Your mindset determines your success as a person and the way you see and deal with all the problems arising. However, personal growth has always been a challenging pathway for people, who often seek innovative, yet sometimes ineffective, ways to improve themselves. Here are ten tips that will help you enhance your personal growth and become the person you want to be.
Developing the inner you is a bet you have to make with yourself. Although you cannot wake up next morning with a different mindset, it is important to understand why you seek personal development and then proceed to the ways you can achieve it.
Develop a plan
Before focusing on how you can achieve it, it is advisable to carry a plan for the whole process.
Keep in mind that personal development does not necessarily imply upward movement; rather, it is about enabling individuals to improve their performance and reach their full potential.
Therefore, the plan checklist goes as follows:
- Establish your purpose or direction
- Identify development needs
- Identify learning opportunities
- Formulate an action plan
- Undertake the development
- Record the outcomes
- Evaluate and review
Following the plan that you could implement, so that you know where you stand and what your next step is, you could adopt the following tips:
#1 Understand yourself
Prior to starting the journey of development, you could first understand who you are. You have to be fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses and know what you can offer and whether there is room for improvement. When you understand yourself truly, you can easily identify what is good or not for you.
#2 Step outside your comfort zone
Once you understand yourself, think out of the box. By saying goodbye to your comfort zone, you will create opportunities to develop yourself, because you will meet new people and land yourself in new situations. You should not be afraid of change; you could test your limits and see what’s “out there” for you. Never just wait for opportunities.
#3 Stay honest with yourself
Being true to yourself will be among the most challenging things you could do. Sometimes, it is easier to buy a book for personal development, than looking inside you and work on you. Keep in mind that the whole process of personal development is about you and finding the inner peace with yourself. You are your own judge, and you only know what is best for you. Trust your gut, be honest and support every decision that you make.
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#4 Consistency is the key
Self-development is a slow and gradual process. Thus, consistency is what creates truly meaningful change and this is what makes the process so difficult for people. In other words, improving yourself is not something you do in one day and then you are “fixed.” Self-development is a daily practice and lifestyle.
#5 Build the trust in you
Believing in yourself and your capabilities is vital in order to achieve anything in life. Success is not something that just happens but something you create. The best way to begin trusting yourself and your choices is to let all the negative voices out of your head and to not get disrupted. Support the things you believe in and don’t give up on yourself.
#6 Read about what to improve
There are several benefits of reading self-improvement books. The first and foremost benefit is the experience that puts the reader on a path to where they can read, practice the strategies learned, and make improvements in their lives without having to ask others for help.
#7 Find role models you can look up to
Given that self-development is a hard task, having a role model will help you set the goals and know where you want to go. It is helpful to look at other people that inspire and motivate you, and focus on what they do that makes you admire them.
#8 Reflect at the end of each day
In order to really understand the progress you made, you need to be constantly aware of how you can improve. A good way to understand the improvement you have made with yourself is reflecting and asking yourself in which areas you still need some work. Before sleep, you could ask yourself reflective questions and understand the progress you have made.
- Strengths – What are my strengths? For example, am I well organised? Do I remember things?
- Weaknesses – What are my weaknesses? For example, am I easily distracted? Do I need more practise with a particular skill?
- Skills – What skills do I have and what am I good at?
- Problems – What problems are there at work/home that may affect me? For example, responsibilities or distractions that may impact on study or work.
- Achievements – What have I achieved?
- Happiness – Are there things that I am unhappy with or disappointed about? What makes me happy?
- Solutions – What could I do to improve in these areas?
#9 Work on a different mindset
Having a growth mindset helps you understand the five pillars of life – health, sport, money, business and relationships – and the mindset you can build around them. Adopting to a growth mindset comes with many benefits, including: greater comfort with taking personal risks and striving for more stretching goals; higher motivation; enhanced brain development across wider ranges of tasks; lower stress, anxiety and depression; better work relationships; and higher performance levels.
#10 Learn by your mistakes
No one is perfect. The journey to the personal development comes with barriers and challenges that you will have to overcome. It is possible that you will make mistakes, that you will go one step further and two steps back. But it is okay. Own your mistakes. You cannot learn anything from a mistake until you admit that you have made it.
