For someone that wants to focus on their personal development the first thing that would probably come to mind is: "Where do I start?"
I have been there, feeling overwhelmed and not knowing what to do. I am not saying I have the perfect answer, but I have tried to simplify it in to 6 activities that I would suggest to someone starting out on the road of personal development.
These are my 6 activities that I believe will enhance your personal development:
- Read more
- Network
- Create good habits
- Attend courses
- Adopt a Growth Mindset
- Step out of your comfort zone
Here is a little more detail on each below.
Read More
This is something that might not feel natural to you and you may say "I don't enjoy reading". I strongly believe that if you think you don't enjoy reading, you probably just haven't found the right book yet.
Everyone has their own interests and there are millions of books out there so you are bound to find the right ones for you if you search for them.
The great thing about reading is that the more you do it the more you want to do more of it. When you find a great book it is often easy to find books that follow on from that one whether it is from the same author or not.
It is also worth noting that it doesn't just have to be books. You can read articles, short stories or blogs (like this one).
Whatever topic of your personal development you want to focus on first, you are bound to find so much resource out there, so just search for it and see where the rabbit hole leads!
The other thing that is great about reading is that you have so many different ways to do it. You could:
- The old school way of reading a physical book (my favourite).
- Reading on a E-Reader like a Kindle. Kindle Unlimited is useful if you like reading like this.
- Audio books. This is useful if you want to multitask or prefer someone reading to you rather than doing it yourself! I personally use Audible for my audio books.
I have set up a book recommendations page on my site so feel free to have a look to see if there are any you think you would want to read. Just click the below link.
Network
This is probably the thing I have personally found the hardest but can be the most fruitful.
Networking can often feel daunting but if you find a purpose to do it then it can feel easier and less forced. You don't want to come across as just wanting to tick a box to do it. So when you find a purpose it will not only benefit you but the people you are networking with will find you more genuine.
The reason networking is important to your personal development is because everyone is different and everyone has a different way of thinking. When you introduce your brain to the diversity out there it begins to question your routine way of thinking and helps you grow.
When you find someone that you believe is a big benefit to your personal development and you think could add even more, why not ask them to be your mentor? Having a mentor can be so beneficial and add so much to your personal development.
Create Good Habits
Creating habits is such an interesting topic in itself and if you want to explore it further I would highly recommend Atomic Habits as I have just finished reading it and have found it so insightful.
All of these activities that I mention can be formed in to habits and you can adopt good habits to help facilitate your personal development growth. Only you know what habits could help you and what habits hinder you.
Read this book and it will teach you how you can help strengthen good habits and get rid of bad habits. It is all about making small changes to make a big impact (hence the title).
Attend Courses
There are so many courses out there and not all of them cost you money. Many of you reading this will be working for a company and often your company will provide learning materials by way of courses for you to attend.
Take full advantage of everything that is there for you to use. I have never attended a course and not taken anything away from it. Even if the worst case scenario happens and you don't learn anything useful, you still have the opportunity to network and build relationships with others!
If you are part of a professional body they will also normally provide free to attend courses that you can sign up for. I often do this with the accounting professional body I am a member of and find the courses very helpful.
Adopt A Growth Mindset
This is so important and something that will facilitate everything on this list. I have written an article about what a growth mindset is and how to adopt one here:
Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone
The way to grow is to step into the unknown. You need to stretch yourself. If you feel a little uncomfortable doing something it is usually a good thing as it means your brain is forced to think more and learn form the experience.
How much thought do you give to driving a car once you have been driving for years? Hardly any thought because you are so used it and comfortable. Now if you had to drive in a country that drives on the opposite side of the road, you are out of your comfort zone and all of a sudden you are focusing much more on that task.
Think back to an experience that you have stepped out of your comfort zone. Now ask yourself if you could go back and make that experience disappear, but along with it you will take away everything that came as a result away too, would you take it away?
If you have found this post interesting, please share with others via the social media links below and Sign up so you receive my weekly newsletter (Sunday Snapshot) which has links to my new posts.
Thanks for reading,
Gav
*For full transparency, the post above has affiliate links. If you click on affiliate links and make a purchase it is of no extra cost to you but I will receive a small commission from it.
