Easy methods to reach your personal development goals - Part 1

By Jessie Chatwin


If you heard of three easy, but fact-based tactics which could help you to stick with your personal development goals (or New Year's Resolutions), are you interested in learning more about it? You see, individuals are asking me during workshops: "Okay, the workshop is great and offers a lot of insights, but what happens when I am back in the office? How can I be capable to retain the momentum?"

So, what if I showed you a proven strategy which avoids that personal development goals just remain some words written on a paper? Let me share with you my very own solution to this query. It is not magic, it's actually fairly simple and it works. Exactly why is the personal development goal itself critical?

Imagine you are in an annual interview talk with your superior, both of you were asked to reflect upfront about possible personal development goals for you.

You: "I wish to improve my French, that is going to let me communicate better with my colleagues within the project and then there would be less misunderstandings."

Boss: "I would urge you to listen more. I have the feeling you communicate a lot during meetings and constantly try to push your opinions. That is not beneficial to anyone."

Well, those suggestions are very different... We can easily argue with what the boss says, nevertheless is not topic here. There are 2 clear differences between both suggestions: Personal interest: You are likely to prefer your suggestion more, as you have a personal interest and so quite possibly more motivation. Old versus new: Your suggestion includes learning a brand new skill, something technical which may be learned. Your boss is addressing something less tangible that's likely linked with your behaviour and beliefs.

These differences might have an impact on how you progress. It can be more challenging to change an existing pattern rather than develop a new skill. Just bare at heart this difference when actually setting up your self development plan with all your goals and actions, which does not necessarily mean that you simply avoid to get rid of old annoying habits. Seriously. Do you agree?

The ability of being dedicated to your objectives, also the ones that had been suggested to you Now, suppose that your supervisor has validated a 20-hour French course for you personally on the condition that you begin working on your listening skills via an in-house seminar. Having both goals in mind, I would like to share with you the best 3 methods on how to stick to my self development plan. And this will be from my very own experience - NOT just me taking what other people are saying and sharing it with you. Are you prepared for them? Lets go.

#1: The Blank Page Attitude

What is a Blank Page Attitude you ask?

The Blank Page Benefit is a technique to remain focused on your objectives, while being as unbiased as you possibly can regarding the upcoming steps and experiences. Using this method works in many circumstances, notably in new and insecure environments. Those steps you need to take whenever your boss tells you to take part at a particular training and you also want to get something out of it.

How to begin with a blank page?

Step #1: Look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself to begin at 'zero' - for this new goal. No expectations, no false hope, no flawed info from people around you. Reset your brain whenever possible.

Second Step: Repeat step one as often as some negative thoughts appear, for instance "I am never going to be able to change". This should enable you to regain a confident state of mind. For this you will have to discover how to monitor your personal thinking. In the beginning, set yourself a fixed time every day, when you analyse your thinking. The more often you're doing so, the more of a habit it will become.

Step # 3: Enforce the positive mind set, the more positive you think, the more good results you will notice, negative elements will end up smaller (this method is also utilized in meditation, just for this particular reason).

Step 4: Take note of your objective on a sheet of paper and put it somewhere visible inside your office (or put on your list of priorities, if you have one). To continue with our earlier example, link the goal to speak French with a trip to France - this can make it more tangible and something to look forward to.

Step 5: Track your benefit progress. It's not easy to always have a very positive mindset, so, you'll want to praise yourself every once in while through literally noting down the steps you have taken to achieve the goal. You may use a simple paper just for this, or if you are a smartphone lover, you can actually use this cool app called Lift.

Ok, this is it for now. Now, to you. What actions to you undertake to make your personal development goals come true?




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