Thursday, January 6, 2011

Simple Guide To Personal Self-Development!

It may be exciting to have begun your journey of self-development and you may see that as one of your New Year resolution for 2011. The point is, how many times have we started a new resolution and failed half way or three quarter of the way! I am not trying to be a bearer of bad news but it can happen. One way to make sure that you follow the path and not stray too much or give up altogether is to go slowly, or rather ease into it. Self-development will be a unique experience for every one of us. Some people have been practicing their way to self-development for many years and it has become a habit while for others, it will be a totally strange and different experience depending on what kind of upbringing they had and the lifestyle they have decided to follow.

You may be wondering, is there a goal to be accomplished in the end? What if your self-development is totally different than mine? That would be perfectly fine! The point of going through self-development is to develop self to your full potential and become a symbol of goodness, loyalty, honesty, righteousness, humility and more. To become as close to a complete man or woman as the creator intended. It will never be easy to be 100 % loyal or righteous all the time that is why it is a journey to learn about self and improve on self. It will not be like a journey where you go on a vacation to some exotic place then at the end of your vacation you come back satisfied then proceed to show pictures and videos to family and friends. Personal self-development can take years to a lifetime to accomplish, you do a little bit everyday in order to become a better person. Don’t think that nobody will notice the changes happening in your life! Your relative and friends will see that you have changed for the better and will want to become like you. That’s a good enough reason to carry on every day and make it a routine.

In one of my earlier articles, I mentioned that you should write down, every positive things that you want to achieve and make it part of your self-development. If for instance you want to be more assertive, write it down. If you wanted to learn to play the piano or the guitar, to have more self-confidence or whatever, write them down. There is no limit to what you can do during your journey of self-development. The sky is the limit. Developing self is in a way self-enrichment and self-enlightenment, seeking knowledge and guidance. I for instance am adding new things to my own list. I want to become a better speaker, a better swimmer. I want to learn many languages, etc.

I was going through the daily news when I noticed the sad and also inspiring news of the passing of actor Pete Postlethwaite. He could have stayed in teaching as his parents wanted but he aspired to greater things, as in becoming an actor where good looks such as the likes of Robert Redfords and George Clooneys are an asset.. Pete did it his way, even with working class-roots and a face few would describe as handsome. He made it with sheer talent and perseverance. That’s and inspiring article for all of us to see and draw from. That kind of story can definitely help in our quest for self-development. Even though we may not all want to become actors. For the one among us who are aspiring actors, you should study such a man and make it a part of your list of people to study in order to get where you want to be.

There are things that we are naturally good at, a God-given talent. Not everybody can sing like Barbara Streisand or play the piano like Mozart in the musical field. In the sport scene, people like Magic Jordan showed great talent for basketball and he even quoted Thomas Edison with the saying, success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. All that to show that we have to do some work and success will come at the end of the tunnel. We don’t know how long the tunnel will be, but if we keep working long enough, our self-development will grow by leaps and bounds.

People with goals are generally self-made. People like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, The Walton family, etc. They started with a goal in mind. That goal has allowed them to have friend in all walks of life, fame and fortune. With the immense wealth that they have accumulated, they started charity foundation to help others. Isn’t that wonderful? I don’t know what your goal in life is, I don’t know what you are trying to accomplish in your quest of self-development, but I thing that I know is once you have reached the pinnacle of your self-development you will have attained the nirvana. Don’t forget to come back and tell us about it!