Investing in You
If you are not investing in personal development, you may be limiting
your true potential.
Personal development affects your entire life, not just your work life or your personal life.
It’s amazing how many people don’t try to improve themselves.
These are the same people that wonder why they are not getting anywhere with their lives.
The following guidelines will help you get started improving your personal development:
Imagine How You Want to Shape Your Life
Without a vision, you won’t be able to determine what kind of life you
want to live. You need to balance what kinds of changes you want
professionally as well as personally.
The two will ultimately overlap.
If you imagine yourself being more helpful to others, this trait will
become part of both. There may be certain aspects of your personal
development that you believe are specific to personal life but may
eventually carry over to your professional life.
If you have wanted to increase your skills as a community leader, this could easily be
incorporated into your professional career.
The key is to identify and imagine what this new skill is going to look like.
Assess Your Current Situation
Before you make any changes in your life, determine where you stand
with your life as it currently exists.
Determine strengths and weaknesses to help you formulate a plan to make the necessary changes.
Set Goals
Once you know what your strengths and weaknesses are, create some
goals to strive to complete.
These should include high level goals as well as action steps.
Most important, set milestones with firm dates for these action steps.
Consider Alternatives
There can be valid reasons why certain actions or goals can’t be met.
Instead of abandoning the entire personal development plan, come up
with alternatives steps. Be careful not to simply fall back on these
steps because they are easier than the main goals.
Evaluate How You Are Doing
When you reach a milestone, see how you did against the plan of action
steps. This is a crucial step, and it’s important to be realistic and
truthful.
The best way to handle this is to have someone else perform
this for you. It may not be easy to hear, but the benefits will be
well worth it.
Keep it Simple
If you add a bunch of unobtainable goals to your plan, you are likely
setting yourself up for failure.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to push yourself. It just means being realistic about your
capabilities.