A lot of people are in personal development to avoid failure - the idea being that if you're "good" and you do "all the right things" then you'll be immune from adversity, accident, incident, illness and death, one must presume. I have always thought that it's more like increasing one's abilities to cope with whatever life might throw in one's direction. As the old quote goes, "Don't pray for an easier life, pray for a stronger back."
There are all sorts of things one can do in personal development to prepare for the future. One of the things that I have always rated above all else is the power of meditation, or Project Sanctuary to be precise, and to learn to be GOOD AT IT. It's a fun game when all is well, but it isn't until life strikes that the real value and worth of esoteric personal development really becomes revealed. Here's a case in point.