Much motivational and inspirational advice is geared towards helping people achieve their goals, and for good reason. Sometimes you need a little encouragement, know-how and spring in your step to get out there and pursue the goals worth focusing on.
But the truth is that sometimes, this advice can lead us to think a goal is an end point to achieve, as opposed to a lifestyle to live. In the same way that “fitness” isn’t something you either achieve or do not, but keep up with over the course of your life, personal development should be looked at in the same way.
Does this mean you need to work 24/7 or only view things in terms of how they could benefit and push you forward? Of course not. But it does mean that personal development can be baked into how you think about the world and some of the decisions you make when it’s prudent to do so.
In this post, we’ll discuss how to make personal development a habit, instead of a forced chore you put up with until a specific goal is set.
You Get To Decide Your Pursuit Towards Personal Development
Now, there are goals and achievements that almost anyone can benefit from. Learning to drive, for example, is usually a good investment of time and money. However, it’s also true that if you’re interested in cars, learning to fix them up and the basics of car maintenance could help save you cash over the years. Maybe it’ll help you better inspect second-hand cars you buy, or invest your time in a hobby you love, like collecting old cars and fixing them up for resale. Personal development, even when it’s useful, can be directed to the life you want to lead. It’s not a chore to distract you, but a tool to empower you, and keeping that mindset is healthy.
You May Surprise Yourself
It’s healthy to never consider anything “out of your remit.” This means you don’t let yourself as a person. Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to work every single possible career out there or be every single type of personality until you find one that fits, but rather not turning your nose up at opportunity is key. Maybe you want to work in the film industry and have a chance to work in a props department even if your first love is cinematography. Well, that’s hardly a bad outcome. You’ll be on the film set, and you can learn a discipline.
Perhaps it will help you as you slowly transition into the field you’re mostly into, building connections as you go. You may surprise yourself if you aren’t afraid to work on parallel goals, and uncovering hidden skills can be part of this too. So don’t just aim your personal development in one direction, there may be fun experiences along the way.
You Can Pass Down Your Knowledge, Too
It’s a cliche you might hear in a movie but it’s true, the more you know, the more you realize you have to know. A guitar maestro only becomes more in love with their instrument after they learn new ways of playing and understand their own style, because then the very many possibilities help them feel even more connected. They might teach, but they never lose that passion. This means that staying open, be that enrolling in management leadership training in your firm to grow the next generation of leaders in your enterprise, or passing down your creative skills, it all counts and can help reinforce your own capabilities.
With this advice, we’re sure you’ll be able to keep up with personal development and see its value over the years.