in increasing productivity and understanding such a science. This could be a stepping stone to a career in life coaching or counseling.
Provider: Yale. Coursera | Instructor: Laurie Santos
Complete in 19 hours. | User Review: 4.9 ★★★★★
Info: View website. Get Certificate with Coursera Plus. View details.
17. Ultimate Edge – Tony Robbins
If you find yourself achieving on a higher level than you have before and gaining a greater sense of fulfillment from your endeavors after taking this online personal growth course, then Tony Robbins delivered as promised. He provides you insights from his conversations with several of the “world’s happiest and most successful people”.
The personal development skills you will attain include improved time management, stress management, goal setting and targeting and breaking your negative habits. Reviewers felt that the course was powerful and well worth the expense. He gives you numerous hours of coaching content and workshops that make you feel as though you are in the room with him. You also get a journal with the course.
The only downside I could see with this course is for those who have followed Tony Robbins over much of his career. It is said that the content is largely comprised of the things he has been teaching over the years. If you are new to Tony Robbins’ teaching, and you are a high achiever looking to take your life to the next level, then you will certainly benefit from one of the best personal development courses and coaches available.
Category: Mind & Meaning
Workbook: 30 Pages | Audio Content: 20 Hours
Price: $249 | Rating: ★★★★☆
Self-Development Courses To Improve Work Skills
Before we complete our list of the best personal development courses online, let’s look at some topics, new skills, and options that often fly under the radar. The ideas below aim to complement the online personal growth courses listed above.
Learning To Type Fast
In the age of voice dictation, many may think that using a keyboard is very 20th-century technology. It is indeed, but it is also a proven and convenient human-computer interface that will survive or at least stick with us for longer. Hence, knowing to type fast does not only save you time it will also broaden your job opportunities.
One of the best personal development courses online that will teach you to increase typing speed and accuracy effectively Typesy and KAZ Typing, which are two of the best typing software tutors out there. Both use scientifically proven methods and track your progress. KAZ is more focused on teaching you the keyboard within 90 minutes while Typesy goes visual and playful with videos and games.
Learning to Read Fast
It’s a fact that we cannot read everything or learn everything. But we can adapt our reading style and methods to read more efficiently and extract knowledge, data, information and applicable techniques from books in the fastest way possible. One effective strategy is to apply the Chunking Technique.
Additionally, learning to read faster is a great skill you can use in your job and work to go through documents effectively or keep up with the ever-expanding knowledge and trends in your industry. 7-Speed-Reading, Rev It Up Reading or Iris Reading are the most renowned providers of speed reading courses here.
Improving Your Memory
Founder & CEO of IrisReading.com Paul Nowak teaches you how to memorize. Virtually everybody has, at one point or another, been required to memorize something. In contrast, almost nobody has ever been taught how to memorize effectively. Paul shows you how your memory works and teaches proven techniques for improving your recall.
The techniques include some well-known hacks such as mnemonic devices and alliteration. In addition, he explains which ones to use for the best results. This is clearly a great tool for students and performers. Also, if you make presentations often in your job or business, this course can help you deliver your material more effectively.
Choosing the Best Personal Development Courses Online
Since you need to invest time in your personal growth, it is worth choosing the best personal development courses online based on objective criteria but also personal preferences. Assuming you have set your personal development goals already, here are some ideas to consider for making a confident choice.
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
- Among your strengths, decide which ones will get you closer to your goals. Select those personal growth courses that will help you further develop your strengths.
- Among your weaknesses, see if there are any that could be slowing your progress. Decide what level of proficiency you need to reach. Select courses that will get you to that level.
- Plan out courses based on urgency of need, duration, time commitment and cost.
- Consider the instructor. Review their credentials. Watch the preview to see if you like them. Then look through the syllabus or course outline carefully.
- Execute. Commit by enrolling and scheduling your study.
- Reward your commitment after finishing any of your personal development courses.
Best Personal Development Courses Online – Summary
Wrapping up our tour of the best online personal development courses 2024. For anyone who wants to live a higher quality life, feel more fulfilled and contribute more to society, continuous personal development is key. And, it is a lifelong process as well.
Childhood education is supposed to get you to at least a basic level of functioning. It should equip you with self-confidence, literacy and numeracy, along with some rudimentary social skills.
Perhaps you had a richer childhood education than this. Even if you didn’t, it’s all in your hands now. If life is a journey, then the goals you set are important milestones along the way. The personal development you invest yourself in will determine how you will make it to the milestones.
It’s what you pack for the journey, how you orient yourself, who you become along the way and how you prepare for unexpected detours. Every milestone you reach is a victory in your life. Consistent personal growth will help you get those victories consistently and we hope to have assisted you with our list of the best self-improvement courses online.
Best Personal Development Courses Online 2024
- Be Extraordinary – Mindvalley
- Become a SuperLearner – Udemy
- Chris Voss Teaches the Art of Negotiation – MasterClass
- Designing Your Life – CreativeLive
- The Silva Ultramind System – Mindvalley
- Unlocking Your Potential – Skillshare
- Elaine Welteroth Teaches Designing Your Career – MasterClass
- Energy Medicine – Mindvalley
- Learning How to Learn – Coursera
- Career Success – Coursera
- Jessie Krebs Teaches Wilderness Survival – MasterClass
- The 4-Hour Life – CreativeLive
- Discovering Your Strengths – LinkedIn Learning
- Investing in Stocks – Udemy
- Real Productivity: Build Habits That Last – Skillshare
- The Science of Well-Being – Coursera
- Ultimate Edge – Tony Robbins
What are the best online personal development courses 2024 in your opinion? Have you taken any? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: What is emotional intelligence? – 1 | What is Leadership? – 2
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