All of us strive to become a better version of ourselves. In our busy lives, we often lose track of time. And time is all we need to make changes for personal development. While the pandemic brought horrible effects in our lives, we can all use this time to work on personal growth.
Personal growth goals are all about learning and understanding who we are. What qualities would you say define you at the moment? What qualities do you want to associate yourself in the near future? It’s all about personal growth and learning. It’s a process that can be practiced. Here are some personal growth goals that you can use to measure your everyday personal development!
Mark Your Priorities
It’s always a good idea to Mark your priorities so that you know where you want to go. And if you ever feel lost, you can always check your note and ground yourself.
Making your priorities clear is also one way to understand which aspect of your life you want to work on. Take a notebook and write everything down.
Some questions that you can ponder upon are: who do you admire the most? What do you admire about them? How can you adapt those qualities in yourself? Make sure that you write clear and defined points. And don’t hesitate to put anything down. After all, it’s for your personal development.
Identify The Issues That Prevent You From Making These Changes
Change is a part and parcel of our lives. But sometimes, it can get difficult to deal with it. There can be practical reasons or emotional reasons for our inability to work towards personal growth and learning.
These issues can range from a number of things. It could be because of your romantic relationship, or maybe, it’s because of your daily routine.
Oftentimes, what happens is that we don’t even realize the problem. Writing our feelings down is an excellent way to understand our inner selves. Write and think for as long as you need it. Trust in yourself, and the problem will be clear in front of your eyes.
Are these problems solvable? The answer is yes. Every problem is solvable. It’s a different thing that some problems take longer to solve. Sometimes it can get overwhelming to see the problems written right in front of you. In these cases, simply breathe and remember that you are in charge. Your personal growth is in your hand.
Slowly, but steadily, start bringing small changes in your life. Identifying the issues is one thing, resolving them is another. And even before you know it, these small changes will become habits in your life. And that’s just personal development 101.
Set Practical Personal Growth Goals
The key is to set practical personal growth goals. It’s not always about working harder. Oftentimes, it’s about working smarter.
Your consciousness is what’s your true self. Your brain is another organ in your body. You can manipulate it and shape it to reflect on your personal development.
The way you can work smart to measure your personal growth and learning is to set attainable goals. Think realistically. What’s the easiest thing on your list of personal growth goals? Put that down as the first thing. Remember that the sea is made up of tiny droplets of water. So, no step is insignificant. Every step you take towards determining your personal growth is valid. However small they might feel at the moment; these tiny steps go to bring about your true best self.
And, the great thing about attainable personal growth goals is that it will make you feel good about yourself. It’s one tiny push for your conscience to know that you are in charge. You are capable of bringing in change. This self-validation will give you a satisfaction that you will crave for once you have tasted it.
Make sure that these personal growth goals are relevant to your present life. These goals need to be measurable so that you get personal gratification when you see it. And of course, they need to be specific.
For example, one of your personal growth goals is to get fit. Don’t latch yourself on to some crazy exercise routine or some dramatic diet. These are too heavy-handed, and if you don’t have the stone determination, you are bound to lose interest. And it’s okay to not have stone-like determination. It comes with practice too. You can put walking 15 minutes daily as one of your immediate personal growth goals. It’s easy, right? Maybe you can walk to your grocery store instead of driving. But make sure that you follow through. Keep an alarm and push yourself for these initial bits. It will be hard, but it has to be done for the sake of your personal development.
Which Goals Come First?
It’s not easy working on personal development. Don’t take too many personal growth goals because it will only overwhelm you.
One good idea is to keep a calendar and a chart. Put effort into creating your personal growth chart as well. Decorate it the way you want, and it will infuse energy within you that will keep motivating you.
Prioritize which quality you would rather have than the other. Categorize and compartmentalize in your head which goal comes first. And so, during your busy days, you will know which ones to follow and which ones you can let go of.
Break Your Personal Growth Goals Down To Do-Able Sizes
It’s okay if, after a couple of days, you feel like even the attainable goals are overwhelming. It happens to the best of us. We all feel overwhelmed at times. It’s during times like that that we need to remember all the effort we have put into even reaching this stage of personal development.
It’s okay to take a short break from your schedule as well. But remember that you cannot stop for a long time. When you feel overwhelmed, take a breath. Breathe and keep yourself calm. Simply breathe in and out; it will help ground you.
And once you feel like you can start again, go to your personal growth chart. Break down your daily personal growth and learning goals. It can be as small a step as cleaning your room or your bathroom. Just something that you can manage.
This method is similar to creating your goals in that; you need to make sure that these tasks are realistic and attainable. The entire point of this step is to make sure that you finish what you start. If your goal is to stay fit, maybe make lemonade and drink that. You will feel refreshed, and your next step can be to cook a healthy meal. Take care of yourself and indulge yourself. It is you who is taking specific actions for your personal growth. It’s good to recognize your efforts and give yourself some credit.
Maintain Your Journal
Remember when we asked you to bite down your feelings? We also asked you to write down what your personal development goals are. It is crucial that you maintain this journal. Write everything. Write when you achieve a goal and write when you miss your goal too. The ups and the downs should all be recorded in your journal.
It will help you keep track of your progress. And on days when you can’t find the motivation, reading the initial entries from this journal will help you see what you have achieved. This is another excellent way of measuring your personal development.
Along with the journal, maintain your calendar and your chart. Since you can see the chart, calendar, and journal, you will be able to visualize the change that’s taking place. Add a “to do” list in your chart. It’s one way to know what has been done and how many more steps need to be done.
There are several apps that you can use now to keep track of your personal growth. Or, if you want to be more traditional, you can just keep your chart, journal, and calendar. Some of the great apps that you can use are Habitify, Tine Planner, Coach.me, and HabitBull.
Reward Yourself From Time To Time
It’s always great to recognize what you have done and reward yourself for it. Additionally, these tiny treats become an incentive for you to keep working on your personal growth and learning process. The rule is that you can treat yourself when you finish your daily tasks. And as the achievements get bigger, your treats can get better as well.
It’s all a motivation method. Personal growth requires constant pushing. It does not happen over time, and that can, understandably, feel frustrating. So, every once in a while, just recognize the consistent efforts you are making and pat yourself on the back.
Prepare Yourself For Failures
What are failures? Failures are the pillars of success. Only people who take a chance and take action fail in life. Successful people take action and fail. It’s one thing that is inevitable, and in many ways, necessary to succeed. It reminds us of who we are by grounding us.
Moreover, personal growth is a high slope. You should expect some setbacks. The good thing about personal growth and learning is that you can always start again.
Falling shouldn’t be the highlight. The highlight is getting back up. The world is a tough place, and working on personal development can be quite challenging. The point of it all is that you are taking charge. After you face a setback, simply recollect yourself. As long as you are breathing, you will be okay.
Think about what steps you can take to ensure that you don’t fall again? Think about it, note it down in your journal, and make it happen. Try again and again until you succeed. If you still don’t feel good, simply go back to your journal and read your initial entries. Reflecting on how far you have come can send a huge surge of motivation into you. We all fall and falter. The important thing is to get back up.
Reevaluate Your Goals
It’s always a good idea to evaluate your personal growth goals from time to time. As time passes, we gain more experience, and it is possible that our personal development goals have changed. Never take actions mechanically.
Always be present and in touch with your inner self. If you feel like you have outgrown your initial personal growth goals, change your chart. Note it down on your calendar and make it reflect on your chart as well.
The point of it all is for you to become the best version of yourself in your present. I’m sure your ideal version of yourself now is not the same as it was 10 years or even a year ago. We all change, and our goals change with us. Just make sure that your ideas and your personal growth goals match. You should not end up feeling disconnected with yourself.
Consult Your Family And Friends
We can’t always understand what the problem is within us. It’s often because we are looking at ourselves from one perspective. And so, getting a different point of view is great for self-assessment.
Talk to someone you trust. Ask them what issues they think you should work on. Or, you can always talk to them about your personal growth goals and take their opinion. Open up about your progress, and you will feel more aligned with your inner and outer selves.
Some Tips On Personal Growth Goals
Be More Empathetic
One great personal development goal is to work on your empathy. Don’t judge or just sympathize. Empathize with people. It’s when you put yourself in their shoes and truly understand the issue. It will not only give you a fresh perspective in life but also help other people with their personal growth.
Work On Your Confidence
Learn to trust yourself. There are enough people in the world who will judge you and doubt you. You should always be on your side. Who cares if there are millions of people in the world. In your life, you should be the main character. Work on your confidence and walk your walk as if the world is your runway.
Face Your Fears
Fears always stay with us in the corners of our hearts. That’s the place that it’s comfortable in. Expose them and bring them to light. Only then we can solve them. Face your fears to truly understand yourself. We can always ignore our fears and pretend as if they don’t exist. But, trust us on this, fear always finds a way to creep in our lives. So, face them and resolve them before they can beat you.
Listen To Your Inner Self
Always take time out to sit with yourself. Talk to yourself and listen to what you have to say. This is one crucial part in working on personal growth. What are your feelings, and what are your thoughts? Trust your gut and believe in your intuition.
Love Yourself To Love Others
There’s no savior outside of you. You can always find comfort in a friend, a family member, or your special someone. The problem crops up when you find that they have a life of their own and can’t spare too much time for you. And so, it’s always good to make yourself your first priority. This does not mean that you need to be selfish or such. You simply need to understand your worth. You need to understand yourself and make yourself the source of your happiness.
Until and unless you love yourself, you won’t be able to fully love anybody else.
Do Not Procrastinate
If you are looking for personal growth goals, doing away with procrastination will be an excellent choice. So many of us miss out on wonderful opportunities because we procrastinate. It’s an awful way of living that’s infectious. Once we procrastinate, we won’t think much of procrastinating again. It becomes a habit and is one of the leading causes that many of us derail from our personal development.
Let The Past Be In The Past
For personal growth and learning, you need to know that the past is the past. Getting stuck in the past will create unnecessary havoc in your life. Being hung up makes us spiral and does not allow us to fully go into the future. And don’t worry if you find yourself slipping into the past from time to time. It happens to all of us. Simply gather yourself and walk into the future.
Personal growth is all about being active and understanding your true self. It’s being kind to ourselves and being the best version of ourselves.
