Personal Development

Personal Development........................................................................................... 2
Disclaimer .............................................................................................................. 4
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5
What is Personal Development? ............................................................................ 6
Personal Development is Incremental, Often Unnoticed .................................... 7
Making Choices for Conscious, Faster Improvement .......................................... 8
The Importance of Living Consciously ................................................................. 8
Scope Out to View Your Own Personal Growth .................................................. 8
The Importance of Personal Growth .................................................................... 10
Plan a Balanced Life .......................................................................................... 11
Decide, Learn, Act ............................................................................................. 11
Growth is Necessary ......................................................................................... 12
Be Proactive ...................................................................................................... 12
Being Mindful ................................................................................................... 12
Personal Development Goals to Increase Happiness ........................................... 14
Improve Your Self-esteem ................................................................................ 15
Let Go of the Past ............................................................................................. 15
Learn to be Mindful .......................................................................................... 16
Change Your Lifestyle ....................................................................................... 16
Manage Stress .................................................................................................. 16
Create Balance in Your Life ............................................................................... 17
Let go of Limiting Beliefs ................................................................................... 17
How To Improve Your Own Personal Growth ...................................................... 18
Acceptance of Self ............................................................................................ 19
Improving Your Self-esteem.............................................................................. 19
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 Building Confidence .......................................................................................... 20
Failure is O.K ..................................................................................................... 20
Accepting Major Change ................................................................................... 20
Create a Personal Development Plan ................................................................... 22
Self-awareness.................................................................................................. 23
Don’t Underestimate Your Strengths ................................................................ 23
The Proactive Mindset ...................................................................................... 24
Goals ................................................................................................................. 24
Accountability ................................................................................................... 25
Get Help............................................................................................................ 25
Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 26

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Disclaimer
We hope you enjoy reading this publication, however we do suggest you read our
disclaimer. All the material written in this document is provided for informational
purposes only and is general in nature.

Every person is a unique individual and what has worked for some or even many
may not work for you. Any information perceived as advice must be considered in
light of your own particular set of circumstances.

The author or person sharing this information does not assume any responsibility
for the accuracy or outcome of your use of the content.

Every attempt has been made to provide well researched and up to date content
at the time of writing. Now all the legalities have been taken care of, please enjoy
the content.

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Introduction
From the moment they are born, humans are mental and emotional sponges,
soaking up what is around them, and unconsciously building a database that
drives their ability to survive and hopefully thrive.

The storing and application of life-skills knowledge is personal development. It

occurs without our conscious application, just like breathing. Because of different
external influences, our growth may be suppressed, or even misdirected. This can
cause our development to be not always in the best interest of ourselves, or
others.

Most importantly, we do not have to rely on our unconscious growth and

development. Our personalities, skills and attitudes are not as fixed as we usually
believe, nor are we compelled to remain victims to less-than-ideal beginnings.

Conscious and mindful application of proven approaches to increasing the rate of

personal development can yield extraordinary results in whichever of life’s
aspects you choose.

‘Choose’ is the optimal word, as actively enhancing personal growth and

development is all about choice – the what, where and how.

This eBook seeks to inspire you to take the steps to create and follow an action
plan that will increase your rate of improvement at whatever you deem to be
success, with an ultimate goal of maximizing personal happiness.

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What is Personal Development?
Personal development is a lifelong journey of the pursuit of personal growth.
People are born with an inherent desire to live life to its fullest potential.
Continuing to grow and becoming everything that they are capable of being.

Personal growth is a process that affects and adds improvement to all areas of
life.

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Each pathway towards growth and development is a personalized journey for
every unique individual. The process involves different activities for each person,
through which they are able to add to and to enhance their life skills.

Personal development is a necessity if you are to achieve progressive growth that

leads to your success, maturity and a life of happiness and fulfillment.

In schools your children are well educated on the importance of academic

achievements. However education on personal development is often given a
much lower priority.

It is unfortunate that most prominence is given to professional and academic

achievements. Society in general fails to realize the importance of personal
development, yet professional, academic and personal development goes hand in
hand.

Personal Development is Incremental, Often Unnoticed

You may fail to realize that you grow as a person each and every time you
increase your knowledge. By reading a book, taking a course or learning a new
skill you become a better, more complete person.

At other times you may become aware of areas in your life that need
improvement. Maybe you suddenly get tired of always being left out of social
events. You know it is because you are painfully shy, and lack self-confidence.
You make the decision to do something about it.

Taking a course in confidence building and communication skills will boost self-
esteem. Being confident and feeling good about yourself will improve all areas of
your life. The more confident you feel, the more challenges you take on.

These ‘challenges’ may be tiny, almost seeming to be inconsequential, yet a

month ago, or a year ago, you may have avoided them, out of fear – of inability,
rejection, potential embarrassment, or any number of reasons.

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Personal growth expands awareness, increases self-knowledge, helps develop
talents and encourages you to continue improving. When you are grateful for the
successful life you are creating for yourself, your happiness and well-being
increases.

Making Choices for Conscious, Faster Improvement

You can choose to work on personal development in different areas of your life at
different stages in your life. Personal pathways can embrace improvement in the
physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual and/ or social aspects of life.

Having a clear vision of how you want your life to be enables you to know what is
needed at a specific time.

When you need to push your personal development along there is always plenty
of self-help and education to be found on all subjects. Books, videos and
development courses just to name a few that are available. The internet is a
massive resource.

The Importance of Living Consciously

Conscious living is closely related to personal development. It enables you to take

control of your own life. When you live consciously you make deliberate choices.
Good choices helps you progress toward the destination you have chosen, and
enriches your day to day life.

Everybody has a desire to reach their full potential and become fulfilled, but many
suppress it. The pathway of self-actualization requires you to be in touch with
your emotions, and to be living life fully with total concentration.

Scope Out to View Your Own Personal Growth

Personal development is a natural process throughout life. Sometimes it happens

so slowly over time that you are not aware of how you are changing, yet your life
is improving.
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Sometimes this is not obvious until you take the time to look back over your life
and make valid comparisons to former periods of struggle, in different aspects of
your life.

This is a natural human trait – it is well-documented that almost everyone over-

estimates what they will achieve in a year, yet under-estimate what they will
achieve in ten years.

This tendency to focus on the short-term means we often fail to appreciate the
small, steady wins that accumulate over time.

Every time a person makes a positive improvement in their lives, it also affects
other aspects of their being, so the gains are multiplied and ongoing (like
compound interest!). This aggregation is our personal development.

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The Importance of Personal Growth
Personal growth is the progression that takes you from childhood through all
stages of your life. All aspects of your emotional, intellectual, physical and
spiritual well-being grows and matures as a result of your personal development.

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Plan a Balanced Life

As you mature it is important to take the time to love and nurture yourself. It is
important to seek growth in all areas of your life. Achieving success (by your own
definition) and peace of mind depends on a well-balanced life. A happy balanced
life will include social and spiritual needs as a life goal.

While achievement or improvement in any aspect can mean other areas may be
given less focus, it is important that they not be neglected in the long-term, or
imbalances will occur.

For example, we are all aware of someone who has applied great drive to their
career at the expense of family or personal relationships, and deprived
themselves of much happiness as a result. Hopefully that someone is not you, and
you can learn from the mistakes of others!

Decide, Learn, Act

Personal growth is a process that lasts a lifetime. It embraces techniques that

seek to improve your habits and behaviors, motivating you to develop and
become a better person.

Better is a very subjective term; what constitutes ‘better’ will vary depending on
a range of factors, external and internal.

What is most important is firstly to apply conscious thought to what you consider
better. When determinations have been reached (these do not need to be grand,
simply an improvement from your current situation in a particular area or facet of
yourself) the next step is self-education. Active pursuit of knowledge is a quest
for a richer more contented life.

While knowledge alone will move you towards your goal, by activating your
subconscious mind, conscious and wilful action will get you there much faster.

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Growth is Necessary

Happiness can be described as contentment. However contentment cannot be

continuous if it remains static. It is the nature of humans to be ambitious and to
continue to strive. Happiness has to be earned and a state of joy cannot be
maintained without continuous action and growth.

As life progresses your desire for knowledge of what life is all about increases. You
compare the life you have now to how you would like it to be in the future.
Decision making becomes simpler if you have a clear idea of the direction of your
end goal.

Be Proactive

The importance of personal growth should not be underestimated. if you want to

build the best possible life for yourself, you have to be the architect. You need to
be proactive. You are the one who has to take the steps to move your life in the
right direction.

Serious personal development requires you to be consciously aware of the state

of all areas of your life. True fulfillment comes from chasing your own goals and
bringing them to fruition. By prioritizing what is important in your life you will be
able to eliminate what is not.

Adding goals to your busy routine does not necessarily have to mean extra work.
Focus on what you want to achieve. Current activities that do not advance you
toward your objective can be discontinued. By concentrating more of your efforts
towards your destination, and less on those that don’t, you will be working less
but achieving more.

Being Mindful

Achieving a mindset of mindfulness will prevent you from being overwhelmed by

the work required to achieve your goals. When you are mindful you are aware of,
and able to take advantage of, every opportunity as it presents itself.
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Mindfulness will focus your mind on what is happening as it happens. This
process will have you responding more appropriately to every situation, instead
of blandly watching it pass.

This is ‘living in the moment’ instead of simply ‘living through it’. When you are in
the moment your responses will be more informed and positive.

The hard work and effort involved in achieving a successful outcome will be
forgotten. Being consciously aware alters your attitude and the way you respond
to situations.

Your life will be happier and more fulfilled when the pursuit of your dream
becomes as exciting and as enjoyable as the end result.

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Personal Development Goals to Increase Happiness
To increase happiness it is important to understand that the joy you feel comes
from within. How much you experience this happy emotion depends on how
competent and complete you feel within yourself.

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Improve Your Self-esteem

Your self-esteem is fundamentally the opinion you have of yourself. Self-esteem is

a huge driver and determinant of personal happiness. You greatly base how much
you deserve happiness and success by the opinion you have formed of your own
worth.

Most importantly, focus on the SELF in self-esteem. Don’t outsource your self-
worth to others’ opinions. Empower yourself by putting your opinion of yourself
above others’ opinions of you.

Prove to yourself that you are worthy of a happy successful life. Start developing
and adding to the talents and qualities that makes up who you already are.

Accept that you are who you are and that nothing will ever change that, but know
that your attitudes, aptitudes, traits and even personality are not cast in stone. If
there are aspects of yourself that you recognize may be holding back your
happiness, you have the power to modify them.

Don’t ever enslave yourself to trying to totally replicate someone else. However,
if you can observe behavioral methods in others that increase their happiness,
and you can see that it would also benefit your self-esteem, there is no shame in
incorporating those beneficial aspects in your own behaviors.

Some changes may feel false or contrived at first, but you are whatever you
decide you want to be.

Nobody is perfect but everybody is beautiful in their own special way. Appreciate,
respect and nurture yourself.

Let Go of the Past

Memories from the past have a habit of cropping up and holding you back from
success. Your past made you who you are today, however there is no reason that
it should have a total bearing on who you become in the future.
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Truly acknowledge to yourself that the past is now past and that nothing will ever
change the results. Forgiving yourself and others will help you move on to a more
happy fulfilling life.

Learn to be Mindful

When you live in the moment you make more informed and ultimately more
beneficial choices. The decisions you make affect the quality of your life and
shape your future.

Instead of dwelling on what might happen in the future concentrate on what is

happening at the moment. This allows you to fully appreciate and be grateful for
life’s abundance.

Change Your Lifestyle

People who rise early after a good night’s sleep are generally happier and
healthier than those who sleep late. Regular exercise, adequate sleep and a
balanced diet increases energy levels, and also allows you to better ‘switch off’
and feel more relaxed.

Gradually introduce a regular exercise regime and nutritious eating plan into your
life. This will not only increase your energy and endurance but it will improve your
mood and your appearance.

As with all aspects of personal development, improvements in this area will have
magnified benefits in others, such as self-esteem and self-confidence.

Manage Stress

Acute (short-term), targeted stress can keep you alert and motivate you to
achieve your goals. However constantly elevated or chronic stress levels lead to
debilitating distress and ill-health that can be the cause of high blood pressure
and other health problems.
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Learning effective stress management will let you use beneficial stress to your
advantage, while allowing you to keep the negative levels under control.

Create Balance in Your Life

Your life is made up of many important areas including the physical, mental,
emotional and the spiritual. A well balanced life makes you feel whole and
complete, and brings you harmony and peace.

Make an honest appraisal of your life, your state of mind and how you are feeling.
Reflect on the areas of your life you feel are out of balance. It is always a
challenge to balance your obligations with what you enjoy and want to do,
however the happiest of people are those that can do so.

Let go of Limiting Beliefs

Holding a limited belief in your ability to succeed holds you back from achieving
your goals. All fears keep you from growing. Don’t dismiss your fears, challenge
them.

When you take risks and try new things you get out of your comfort zone. Your
fear of failure, or getting hurt emotionally that holds you back, dissipates with
each success.

It is not possible to reach a point in your life from where you can no longer
improve. When you begin to think that you are the best that you can be, you find
something else that needs improving.

There will always be opportunity for increased growth and happiness, because
human potential is limitless.

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How To Improve Your Own Personal Growth
Personal growth is an essential, natural progress for a happy, healthy, fulfilling
life. This will occur to a degree even if we don’t actively take steps to enhance it.
Even as adults we learn, often unconsciously, by observing and doing.

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For those people who want to be the best they can be (or simply better than they
are), insofar as being happy, prosperous, or successful by however they define
success, it is very possible to rapidly increase this rate of self-improvement.

However, many people do little more than wish for change, or improvement, but
don’t take the right steps to help it happen. Then when their lives don’t move as
they hope, they may end up feeling stuck, trapped and despondent.

Acceptance of Self

The first and most effective step to increasing personal growth is to start with the
essential ingredient, Love of thine self. Learning to love and accept who and what
you are makes the progression of self-improvement so much easier. Become your
own loving, nurturing best friend. Tell yourself day after day what a unique and
special person you are.

Recognize that you have qualities and abilities that make you a beautiful and
worthwhile person. As your self-image improves you will be motivated to improve
yourself even more.

This process underpins all successful self-improvement and personal growth

simply because it embraces and builds self-empowerment. A person whose self-
worth is totally dependent on the responses of others has little faith in their own
ability. Loving acceptance of self builds personal power and trust, and weakens
the dependence on others for validation of personal worth and ability.

Improving Your Self-esteem

Start by gradually changing your lifestyle for a healthier one. Exercise and a
healthy diet will have you feeling happier and more energetic. Small, incremental
steps are the key to success here. Gradual change is much more successful than
drastic change.

Start with 10 minutes of exercise a day. When it becomes a habit and is no longer
a challenge, increase the time or the intensity. The same applies to healthy
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eating. Gradually start eliminating sugar and processed food from your diet, and
replacing it with natural healthy foods.

At the time these small changes don’t seem like progress. However over time
they build up to be a big plus for your self-confidence and health. This enables
easier, energetic progress in all other areas of endeavour.

Building Confidence

Start learning new skills. Begin with something simple that you have always been
interested in, and feel you will enjoy. Life becomes more exciting when you are
learning something new and enjoying it. Nothing builds confidence faster than
success. Each new skill adds to your personal growth and encourages you to want
to learn more.

Failure is O.K

Implementing small gradual changes in your life until they become a habit is the
key to ongoing success. However is it important to realize that you may have
setbacks. Failure is a natural part of the learning process. When you go beyond
your comfort zone you invite the chance of failure into your life.

How you accept failure is an important milestone in how you will continue to
grow as a person. Always try new things, do the very best you can. If you fail, go
through the process and reflect on the reason for the failure.

Then try it again in a different way, every attempt is progress toward self-
improvement. Never lose hold of the truth that even if a process, attempt or task
has failed you haven’t!

Accepting Major Change

Life can be tough at times, especially when fate throws you a challenge that
creates a major upheaval in your life. During bad times you may think that this

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will be the norm from now on. Learning to take one day at a time through the
rough patches builds character and is part of the ‘school of life’.

You gain confidence in your ability to push through the hard times. Accepting that
life itself is constant change helps enable you to bounce back. The suffering you
experience during the hard times encourages personal growth.

It increases the confidence you have in your ability to be able to handle whatever
life throws at you in the future. Remember the wisdom of Solomon – ‘this too
shall pass’.

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Create a Personal Development Plan
A personal development plan (PDP) is a process that articulates what is important
to you. It defines relevant knowledge you already have and identifies what you
need to learn over time, in order to most efficiently achieve your goals.

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To develop a successful plan for personal development your goals need to be
really important to you. If your stated goals are not aligned with your secret
desires and dreams, your conscious and subconscious minds will not be in
alignment.

While this does not mean your overt goals won’t ultimately be achieved, progress
will be slower and will not bring the same degree or intensity of happiness in
either their pursuit or attainment. This situation can arise if the dreams you are
chasing are not truly your own.

A detailed plan that clearly defines your own true goals and details your strengths
and weaknesses has a greater chance of succeeding. Own your plan. Personal
development plans are designed by individuals for themselves. Therefore it is up
to you to decide what areas of your life needs to change, improve and grow.

Self-awareness

A personal development plan increases self-awareness. Self-awareness prompts

you to take an honest look at all areas of your life. It gives insight into how
external events and people influence your actions, feelings and behaviors, and
how your actions impact the world around you.

This helps in defining your true values and highlighting areas that need
improvement. This self-awareness process goes a long way towards you creating
the plan that will be the most beneficial to your specific needs.

Don’t Underestimate Your Strengths

It is important that you do an honest appraisal and acknowledge your strengths.

Being aware of your strengths makes you feel more self-confident. Your appraisal
of your strengths and weaknesses is the best indicator of the particular areas of
your life that need improving.

Being consciously aware of these areas in your life will help you not only construct
your development plan, but take positive action to implement it.
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Concentrate on the parts of your life that you are not happy with. A personal
development plan will help you to confront, improve and strengthen the weak
areas. Taking steps to learn new skills will force you out of your comfort zone, and
help you achieve your goals.

The Proactive Mindset

To successfully create the life that you desire for yourself it is vital to accomplish a
proactive mindset. Proactive people see themselves as creators of their own
destiny.

They resist any temptation to see themselves as victims, or allow others to dictate
their fate. Accepting responsibility for all their inputs and results means they must
‘own’ any shortfalls, but they can also accept their fair share of kudos for all
achievements.

Goals

Set yourself personal goals and motivate yourself to act and achieve them. The
very essence of personal development is a plan designed to help you reach your
full potential, and become the best person you can be.

Make a list of relevant skills you will need to learn, if you are to reach the future
objective you have imagined for yourself. Prioritize your goals and focus on them
in the order of importance that you wish to develop them. This means analyzing
your personal development plan and re-defining as necessary.

If perceived benefits from one of your inputs will require eighty percent of your
efforts but return only a relatively minor benefit in the long run, review your plan.
Make sure you will be expending your major efforts – physical, mental and
emotional – on the areas that mean the most to you and will deliver the greatest
returns in terms of personal achievement and happiness.

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Taking into account the strengths you already possess on the subject of your goal,
start as small as circumstances dictate. Make your goals realistic and achievable.
Focus and be consistent, don’t get distracted. Practice and more practice until
applying what you have learned achieves positive results.

Commitment often decreases after the initial enthusiasm of a new project wears
off. Use your planning period and motivated periods to set up procedures and
protocols for yourself to follow, regardless of how you are feeling. Don’t only
move towards your goals when you feel inspired or motivated. Make action a
habit and you will succeed.

Accountability

Most people become a little lazy from time to time. To counteract this you need
to remain accountable to your plan.

Tell your family and friends about your goals, this makes it more difficult for you
to put them off, as you are now truly ‘owning’ your dreams and plans. This makes
the more than an idle wish.

It puts some positive pressure on you to be accountable. A little public pressure

can often be very encouraging. Positive pressure from family and friends can be
the motivation that is needed to reaffirm your commitment.

Get Help

There is plenty of help available for almost every subject these days. Reading
books on the subject, watching videos or joining groups who are interested in the
same subjects as you are can motivational as well as educational.

A mentor can be a great asset and one of the fastest tracks to learning. A mentor
can be an acquaintance who has knowledge of your subject, or a professional
with lots of experience. While some people have made great successes ‘off their
own bat’ many attribute massively improved rates of improvement to the inputs
of their coach or mentor.
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Conclusion
As a species, human beings are planet Earth’s success story. No other comes close
in our proven ability to adapt to or modify different environments, allowing us to
populate all the continents.

Collectively, our achievements have been phenomenal, to such an extent that our
success has adversely affected other species, and even the health of the planet as
a whole.

What must be remembered, is that this collective success is a result of the

knowledge, application, skills and prowess of individuals. Like you.

Creating a better version of you is an excellent reason to make personal growth

one of your life’s important priorities.

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