If you’ve just landed here to read this article, I’m assuming you are in for some insights on how to go about starting your personal development journey. And if you’re just a beginner in the area of personal development, the most important thing you need to understand is the actual meaning of the term ‘Personal Development’.
Personal Development is a concept that is often misunderstood by many as the act of perfecting oneself or changing oneself. But the actual premise of personal development is to understand that you don’t need to transform yourself as a person in order to improve yourself. All you have to do is change your approach to life and watch yourself grow with it.
What is Personal Development? – Any activity that helps you become the best version of yourself and takes you one step closer to achieving your goals. Personal Development happens by improving upon the areas that might act as a barrier on your way towards success. It is about taking action on yourself after you have learned the ways to improve yourself.
You must know that:
1. You’re never too old for personal development. It’s never too late to introduce habits in your life that can help improve your health, relationships, career and finances.
2. Wanting to implement personal development in your life has no connection with you being unhappy. Even the happiest of people find it necessary to keep working on themselves to improve the areas they lag behind in.
3. Personal Development doesn’t mean that you will become an entirely different person.
Resources for Personal Development: There’s no doubt to the fact that there are millions of articles and videos available about personal development but not every piece of content is created equal. Here is a list of resources that can come handy in your path towards being your best self:
1. Journaling: There can’t be a better way to gain self-awareness than scribbling down your thoughts and life events. Journaling is a resource that you don’t have to look up for on the internet or a library. It’s not only good for your mental health but also serves as a way to revisit the experiences you have had and learn how much you have grown since.
2. Reading: There are numerous blogs (zenhabits.net, arvinddevalia.com are two of my favourites) and books available on personal development that you can read in your free time. Every piece of content will offer you a different way to improve yourself but in order to see the results, it’s important to be willing to take the necessary action.
3. YouTube Videos and Podcasts: I see podcasts as the simplest way to keep learning about personal development. You can easily listen to podcasts while doing your daily chores like cooking, exercising and driving. TED talks discussing real life struggles and journeys is another way to learn about the ways you can improve yourself.
You can go through every piece of content available out there but your growth will entirely depend upon how you go about taking the action to improve yourself.
Make a personal development plan: When it comes to putting in the efforts to be an improved version of yourself, there’s no hard and fast rule that you need to be following. The onus lies on you to decide what works for you and what does not, which is why it is important to create a proper personal development plan to guide you through the journey:
1. Self- Assessment: The very first step is to determine which area of your life requires to be worked upon – Relationships, Career, Finances, Self-Love or Health. Are you broke? Are you concentrating enough on your health? Are you working enough towards fulfilling your career goals? Have you been struggling to devote time to your friends and family? The answer to these questions will help you decide which area of your life needs improvement.
2. Decide your goal: Write down your goals of personal development, specifically stating how you would like to see yourself after you’ve taken the required action. If you’re broke or dealing with debt, you will want to start budgeting and reduce unnecessary spending. If you feel that your career is going nowhere, you might want to decide what it is that needs to be changed.
3. How much time are you going to spend on personal development everyday – Personal Development requires an everyday effort to see results in the long run. No matter how busy you get, you can always take time out for what will help you be the best version of yourself. When you are doing your daily chores like driving, cooking and exercise, you can listen to a personal development podcast alongside. You can also reserve 15 minutes of your time before the sleep for reading a personal development book.
4. Have a time-frame for the area you are working upon, say 30 days. After the stated time has passed, monitor the progress to see how far you have come and extend the time frame if needed.
Personal Development isn’t a one day thing. It requires every day work of reading, introspection and taking little steps forward towards being the person that you are capable of becoming. It’s a lifelong process and there is no limit to how better a person you can be.
