What is personal growth and why is it important?  Both particularly good questions, that I suspect mean different things to different people.  That is why I’m going to try and answer both questions today.

To me “personal growth” is a life-long endeavor to become the best, authentic self we can be.  It doesn’t mean changing the essence of yourself, but rather, becoming a better version of you and maximize your potential.

Life is ever evolving, and we become slightly different as we go through our life.  Therefore, we need to be aware of ourselves to make sure we are putting our best foot forward to be happy and fulfilled in your life.

Personal growth or development, whichever you prefer, has to do with improving your skills, your knowledge, behavior and habits.  It has to do with being aware of and implementing a positive mindset, keeping actions and outlook positive, improving how you react to situations and adding life goals into the equation.

Personal Growth Plans Are Unique

Because each of our lives are so different and unique, any personal growth plan that we put together will be totally different from another.  You don’t really need to write down a plan if you don’t want to, but it does help create your vision and make it more real.

If you don’t want to actually write a plan down, have fun and make a vision board, or put your improvement points/goals in your journal.

Don’t overwhelm yourself and let this take over everything.  The reason for a plan is to become aware of changes you want to make, not to take over your life.  Life should still be fun!

What Does Personal Development/Growth Mean?

First, I looked up personal development in the dictionary and of course, it wasn’t there as I suspect its too deep a subject for the dictionary.  So I looked up each word:

Personal:  relating to or affecting an individual

Development means:  the act, process or result of developing

That didn’t help much, did it?  So I checked out Wikipedia and here is what I got out of the page, yes, they had a page on what personal development means.

My take:  A structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect on and possibly change areas of their life to develop a person’s capabilities and potential. 

This could affect different areas of someone’s life such as employability, enhance one’s quality of life and realization of dreams and aspirations.  A much better meaning, don’t you think?  At least, you can wrap your mind around it—lol.

Growth takes place over the course of a personal lifetime. Remember, you are not trying to become someone you are not, just taking what you already have and making it better to become the best version of yourself.

Why Is It Important

We live in a world filled with people and when we work on our own personal growth to become the best version of ourselves, it is easier to handle our lives and other people.

Think about this; take any sports team or business you can think of and ask this question.  If they didn’t grow and improve, would they make it?  Same goes for us and our mindset; if we don’t grow and improve in our personal and professional lives, we would just be stagnating and on the inside, you may slowly die. And that’s not fun.  Not to mention how you would feel about yourself. 

Our minds need to be just as active as our physical selves and possibly more.  We need to dream, use our problem-solving skills and imagination to help create a well balanced mind.  It puts a smile on our face.  And remember, the name of the game is to feel good about ourselves and increase our confidence.

Personal Growth does that.  When you make a plan, engage your brain, work it and meet your goals, you become the best version of yourself you can be.  Therefore, you feel good and your confidence will most certainly increase.

Areas for Personal Growth

Remember and understand that personal growth can happen in different areas of your life and what you may want to work on could be totally different from someone else.  Below are the five main areas of growth, and they each can happen in both your professional and personal life.

Regardless of areas of your life you want to work on and improve, they don’t have to be worked on at the same time.  This is a life-long endeavor, so take your time and work on your goals one at a time.

*Social

*Emotional

*Physical

*Mental

*Spiritual

 *Social

This aspect of your personal growth has to do with your interaction with others and includes your family and friends.  Many of us need to promote these relationships much more than we do. 

Life does take over, but at some point, we each have to realize that family and friends are much more important than most other things you have going on.

Think about those that encourage you or make you laugh when you spend time with them.  These are the people you want to concentrate on.  Anyone that brings you down or criticizes you every time you see them—not so much.

* Emotional

Are you someone that feels like your emotions are quite a bit balanced?  I’m not saying 100% of the time, but certainly a good bit of the time.  Then this may not be an area of your life you want or need to improve.

Just remember, life will throw you obstacles where your usual emotions may go out the window.  That would be when you want to concentrate on this part of your life.

I’m a passionate person and if I’m talking about something that I feel deeply, I can get loud and seem like I’m yelling at those around me.  I’m not, but that is how I come across and when I realize I’m doing this, I get angry at myself.  This is something, I’m trying to work on.  How to get my side of a point across without seeming to yell at everyone around me.  ☹

*Physical

This area of personal growth seems to be something most of us are always trying to improve, mainly because most of us find fault with ourselves here.  Finding fault with yourself is a negative, so do something positive about it.

Instead of looking in the mirror and telling yourself you don’t like this or you don’t like that, change it up.  Look in the mirror and say “just for today, I’m going to eat healthy and move more”.

Don’t just make a blanket promise that most of us can’t keep.  By that I mean, don’t tell yourself that you are going on a diet and exercise every single day.  No cheating.

Unless you have some serious discipline, you are setting yourself up for failure which is the opposite of what you want to be doing on your personal growth journey.

Instead, make your goals something that you can follow thereby making positive results for yourself.

I’m on my own personal journey with my weight right now.  (My journey can be found under “she sheds” in my menu at the top of the page?) I know that I won’t exercise every single day because I hate most exercise.  I’ve made a goal of simply moving more right now and taking more steps on a daily basis.

If a good song comes on the radio, I dance around the room; if another one comes on, I do it again.  For now, I’m happy with that and feel positive about my days.  My goal will probably change eventually, but for now its reachable for me.

*Mental

The mental area of your personal growth plan usually has to do with how you think or your mindset and can be very personal.

This area may have to be one of the first places you start on your PG journey; because if your mind isn’t in the right place, not much will change. What is really needed is a much more positive outlook on life and your mindset is where to start.

I would even suggest seeing a therapist if you need to.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with this.  Many of us have trouble with various times in our lives or even right now.

These things need to be worked through before you can fully become the best authentic you.  If not, these barriers of limiting beliefs and self-doubt can hold you back from being truly happy.  Negativity of any type brings you down.  That’s a sad thing

And what’s really cool today, is that seeing a therapist can be done without leaving your home.  All you need is a computer or possibly just your cell phone.

*Spiritual

The spirtual area of your life is very, very personal, but also doesn’t necessarily have to do with religion.  Although you can certainly be religious and spiritual at the same time.

Think of being spiritual as simply having a better connection with the world around you.  I didn’t realize this until three or four years ago when I started getting into meditation and mindfulness.

The meditation helped to calm my own spirit down instead of feeling so jumpy.  I also became more aware of the world around me.

For example, I started noticing people’s footsteps coming down the hallway at work and knew before they hit my door, who was coming.  Before practicing mindfulness, I’m not sure I would have noticed.

And my poor kids don’t stand a chance, because I really do notice much more now—lol.

Learning to meditate and practicing mindfulness also teaches you how observe your emotions and feelings so that if need be you can pull them back instead of giving into them.  A skill that can be very useful.

What Skills Might Be Needed to Accomplish Your Personal Development Plan?

Each of these skills are actually important in all phases of your life—personal and professional.  If you don’t have these skills, this is where you may want to start on your personal growth journey.

*Communication

*Flexibility

*Problem-solving

*Self-dicipline

*Brutal honesty

*Accountability

*Communication

We all need to be able to communicate and get our thoughts, wants and needs across to others.  Most of us don’t live a solitary life, so communication plays a big part in our lives.  And your communication needs to be appropriate, especially in a professional setting.  Communication is a very good skill to have.

*Flexibility

Life changes.  We may not notice when it is happening, but when you look back, you can see those changes.  Life is not black and white.

This is just one of the reasons why flexibility and/or adaptibility is important.  At times, we have to be willing to roll with the punches.  Good skill to cultivate and have. 

*Problem-solving

Simple problem:  There is only one piece of cake left and both of your kids want it.  How do you handle it?  Simple, right?  You just cut the cake in half or scarf it all down yourself.  Problem solved.  LOL

This example shows how important this skill is, even in something as simple as taking care of two kids with one piece of cake.  Learning problem solving starts out with things this simple but lays the groundwork for bigger and better problem solving.

*Self-discipline

Boy, is this a hard skill or what?  But, if you want to make changes in your life, then discipline has to come into play along the way.  Once you have set a goal, you have to use your self-discipline to make the change happen or become a habit.

*Brutal honesty

To make change and make it stick will take brutal honesty with yourself.  Make your goals reasonable and achievable, then be honest with yourself on how to get there and if you have.

*Accountability

This skill is particularly good for your professional life, but also should be taken into consideration in your personal life.  If you are willing to take responsibility for good things that happen, then the opposite is also true.  If you don’t meet one of your goals, figure out why and what you did that caused things to not go the way you want.  Good or bad—be accountable.

Questions to Ask Yourself and Ideas To Consider for Your Plan

When getting to the point of actually making a personal growth plan for yourself, here are some questions you may want to ask yourself along with some ideas to include in your plan.

*Determine and define your goals and what areas of your life you want to improve

*Reflect on your day before getting into bed

*Make a plan to change bad habits

*Keep a role model in mind

*Practice, practice and practice

*Create a reward system for yourself

*Dig deep and be brutally honest with yourself throughout the process

*Measure your progress to ensure consistency, meeting your goals and determine if you are on track

*Being grateful (keep your mind aware of things during your day, that you are grateful for)

Most of us want some type of success and that success can come in different forms.  Maybe you want to get rid of the flapping arms and be more fit, or you want to be financially free.  Others may just want to have a happy home or tons of friends and social contacts.

Ideas to Include In Your Personal Growth Action Plan

*Develop purpose and integrity

*Develop a positive mindset for positive and empowering/encouraging thoughts

*Eating healthy and being physically active

*Trying new things and reaching out of your comfort zone

*Getting enough sleep

*Be mindful and increase your awareness

*Find others that will encourage and push you

Why Changing Your Mindset is Really Important

Your mindset may have to be the first thing you work on as our mindset plays a very big role in our lives.  (See my post on “positive thinking.”)  You get much further in life with a positive mindset and thoughts than being an “ole grumpy grouch, nothing ever goes my way” mindset.  Don’t you think?

I want to give a brief explanation of something called the “Law of Attraction,” here.  Maybe you’ve heard of it and maybe not, but in a nutshell here it is.

Law of Attraction states that what you put out there into the universe, is what you get back.  Sounds simple, but not so much when you really start breaking it down and taking a closer look.

Lets say you know two people.  One plays the “victim” all the time.  You know what I mean—her alarm didn’t go off, so she missed the bus for work, so you had to do the morning work yourself, oh, but she’s sorry.

Tomorrow she complains about another co-worker and you hear again how she can’t pay all her bills this payday because she doesn’t make enough money.

Your other co-worker comes to work with a smile on her face, has a laugh that causes everyone else to laugh with her and even though she is a single mom and takes care of her elderly Mom, you never hear a complaint from her.  In fact, you know she is grateful for everything she has.

Putting Out Different Vibes

Both of these women put very different “vibes” out into the universe.  The universe hears what you put out there, and since that’s what it hears, that’s the “karma” it sends back to you.  Because the universe assumes what it hears from you is what you want.

This is why your mindset is so important to any changes you want to make during your personal growth journey. The universe hears what you say and think, so be aware and mindful of the vibes you are putting out there.  Ever hear the saying “you can’t fool mother nature?”  Well, its true, so keep that in mind when making your personal growth plan.

Your mindset is your secret weapon during your personal development.  After reaching a specific goal that you set for yourself, your mind will feel the rewards of your achievements and successes by making you feel good about yourself.  What could be better?

Benefits of Personal Growth

*Coping skills

*Determination

*Patience

*Self-respect

*Resourcefulness

*Coping Skills

Your personal growth journey will teach you coping skills.  You’ll have to cope with your own feelings, others feelings for what you are doing and anything that life throws at you.

You may not be able to do a good job at coping at the beginning of your journey, but it is definitely something that you will learn along the way.

*Determination

When things don’t go your way, but you decide to keep on going; you are letting your determine show.  That determination is what you will learn throughout your journey.  Practicing determination/perserverance helps you fight through the fear and frustration when things aren’t going your way.

Many people will give up when faced with just their own fears.  Going the distance with your journey will definitely teach you perserverance. 

*Patience

At times, this is a hard one for me.  Which means patience is something I need to keep working on.  Since our personal development roads are a life-long journey, we can get impatient at times.  Especially since society runs on a mentality of “everything, right now.”  Use patience with yourself,  You deserve it and your goals will be reached one little step at a time.

*Self-respect

To me, self-respect comes about by doing things you don’t really want to do anyway and then realizing you reached your goal even when obstacles were thrown in your way.  You are triumphant with something that was created by you, was important to you and you got through to the end, regardless of others or challenges.  Pat yourself on the back!!  You won!!

*Resourcefulness

Chances are, as you go through your personal growth journey, situations will happen that will take resourcefulness on your part to get through.  Learning and practicing on coming up with solutions to different situations and challenges is a good thing that life teaches us.

Final Thoughts

As I said earlier in this article, life is change.  Don’t let your potential go unrecognized because you don’t want to change or just down right don’t like change.

It would be a very sad thing for you to feel the pain of looking back on your life and see where you dropped the ball on developing your potential and your best self.  What a waste to the world and those around you.

It’s not the big, grandiose steps you take to achieve something.  It’s the little 10-20 minutes of time you find to do homework for your degree, or exercise or read that book on personal growth that you keep putting off.  Little baby steps are what makes the difference when you look back.  Putting a little bit of water in the pool, at a time, eventually fills the pool.

It’s fairly important to define your goals and plan in reference to your personal growth.  The purpose is to follow through with the plans you come up with so that you can achieve the goals you want and become the you that you want to be.

Be aware and intentional, throughout your lifetime, of opportunities to improve.  Know that it won’t always be fun or easy.  Along the way, you may find talents, gifts and dreams you didn’t realize you had, but those things were just waiting to be found and shared.

Don’t be afraid, stay open-minded and find your wonderful potential!

Stay Awesome!

Cher

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