What names spring to mind when you hear the phrase ‘personal development’? Is it Tony Robbins? Is it Dr Joe Dispenza? May be its Eckhart Tolle? There are a vast array to choose from depending on your personal preferences, but what about your own journey of inner self-discovery?
Personal development books, seminars and podcasts are all part of the self-help movement; a multi-billion pound industry that allows countless people to live and feel better. But if we strip back personal development to it’s purest form, what happens then?
Whether you are attending the latest Tony Robbins seminar or are booked to go away on a yoga retreat to reinvigorate mind and body, these organised personal development seminars can be life changing. But the reality is we each attend our own personal development seminar every single day, it’s called life.
That’s right, each time the sun comes up we get 24 hours to embrace daily life and the opportunities for personal development are plentiful. Regardless of if we choose them or not, life will throw us challenges and curve balls and we need to figure out how to handle them. No matter what level you reach, the universe will keep you on your toes and encourage you to learn and grow.
Those that don’t tend to repeat the same patterns, experience the same problems time and time again, and get stuck in a rut. The question is how do we not only stop that from happening but also build self-confidence along the way?
The answer is we change our perspective on our own personal development journey.
When we view it on a day to day basis, paying attention to the little things that we can learn, refine and reflect on each day, things start to change. We start to see how much we are actually growing and can start to acknowledge ourselves for all that we do. This is a powerful way to boost self-confidence.
When we reflect back on the day and evaluate what went well and what needs work, we create momentum for growth. As you move your attention to what you could do more effectively and efficiently tomorrow, creativity starts to flow and we make improvements and adjustments. Each of these small changes begins to add up and over the course of a few short months you can amaze yourself at just how far you go.
The more you examine your day for those little wins, those small steps of progress and identify your daily successes, the more you believe in yourself and the more you elevate your self-esteem.
Rather than focusing on what went wrong, focus on what you can do better, what you can change next time, how you can deal with things more efficiently. As you hold yourself accountable for implementing these changes your brain gives you a big boost of dopamine as a reward for learning and evolving. Your brain rewards you when you learn, that’s how hard wired we are to learn.
Personal development can take many forms. For a hands-on body work professional, personal development might mean discussing a tricky case with a colleague or reading an article. For new parents it could be seeking the guidance and counsel of those more experienced parents to learn how to deal with health concerns and worries about your children. A taxi driver may find a new route to make their passenger’s journey more relaxing and time efficient.
Personal development is available to us every moment of every day. We just need to ask the right questions.
As the final day of the month comes to a close, you have the opportunity to sit and appreciate those micro moments of personal development in all their glory. You can spend a few minutes to recognise your evolution and give yourself the credit you deserve for trying to show up as your best self each and every day.
Personal development is experienced by all of us each and every day, so why not make the most of it and use it as fuel to build ever greater self-confidence?
The key is to ask the right questions and remember just how amazing you can be,