It’s not enough in life to just get by. Most people who are miserable, who dread getting up to go to work every day and feel like every day is the same, they have the same thing in common…stagnation. Personal development is challenging the status quo and wanting to turn one’s life around.
Most of us were told to do the same thing as everyone else since we were young. We were told to go to college, get married and work for a good company in order to help support our family and raise our 2 to 5 children.
The white picket fence, the suburbs…the works.
In reality, it’s not enough. This lifestyle has left many people bored and complacent with their lives. Let’s be honest, if you’re reading this right now, you’re probably one of those people. You’re probably bored, your life has probably stagnated and you need a way out. Well, you’re in luck! I am sharing below some practical tips on self-growth that can help you live the life you were born to live: a life of abundance.
Personal Development Defined
My oxford dictionary defines personal development as the process by which a person’s character or abilities are gradually developed. In layman’s terms I would say self-development is the person you become by pursuing a worthy goal.
As far as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by all things self-growth related. From the continuous learning of new skills and competencies to the development of the mind, body and spirit.
This field is has grown a lot and become a lucrative industry with all sort of “guru” marketing their own techniques claiming to help us become the best that we can be.
I have personally tried many of these techniques and teaching and can confidently say that some seem to work like clockwork while others seem not so obvious.
You need to be student and make you own judgment but I would advise you to approach the topic with an open mind.
7 Life-Changing Tips for Personal Growth
I am writing these lines to pull you out of your stagnation and give you the tools to live the life you’ve secretly always wanted, but never had the ability to achieve.
It’s time for growth. It’s time to discover your real potential. Trust me, it will be a lot more than you ever believed.
The following 7 life-changing tips will help you to turn your life around and sharpen your tools so you can not only improve, but become the best at what you are striving to do!
Tip #1: Hone Your Craft
You may think you’re good at what you do. You may have gone to college for it, you may have read up on it, you may have practiced and you may even have a job in the field you have always wanted to be in.
This may have left you feeling like you can skate by. This feeling of entitlement will bring you nothing but complacency and possibly even job instability.
How so?
Imagine that you are a graphic designer. You went to school back in 2005, you graduated around 2009 and you’ve been working in the field ever since. You have a working knowledge of what people like and what works…from 2009.
It’s been six years since you’ve graduated and things have changed. People are looking for different designs than they used to. Simpler, sleeker, more to the point.
You may be really good at what you do, but you’re still designing like it’s 2009. You haven’t worked on your artistic abilities, you haven’t kept up with software updates and growth in your field and you still design things in a way that is now outdated.
Suddenly, a young guy comes along, straight out of college and he’s got all of these great ideas! He may just be an intern, but he’s getting a lot of attention from the higher ups. He really understands this new generation and he has a great understanding of the new corporate landscape.
He keeps up to date on all the hottest trends, he watches for small changes in font, borders and even color palettes, and because of this, he is consistently putting forward designs that the clients love.
Before you know it, this kid has your job and a couple of years later, he’s your boss!
How did this happen? How did this young guy come in, take over and shatter all of your dreams? I think you already know the answer to this.
You can’t just learn a skill and think that you can sit on that knowledge for the rest of your life. Things are always changing and there will always be someone out there who can do the same thing you can do that is looking to take your position.
This isn’t a negative thing, it’s healthy competition that keeps the market strong. It’s up to you to keep up.
Don’t rely on your rapport with those around you and don’t rely on the kindness of your employers. Trust me, loyalty only goes so far. The bottom line usually ends up coming first.
You should be constantly evolving, adapting and learning. You should study up on what it is that you love to do and you should be keeping an eye out for even slight changes in your field. It’s up to you to put in the work, read the trade magazines and graph trends. No one is going to walk you through what’s hot in your field or hold your hand to accomplish your tasks.
If you don’t keep up, you fall behind. If you fall behind, you get picked off. It’s survival of the fittest out there and you need the tools to get by.
Tip #2: Stay Healthy
Whether your goal for self-improvement is changing and improving your health or not, staying healthy is an important part of your growth no matter what.
It’s hard to grow, to improve and to pick up new skills if you are constantly being drug down by lethargy and complacency.
Bad health doesn’t just affect your body, it affect your mind. Your brain runs off of the same nutrients that the rest of your body does and if you don’t feed it the right balance of what it needs, it isn’t going to run at top capacity.
The fuel you put into your body will determine your output.
I don’t care how smart you are, how driven you are or how hard you are working, nothing can make up for the damage you are dealing to yourself and the hell you are putting your body through by not eating well or getting enough exercise.
This doesn’t mean you have to train like an athlete or go full blown vegan, but you may need to make some necessary changes to not only make sure that you are at the top of your game, but also that you will be able to live a longer and happier life.
Start with small things.
Instead of taking the elevator or the escalator, take the stairs. Invest in a bike and on nice days, ride in to work. If you are in a city, walk everywhere. That couple of extra miles a day can do wonders for your body and will help you to burn some extra calories.
If you can, try to get to the gym a couple of times a week for weight training. You don’t have to lift like a bodybuilder, but your body does need some strength training to run at its full potential. Don’t worry, you’ll still burn fat by lifting and you’ll improve your physique.
On top of exercising, try and slowly change your eating habits.
Wean yourself off of bad food choices slowly and increase the amount of good foods to replace the bad ones.
Make sure you are drinking plenty of water and eating lots of vegetables. Water is needed for every aspect and system in your body to run properly and veggies will help to give you the nutrients you need to run at your full potential.
These small changes will help your body to run at its best, which will increase your mental capacity and ultimately your output.
Tip # 3: Work Harder Than the Next Guy
Although we are discussing self improvement, paying attention to what your competition is doing is a very important key to success. By gauging what others are doing, you are better able to set benchmarks for success and what your next steps may be.
You obviously don’t have to let people know that you are doing this. Just observe from afar, check out anything quantifiable that they have available and try and see what their habits are. From there, find what you can do to take what they are doing to the next level.
Healthy competition brings out the best in all of us and the sense of someone being ahead of you can help to push you that extra little bit farther
The best in the world didn’t get their by sheer like. Guys like Michael Jordan, Anderson Silva, Bill Gates…these guys put in the time and they worked harder and smarter than anyone else around them.
They were able to learn a massive amount about their craft, but more importantly, they were willing to grow.
You have to constantly be expanding your horizons and not be satisfied with being on level with everyone else or “good enough.” You have to shoot to be the best if you want to make massive improvements to your life.
Use the knowledge you’ve gathered to grow and to push yourself to the next level.
Tip #4: Identify Your Weaknesses
This can be very difficult for people and that is understandable. It’s hard to take a deep look at yourself and identify exactly what it is that you are doing wrong and where you can improve.
We all live in fear of others discovering our weaknesses and it is because of this that we bury our weaknesses far below the surface, hoping no one will see them…even ourselves.
The problem is that burying them isn’t enough. They have a tendency to creep back to the surface and that curtain you are trying to hide them with often gets pulled back. That point of exposure can be very jarring and if you aren’t prepared, it can really set you back
First, you have to realize that we all have our weaknesses. No one is perfect, no one is without sin and no one lives a flawless life. Everyone screws up, everyone makes mistakes and everyone has things that they aren’t good at.
People who are successful look at these things and find ways to grow from them. They see their weaknesses as opportunities to become better and to see themselves for not only who they are right now, but who they can grow to be.
Once you begin to accept your weaknesses, you can take a hard look at why they are there.
Whatever the reason may be, it is important to figure out where the weakness came from in order to change it at its core. It may feel good to change things on the surface at first, but soon they will become ugly again if you don’t get to the root of the problem.
Once you have accepted weakness as part of your life and you have discovered the root, it is time to take the hardest step and change it.
Tip #5: Let the Small Stuff Slide
It’s hard to trudge forward with the weight of a million things on your shoulders.
People tend to get caught up in the minutia in life. It’s all the little things, the little details and small annoyances that cause us the most stress.
Sure, major events can cause us grief and anxiety, but what really drives us crazy are the tiny little things in life that eat away us, cause us to shake our head, cause our heart rate to rise and make us lose focus.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture. Sometimes there is so much clutter in the way that we can’t seem to make out what is behind everything. We get so caught up in the gears that we can’t seem to read the clock.
In order to improve yourself, in order to live a happy life at all, you have to learn how to let these things go.
Sure, it’s hard. When someone cuts you off in traffic, it can follow you around for the rest of the day, keeping you angry and in a negative headspace.
Think about what this is really doing for you. Is it making your life any better? Are you getting revenge on the person who cut you off in traffic by being pouty all day? Are you positively affecting those around you with your spite?
The answer to all of these questions is a resounding “no.” Your life won’t be any better, you won’t get back at anyone and you are only going to make those around you miserable and resentful with your poor attitude.
I know nobody likes being cut off in traffic. It seems like your whole world once that thing happens and sure, for a second it is. Once that second has passed, though, you have to let it go.
Tip #6: Reward Yourself
Making improvements to yourself can be a long and difficult process. It’s not very often that you can make some sort of life change overnight—especially one that will stick.
It’s often that big changes can take months, even years.
If you want to build up your muscle and put on ten pounds, it can take a couple of years to do! That is a lot of discipline, dedication and hard work.
Because of this, it is important to take a moment every once in a while to reward yourself.
I’m not saying go crazy or impede on your progress, but it’s good to celebrate your success occasionally by rewarding yourself. This will keep you motivated and give you a brief break from the hard work to appreciate all you have accomplished.
This reward can be in line with what you are doing, or it can be some sort of a “cheat.”
For instance, if you are working on losing weight, you may choose to reward yourself by flying out to the mountains and taking a beautiful hike and camping trip. This stays in line with your values, but it also gives you a break from your day to day life to do something exciting and adventurous.
You need to be able to find balance in your life. It can’t always be all push, all the time. Sometimes you need to reflect and really appreciate the work that you’ve put in.
Give yourself a prize for what you’ve done. You’ve earned it!
Tip #7: Help Others
This sounds counter-intuitive.
You may be thinking, “Wait a minute—I thought this was about me helping myself!” And you know what? You’re right. This report is about you helping yourself.
One of the best ways to help yourself is to help others.
Reaching out a helping hand to your fellow man should be one of the bright sides of your life. One of the best ways to improve yourself in any field is to improve who you are as a human being
This could be anything from volunteering at a soup kitchen to helping the new guy at work to find his bearings. Pretty much whenever you see someone in need, you should be there to reach out a helping hand.
There are two reasons for this.
The first reason is putting positive energy out into the world. You’ll find that the more positive energy that you put out there, the more you will receive in return.
This is the nature of the universe. If you put out bad, you get back bad. If you put out good, you get back good.
Not only is helping others the right thing to do, it will also put positive energy out into the world, which will find a way back to you in times that you need it most.
The second reason to reach out and help others is the reciprocation they may provide in the future.
This IN NO WAY means that they owe you anything or that you should do favors for others to get something back in return, but naturally you’ll notice that others that you have helped are usually willing to help you when you need it.
You remember that new guy you helped out when he first arrived? He may be a rock star employee and when it comes time for him to assemble a team for a very important project, you may be on the top of his list.
People remember kindness and more importantly, they remember genuine kindness.
Doing the right thing to do the right thing has its own rewards. Having others help you in return is a fringe benefit.
Really, what it comes down to is being a good person. This will help you to improve yourself more than anything.
I hope you are able to apply these tips to your own life and push yourself outside of your comfort zones to the place you’ve always wanted to be
You can improve yourself, starting today. Some things may take time, but with the right dedication, care, attention to detail and humility, you will accomplish great things.
I believe you can do this. Now it’s time for you to believe it as well!
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