How You Can Make Personal Development a Daily Practice - Your Career Intel

How You Can Make Personal Development a Daily Practice - Yur Career IntelDo you find yourself going through life reacting to one crisis after another, rather than purposefully situation a course of action? Do you feel busy, stressed and overwhelmed, yet dont feel like youre actually accomplishing anything? Youre not alone when I was first starting out in my career, I certainly felt this way thats when I began focusing on personal development.Over the years, Ive completely changed my approach to life in a way that has helped me to get more satisfaction out of every day and make progress towards the goals that are truly important to me. Personal development is a topic that Im passionate about, and one Im continuously learning about, so Ive tested out plenty of different frameworks and techniques. Here are four practices that Ive found to be most effective in helping me to make personal development a daily practiceBe intentional with goal situationWhen you decide to make personal develo pment a priority in your life, the first step is to set aside time for goal setting, no matter how busy you are. Just as a corporation goes through a planning and budgeting process each year, you should carve out time to think about what you want to accomplish over the next day, week, month, or year. Clearly defined goals will serve as a roadmap for your life you can decide what projects to take on based on whether they help or hinder your goals.If you need help setting goals, you might want to read leadership books, scholarly articles on a topic that interests you, or a religious text that you find inspiring anything that takes you out of your day-to-day and inspires thought and reflection on the bigger picture. Personally, I like to read a few pages from the Bible each day to help me to reflect on the values that are important to me.Set aside time for daily reflection Small changes can add up to a big success. But when youre in the middle of this process, it can be difficult to s ee any progress, especially if the goal feels very distant. Daily reflection is an opportunity to step back, identify whats currently working or not working for you, and make any necessary changes to course correct.If something isnt working, consider why its not working, and think about what you could do differently to get to a different outcome. This step is very important if you dont reflect on your actions and make changes accordingly, youll keep repeating the same patterns and youll never see improvement.Its tempting to feel overwhelmed if youre facing significant obstacles to achieving your goals. Rather than trying to make sweeping changes in your life all at once, stay focused on take incremental steps in the right direction. If youre not sure what to do, dont be afraid to experiment and try new approaches. Another benefit of daily reflection is that you can note the successes of ansicht small, incremental improvements as you progress towards your goals.Put your ego asideEmp athy is one of the most critical skills for self-improvement. In addition to reflecting on yourself, reflect on how you appear to others. The goal is not to become a people pleaser, but rather to cultivate the ability to see yourself from others perspectives. How does your behavior appear to a colleague or a client? Taking on anothers perspective will help you identify areas for improvement that you might otherwise have missed. It will help you communicate more effectively, de-escalate conflicts, and create new possibilities for cooperation and joint success.Cultivating empathy will also help you avoid playing what I call the blame game blaming everyone but ourselves for a problem. When we bring an empathetic perspective, we can candidly assess how our actions may have contributed to a problem. This subtle shift in thinking will help you form a more complete assessment of any situation and enable you to achieve your goals more effectively.Stay curiousFinally, one of the most importa nt keys to personal development is to stay curious. Get into the habit of asking questions all the time. Imagine that youre a reporter and life is a story youre assigned to cover. Every day you have the opportunity to gain new knowledge and insight from the people, ideas, and situations you encounter. Dont let a fear of looking foolish stop you from asking questions. If you have a question, chances are someone else is wondering the same thing.This curiosity should extend to yourself as well. Continuous personal development requires that you ask questions about yourself. Ive found it helpful to ask for feedback from those around me friends, family, colleagues and trusted mentors. Dont be afraid of hearing critical feedback understanding your weaknesses is the first step towards eliminating them. As the old saying goes, knowledge is power, and self-knowledge is no exception.These are four practices that I always try to keep in mind, and that have improved my life the most. Hopefully they will serve you as well as theyve served me.