10 Ways to Get Better at Self-Development
Self-development goes smoother when you hold a handful of ideas in mind as you go. Think of what follows as ten of them. Trying to adopt every single one at the same time is a fast route to feeling swamped, so pick one or two to begin with. Part of developing yourself is simply figuring out which changes to make and when to make them, and that judgment matters as much as the effort itself.
Keep a workable schedule. You need a clear sense of what the day requires, and the simplest way to get there is writing down what has to happen. Put start and finish times next to your tasks. Leave gaps too, because an emergency or some task you never saw coming will eventually land in the middle of your afternoon.
Give yourself a little fun. Pour every waking hour into improving yourself and you will walk right past the parts of life that make it worth living. Set aside a few hours each week for something you enjoy. Maybe that is a movie at home, maybe it is a night out with people you like. What counts is that the activity has nothing to do with work or with your self-development plan.
Be generous. Giving to other people builds a deeper sense of purpose in you. Anything that helps someone else qualifies, and money is only one small version of it. Showing up for a friend who needs you, volunteering a few hours, carrying a stranger's groceries to their car: none of that costs a cent, and all of it counts.
Practice acceptance. Some things in your life are simply beyond your reach, and recognizing which ones is half the battle. Set those aside. Once you stop spending energy on what you cannot touch, you free up a surprising amount of it for the parts you actually can change.
Pick up a second language. Learning one cracks open doors you had no idea were there. You can talk with people you otherwise never could, and your travels stop feeling like you are watching from behind glass. People who take on a new language also seem to absorb other subjects more readily, which only widens the room for growth.
Break the patterns that give you nothing. We all run on daily routines, and plenty of them do not earn their keep. Say you eat at the same restaurant every Saturday night. Go somewhere else instead, try a cuisine you have never ordered. Small swaps like that stretch your world and put new things in front of you.
Walk toward your fears. Everyone carries them around. Once a week, pick something that makes you squirm and meet it directly. Each time you do, your confidence climbs a notch and more situations start to feel manageable rather than frightening.
Stay in the present. Working toward something and thinking about where you are headed both have their place, but the moment in front of you deserves most of your attention. It is the only piece you can genuinely steer. The past is fixed and the future refuses to be predicted. So when you wake up, put your focus on what today actually asks of you.
Find a mentor. Someone further along the road can hand you practical advice about getting where you want to go. You get to learn from what they already lived through while you build a story of your own alongside theirs.
Take a hard look at your goals. Goals are good; a pile of them is a problem. Weigh them against your real priorities and cut the ones that do not fit. A shorter list makes the remaining goals far easier to actually reach.
All of this comes down to handling self-development one goal at a time. Going piece by piece lets you truly master each thing you set out to do, sharpen the skills you have, and patch up the weak spots as you notice them. Start now, and after a couple of weeks you can glance back and watch how far you have already moved.
Rosemary Kitchen. Resource: Moore, M. (2015). 10 Terrific Self Motivating Tips. Retrieved March 12, 2015, from http://topachievement.com/mikemoore.html