I want to talk about the benefits of personal development today. I’m gonna give a view from 10,000 feet, so to speak a high-level view and I’m going to cover three aspects of this.
Number one, I’m going to discuss six core benefits of personal development. Secondly, I’ll answer the question, Why do you need a personal development plan? I’m going to cover nine summary points on that. And third, I’m going to talk about some practical recommendations and resources, and I’ll suggest three books that I’ve read that might help.
Personal development is about investing in yourself so that you can manage yourself effectively, regardless of what life might bring your way. We all know life isn’t always a smooth road, right? Personal development allows you to be proactive rather than wait for good things to happen. You get out there and make them happen. It’s like the old adage in business: You don’t want to wait for the phone to ring you want to make the phone ring.
number one point is self-awareness. Personal development begins with self-awareness. You get to know who you really are, your values and beliefs, and the purpose (or purposes) that you wish to pursue.
Secondly, a sense of direction. When you have a clear sense of direction, you can eliminate those things that don’t take you in that direction.
Thirdly, improved focus and effectiveness. With personal development comes clarity. You know, even with an improved sense of direction, there’s always going to be multiple distractions vying for your attention. And as your personal development improves, you’re clearer on your objectives and priorities and maybe where you need to say yes and where you need to say no.
Fourthly, more motivation. When you know what you want to achieve, it’s easier for you to see the benefits of taking action even when the task ahead might not be so enjoyable. If you can see a clear benefit, you’re more motivated to take the necessary action. I think we’ve all heard (and there’s truth in) the old adage, Where there’s a will, there’s a way and that’s what we’re talking about.
Fifthly, greater resilience. You know, there will be tough times in life. I had my toughest year in 2018, and it was a doozy. They say tough times don’t last, but tough people do. But you need to have the skills and attributes to help effectively deal with them. Personal development can’t prevent bad things from happening to you, obviously but it can help you deal with them and give you the tools to do so when they do.
And then sixth (6th) is more fulfilling relationships. Relationships are kind of a double-edged sword: They either lift you up or they drag you down. And when you improve your personal development, you find that you’re better able to see which relationships are worth investing in and maybe which ones you might need to limit a bit. Okay? You also develop the skills to make the most of those relationships which have the most positive impact on your life. You get around good people people that are positive, people that are successful.
So, let’s look at point number two: Why do you need a personal development plan? Well, let me give you a kind of quick, humorous example. Have you ever gone on a holiday or vacation with little or no planning? And if you did, I think instead of having an adventurous or spontaneous journey, you probably ended up frustrated because you needed to plan everything during the journey. You were kind of operating on the fly you’re winging it. It’s kind of hard to fully enjoy a trip if you constantly have to think about where you’re gonna sleep, what you’re gonna eat, and where you’re gonna go or what you’re gonna see.
And it’s kind of the same with the journey of life, guys. Many people just live life with little or no planning, so it’s kind of no surprise, if we do that we end up being frustrated. We ask ourselves, How did I end up here? And that’s why it’s important to prepare a plan in advance.
Jim Rohn famously said (and I like this one because I find it fascinating): "Most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives." And perhaps that’s because escape is easier than change. That might sadly be true. You know, if you don’t think and plan in advance, you can easily end up being angry, frustrated, and not satisfied with your life. And I don’t think any of us has a goal that’s our intention,
So, where to start? Well, there’s some important things to consider when creating a personal development plan.
- Define your goal (or goals). What’s important to you? Which new skills might you need to develop? And do you have a dream? What dreams do you want to accomplish? Okay, that’s a big one.
- Prioritize. If you’ve written your goals down, then which one (or which ones) are most important? Those are gonna be the key goals that you want to focus on.
- Set a deadline. We’ve all heard it said: If you have a goal and you don’t know when you want to achieve it, chances are it’s never gonna happen.
- Understand your strengths. Everyone in the world is good at something and has above-average skills or strengths in some specific areas. So, what are your key strengths? John Maxwell has said you’ve got to play to and build and develop your strengths not your weaknesses.
- Recognize threats to your opportunities. What we’re talking about here is your current behaviors and habits. They can either support or not support you on your achievement of your goals. Which habits or actions are threats to your goal achievements? Do you need to limit spending time at the bar? Maybe not watch so much TV? Something like that.
- Develop new skills. You’ve got to figure out what will take you from the place where you are to the place where you want to be. And you might need to develop some new skills on that. If you want something, you’ve got to give something in return. There’s a cost involved.
- Take action. If you want to achieve a big goal, there’s gonna be many actions you need to take.
- Get support. Who can help you achieve your goals faster? Well, I’d suggest you find your upline mentor, but that’s also what the 3LE team here is for and about to support you.
- Measure your progress. The best motivator to stay persistent in achieving goals is your own progress even if it’s just a little progress.
Okay, so thirdly, here’s some resources that I want to share with you real quick three books I’ve read. There’s obviously many others out there, but:
Ed Mylett’s Max Out Your Life: Strategies for Becoming an Elite Performe. This is probably one of the shortest (92-page) power-packed books that talk about getting your mindset right, here is a Link to amazon, It’s a great read
John Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. It obviously focuses on leadership, but he’s got a whole chapter on self-discipline and personal development too. So, I think it’s an excellent all-around resource for personal development. Amazon I certainly highly encourage it.
Being in a business with people, we’ve got to have people skills, I think people skills tend to be undervalued and overlooked, particularly in the corporate world. The Art of People: 11 People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want you’ve got to be able to work effectively with people and deal with them. Link
You can also take advantage of my blogs here or papers in my website nowadays and you know, you can get John Maxwell, Ed Mylett, Jack Welch, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn it’s everywhere. Just to name a few, these guys all have their own podcasts, or you can even look them up and watch their YouTube videos.
So, I hope this has helped you in pursuit of your personal growth. Thanks for joining me. Bye-bye!