7 Best Personal Development Courses to Grow Your Skills and Mindset

To reach your goals for the year, there are are certain skills you might need to unlock first. Here are the best personal development courses to level up your life in 2025.

If there's one way I love to spend my free time, it's digging into a good personal development course.

It never ceases to amaze me that if there's any skill you want to learn - anything at all - there's an online course or program that you can enroll in right now to eventually become an expert in that area.

You can find courses to help you become more persuasive, improve your public speaking skills, transition into a new career, or improve your sleep schedule.

In fact, you can even find courses that teach you how to learn, so that your entire personal development journey becomes easier and more enjoyable.

Here are my top picks for personal development courses - let me know which ones you've taken or would like to take in the comment section below!

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What are the Best Personal Development Courses Online?

Here are the best personal development courses to level up your skills and mindset in 2025:

1. Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

Learning How to Learn is a popular personal development course offered on Coursera that over 3 million students have enrolled in so far.

I've also taken this course myself and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The course encourages you to take a step back from the way you usually study, and ask, is this actually the best way to learn?

We spend a lot of our lives learning, so it makes sense to make sure that you're using the most efficient and effective learning methods.

In the course, you'll learn invaluable learning techniques used by experts in art, music, literature, math, science, sports, and many other disciplines.

You'll also how the brain uses two very different learning modes and how it encapsulates (“chunks”) information.

The course also covers illusions of learning, memory techniques, dealing with procrastination, and best practices shown by research to be most effective in helping you master tough subjects.

Course Syllabus:

Module 1: What is Learning?
Module 2: Chunking
Module 3: Procrastination and Memory
Module 4: Renaissance Learning and Unlocking Your Potential

The course takes about 15 hours to complete and can be completed on your own schedule.

=> Enroll in the Learning How to Learn course on Coursera here.

2. The Science of Better Sleep

Matthew Walker Teaches the Science of Better Sleep MasterClass

We all know that sleep has a profound effect on our mental and emotional health.

But have you ever wondered why?

As a professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science, Matthew Walker is an expert on sleep.

In this fascinating Masterclass, he illuminates the science behind sleep and teaches you how to increase the quality and quantity of your sleep.

You will learn how to prevent sleep debt, navigate the effects of alcohol and caffeine, and improve your health.

The class also comes with a downloadable guide with tips for getting back to sleep at 3 a.m., foods that hijack your slumber and the differences between early birds and night owls.

Class Syllabus:

Meet your Instructor
What is Sleep?
How Sleep Works
Night Owl or Morning Lark?
The Buzz on Alcohol and Caffeine
Prevent Sleep Debt
Fire Up the Brain
Sleep Across Our Life Span
Overnight Therapy
The Absurd Act of Dreaming
Sleep and the Human Body
Diet and Sleep
Sleep to Thrive
How to Sleep Better
Reclaim Your Sleep

Class Length: 15 video lessons (3 hours 12 minutes)

I highly recommend this class, I learned so much from it and it's one of my favourite personal development classes online!

=> Enroll in the Science of Sleep by Matthew Walker on MasterClass.

3. Dynamic Public Speaking

Would you like to get better at public speaking?

Like most things in life, public speaking is a skill that is mastered through deliberate effort and patience.

If you are nervous about public speaking, but regularly have to do it as part of your job, this four-part program by the University of Washington is for you.

In this course, you will receive the instruction, experience, and practice to develop and deliver compelling presentations.

Based on knowledge in communication, rhetoric and linguistics, the course slowly works up specific skills that you can practice multiple times before putting together a longer speech.

You will learn to:

Increase your confidence and presence as a dynamic speaker

Develop delivery techniques for voice, movement, and gesture that engage audiences

Prepare effective speeches for various purposes (informative, persuasive, praise), occasions (workplace, special events, etc.), and audiences

Master speechwriting techniques for storytelling, argument, style, topic framing, and discussing evidence

Program Syllabus:

Course 1: Introduction to Public Speaking

Course 2: Speaking to inform: Discussing complex ideas with clear explanations and dynamic slides

Course 3: Speaking to persuade: Motivating audiences with solid arguments and moving language

Course 4: Speaking to Inspire: Ceremonial and Motivational Speeches

As you complete this specialization, you will gain experience creating a portfolio of polished speeches that will increase your skills and confidence as a public speaker.

Key course features:

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion.

Flexible Schedule

Learn online at your own pace.

Beginner Level

No prior experience is necessary.

Approx. 2 months to complete

Suggested pace: 10 hours per week.

=> Enroll in the Dynamic Public Speaking online course here.

4. Alexis Ohanian Teaches Building Your Startup

I'm a big fan of Masterclass, and this entrepreneurship class by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is another one of my favourite classes I've taken so far.

In 2005, UVA undergrad Alexis Ohanian envisioned a place online where users connect over subcultures—enter Reddit.

That was only the start: From growing billion-dollar companies to championing female founders, Ohanian shaped culture. Now he wants to lead tomorrow’s innovators.

In this class, you will learn how to turn an idea into a startup with advice Alexis has shared with other entrepreneurs through his VC fund, Seven Seven Six.

Alexis has a unique perspective as both a VC and a founder. In this class, he talks about his process for identifying business ideas, nailing execution, and streamlining workflow.

Topic include:

Finding a Problem to Solve
How to test your idea in the simplest way possible before launching
How to pitch your idea to investors
Hiring the perfect fit
How to align your business with customers' values
and much more...

Class length: 16 video lessons (2 hours 17 minutes).

=> Sign up for Alexis Ohanian's MasterClass on Building Your Startup.

5. Designing The Life You Want: 4 Exercises for Clarity and Motivation

Reflecting on your life, what you want, what you don't want and who you want to show up as is some of the most important self work that you can do - and we don't tend to do it enough.

This Skillshare class will take you through some intentional reflection and visioning exercises designed to help you to feel inspired, motivated and create clarity in your life.

This is a great class to take if right now, you're in a slump, you're just lacking direction or you're lacking in motivation.

Class Syllabus:

Introduction
Class Project
Creating Your Anti-Vision
80/20 Your Life
Creating Your Values
Perfect Day Exercise
Final Thoughts

=> Enroll in the Designing the Life You Want Skillshare Class here.

6. Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills

Over a million people have already enrolled in this popular negotiation course offered by the University of Michigan.

Why study negotiaton?

We all negotiate on a daily basis. On a personal level, we negotiate with friends, family, landlords, car sellers and employers, among others.

Negotiation is also the key to business success. No business can survive without profitable contracts. Within a company, negotiation skills can lead to your career advancement.

In this course, you’ll learn about and practice the elements of a successful negotiation.

Course Syllabus:

Module 1: Welcome to Successful Negotiation!
Module 2: Prepare: Plan Your Negotiation Strategy
Module 3: Negotiate: Use Key Tactics for Success
Module 4: Close: Create a Contract
Module 5: Perform and Evaluate: The End Game
Module 6: Practice Your Negotiation Skills
Module 7: Final Examination

Key course features:

Flexible Schedule

Learn online at your own pace.

Approx. 17 hours to complete

3 weeks at 5 hours a week.

Beginner level

No previous experience necessary.

=> Enroll in the Successful Negotiation online course here.

7. Coach Training Accelerator

Have you ever thought of sharing your passion for personal development with others? This popular life coaching certification course can help you do so.

Coach Training Alliance (CTA) is a global coaching organization that has trained and certified over 10,000 coaches from 45 countries.

Their Coach Training Accelerator is an online self-study program that provides you with the training and tools you need to establish a solid, sustainable coaching practice.

This course will teach you how to:

Learn from the mistakes and successes of others

Discover shortcuts that take years off your learning curve

Accelerate your career in coaching and your ability to earn a significant income

Experience several insights about your own personal growth that will enhance your abilities as coach

Develop a niche and learn how to showcase your skills and services

Key course features:

20 Lesson Online Graduate Level Program
5 Multimedia Training Modules
3 Bonus Self-Paced Interactive Courses
Become a Coach in 20 Weeks

=> Learn more about the Coach Training Accelerator course here.

Frequently Asked Questions about Personal Development Courses

Questions about Personal Development Courses. E.g. What course should I take first?

What is Personal Development?

Personal development refers to a broad category of activities that improve awareness and identity, develop your talents and employability, aid in the realization of your dreams, and ultimately improve the quality of your life.

People who actively seek to improve themselves often find that they are able to successfully push past limiting beliefs and reach difficult goals.

Rather than waiting for life to hand you knowledge, opportunity and success on a silver platter (which it won’t), you can take control of your life through personal development.

You can read my full post on the definition of personal development here.

How Can Personal Development Courses Help Me Reach My Goals?

Personal development courses can help you reach your goals by guiding you through a step-by-step program, taught by experts in your desired subject area.

In life, you can learn from your own mistakes (which often takes longer), or you can follow the trusted advice of qualified individuals and people who've already done what you're trying to do (much quicker!).

The best personal development training courses will shorten your learning curve and give you an opportunity to put what you learn into practice.

Additionally, the flexibility of online learning is particularly well-suited to building personal development skills, since you can select individual courses that match your goals, instead of pursuing a full degree program.

Which Personal Development Course Should I Take First?

The course(s) you choose to take first will completely depend on learning goals and personal situation. Many people choose to take courses that align with their ideal career path or personal interests.

Of all the courses above, I recommend taking the Learning How to Learn course first, because it will help you improve your learning and retention skills, which will be useful when taking any other course!

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading this article on the best personal development courses to enroll in online this year.

I hope the above courses will help give you some direction on areas you can focus on to experience greater success in your life over the next few months.

Personal development is a lifelong journey and an exciting one. As you build on the knowledge and skills provided in these courses, you'll likely look back at where you started and be amazed at how far you've come!

All the best,

Roli Edema