What is Personal Development?
There are several people in our society now that are very sorrowful with their lives for one reason or another. Whatever reason they have for being unhappy, there is undoubtedly a way to change it. Sometimes it requires a change in career or situation. Other times it is simply a change in a specific way that people think. Sometimes, it is both. This is what personal development is all about.
Personal development is a path that you take to better your family situation, career, spirituality, emotional health, and every other aspect of your life. Essentially, personal development is about making conscious decisions about everything that you do, the way that you think, and the way that you react to situations. Personal development can help you obtain everything that you always dreamed of, and more, with the simple application of a few simple mindsets and tools.
One of the biggest steps toward personal development is a change of mindset. If you think that you can do better, you will. If you think that you are stuck in a dead-end job, without family or friends to support you, and no prospects of a better future, you will ultimately be very unhappy. When you change your mindset to positive thinking, you will find that you put forth more effort into everything that you do, and you will have much better results.
Another one of the important steps toward personal development is to set obtainable goals.
This is not to say that your dream is not obtainable. But if you constantly think about the goal of being a millionaire with a successful family, you will feel pretty hopeless as that goal seems so far out of reach. Setting obtainable goals simply mean that you set goals that lead to the ultimate goal.
It is really about taking steps. When you decide that you need food in your refrigerator, it does not automatically appear. You must make a grocery list, go to the grocery store, shop for items, purchase them, bring them home, and put them in the fridge. Obtaining a large goal is much the same way. You will not get there overnight. It takes going through a series of steps, or smaller goals, to find your way.
Smaller goals also help you to see the bigger picture.
Instead of thinking that you are never going to reach your final goal, you will see the progress that you are making as you complete each smaller, more obtainable goal. This will give you a sense of accomplishment, as well as help you to change your thinking to a more positive mindset.
For some, personal development is also a matter of moving beyond past failures and misfortune to see what is possible in the future. Often the negative comments made by friends and family over a lifetime can be difficult to overcome. Past failures, or just the feeling that one is a failure, are another major obstacle. There are ways to move beyond these obstacles.
Personal development is really about making changes. Finding resources to make changes, move past obstacles, set goals, and find happiness is not always easy. But with all of the personal development books, articles, websites, and other resources available, personal development and happiness can be obtained. For those who need additional help moving past obstacles and making those changes, a counsellor or personal development coach can also be of great worth.
What is Your Personal Development Growth I.Q.?
Have you done a personal growth checklist on your life lately? Many goals are never reached due to a lack of self-assessment. It is frightening and overwhelming to sit down and have to face yourself. Yet, for personal development to happen, it is exactly what you must do.
Get yourself a small notebook to be used for all thoughts concerning you.
Inside these pages, you will keep notes, to-do lists, inspirations and basically, everything about you. When you put yourself on paper consistently, it becomes a life management bible. Seeing who we are in written form is magic to personal growth. There is the value contained here about your purpose in living. By privately writing down your daily to-do’s, aspirations, or even 5-year plans, these pages outline where your life is going. Where your life has been. The notebook becomes your intimate novel to personal development growth. It makes you self-aware of your behaviours and habits. It puts your dreams in your face to encourage self-actualization. No matter how terrifying the pen gets, you have the opportunity to change your life on the very next page.
Getting your development growth I.Q. involves mastering the pages you’ve written about yourself into new pages of re-inventing yourself and your circumstances. It is through doing a consistent assessment of your life and bravely finding new ways to approach setbacks. Questions about who you are and where you are going are constant within these pages. You have made yourself accountable for your life by writing everything down. It is easier to take personal responsibility for what happens to you if you acknowledge it with a pen. You cannot grow if you do not know. So much happens to us in a day and can easily be missed as an opportunity for growth. By keeping notes, it can be measured and evaluated. Days can melt into months, and years, leaving us in the same spot as we began. And then the moment comes where we wonder why our life didn’t turn out the way we planned. It is because time moves forward, and so should we.
Consider this self bible your life instructions.
Critique yourself honestly. Applaud the little successes you see, because had you not writing them down you probably would have missed them entirely. Life is a continual process of renewal and opportunity. To measure your development growth I.Q., look back on the pages of yesterday and see if you have climbed ladders or fell steps down. What can be learned? What is within your power to change? How will you recreate yourself in small ways tomorrow? Even one step different from the one before begins a new path. By writing all of you down on paper you have made yourself aware of yourself. Awareness acknowledges our existence in this world.
A bonus to purging your thoughts on paper is the release. What is inside you should come out to keep a healthy mind and attitude. This is why journals exist. This is a reason people have day timers and diaries. Humans can take in so much information daily, and then swirl it around into a feeling or opinion, even a stressor. It is imperative to good mental health to release all this somewhere else–preferably to paper and not another person.
Encourage good things to happen in your life. Help the process through timely self-assessments. Re-invent yourself through writing. Face the written words and change them.