Personal Growth is Engineered, Not Experienced: Design Your Plan
Finding the tools and ideas you need for personal development may seem like finding a needle in a haystack. However, there are several tips in the article below that can be just what you need to get further down the road to being a better you.
Have reasons and stick to them. Adhering to ideology and belief systems blindly makes you look shallow to others. If you find a component of your knowledge base is essential to your sense of self, you should prepare to defend your position with confidence. It will also help you become more intimate with the beliefs that comprise your core self.
Going through a strength finder assessment is one of the best ways to get a grasp on how well you understand your strengths and areas of weakness. This kind of assessment will provide you with your top five strengths, which you can then incorporate into your daily life and apply to both your personal and professional life.
Stop thinking so much about yourself. That may seem counter-intuitive, but when you start paying attention to what you can do for others instead of worrying about yourself so much, good things can happen. The appreciation of others when you've done self-less acts is just icing on the cake and you'll improve how you view yourself, too.
If you're feeling stressed out or anxious, a great way to reduce your stress is to get organized. Before you go to sleep each night, get yourself ready for the next day. Let your subconscious do the work of planning what you will do, and you'll be able to focus on the work at hand instead of worrying about what is to come.
Whether you are spiritual, religious, or atheist, look for a higher force that can offer you guidance as you think about yourself, your identity, and your goals for who you want to be. Your higher power need not be a specific deity; the collective writing and stories of mankind can serve as a good example of something that is larger than yourself. You may find that exploring scriptures, literature, or proverbs can help you create yourself.
Low self-esteem problems are often part of a vicious cycle. We do not wish to draw attention to ourselves, so we slouch and slump our way into oblivion. Break this habit! Standing up straight and practicing good posture projects a confident image, tones muscles, and increases our sense of self-image in a way that is immediately noticeable to ourselves and to others.
Using your commute time to listen to books on CD can help pass the time and expand the mind. From novels to self-help topics, there is a wide variety of audio books available to purchase or check out for free at the local library. As a bonus, reading or even listening to someone read is proven to increase the vocabulary and make you smarter!
Feeling sad is not any way for a person to live but you do not need to turn to drugs to lift your spirits. Stop and have a dinner or lunch that includes turkey or salmon or any other food that contains high level of protein and tryptophan. These are naturally going to help you turn that frown upside-down.
Being aware of your weaknesses will allow you to keep them in check. Personal development cannot go anywhere if weakness rules your life. If you are constantly making excuses for yourself, always procrastinating or otherwise finding ways to fail you need to conduct a thorough personal assessment and inventory the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that are holding you back and inhibiting your personal development, now!
Knowing does not mean understanding. A knowledgable person can even seem overbearing and pompous. If you are going to take the time to seek knowledge, also take the time to learn knowledge. Anyone can spout facts and data from memory, however, taking the time to understand and research the depth of the subject creates wisdom.
If you take a stand, make it a justified stand. You have an obligation to yourself to clearly define your beliefs, understand your beliefs and build upon them. Taking a stand on any point or issue has no value if you are not committed and educated in your position. Affirming your belief system within will add wisdom to your stance without.
Figure out what your goals are and visualize reaching those goals each day. Use photos, notes and maybe even videos about your goals so you can better motivate you to keep at it until you reach them. If you do not take the time to remind yourself of the goals you have set, you likely will not reach them.
If you are putting off making a decision because you fear that you are going to make the wrong choice, nothing will ever change. Practice being decisive in your life. The sooner that you can make a decision, the sooner you will learn the results and learn how to make the right one.
Do not fear making mistakes in your life. If you never made any mistakes you would not be human and you would not be able to learn from those mistakes. Brilliant ideas have come from people making mistakes, learning from them and making changes to their ideas to make them a success.
You should always want a higher level of self restraint when working hard for personal development. Your body yearns to give into temptations, but you can control the desires with practice. Win the battle over bodily cravings including gluttony, greediness, drink, drugs and sex. With proper self control you can stop vices from negatively impacting your body and mind.
Now you can see that there is no reason to put off personal development any longer. It is not a matter of finding that needle in a haystack but a matter of using the practical and effective tips above. You can find a new level of confidence and a new sense of well-being if you give these suggestions a try.
