The Secret Guide to Personal Development | What You Need to Know

I’ve met so many people who think personal development is this huge, overwhelming topic that can only be mastered by the top 1% of gurus they see online. What you must understand however, is because personal and professional development is a fairly niche topic to the general public, the majority of successful personal development coaches and trainers stumbled into the field starting from nothing. They found this subject, it caught their attention, and they just got started. My guess is you probably have a similar story. You do research on personal growth not because a professor or parent made you, you just love it! You are passionate about the topic and want to grow personally yourself. 

It can be hard to know where to begin, however. So right now, I want to give you an actionable guide to start your journey in personal development. If you’re well on your way already, it will be a good refresher.

Let’s talk about how we grow.

1. Define your purpose

Knowing what you want is the first step of personal development. Your first goal should be to articulate your growth objective and why you want to become a better person. Clarity breeds focus, which drives passion and results.

Take a moment to journal about who you want to become, what you want to achieve, and why these outcomes are important to you.

2. Create your personal roadmap for success

The next step is to define your goals and take action towards them. Now, you can do this the old fashioned way by googling ‘how to set a goal’ and finding 20 million articles on SMART goals from 1994, or you can check out my free Goal Execution Formula guide to get the process real achievers use.

The biggest mistake I see people make in this step is not investing time or money. When you invest in yourself with a book, coach, program, or roadmap your results increase far beyond what you can achieve from browsing free videos or articles. So, define what you want, make a goal and invest time and money. Your future self will thank you!

3. Keep checking in

Reviewing your progress keeps you accountable and flexible on your personal growth journey. Setup a rhythm of checking your progress towards your goal. Are you on track hitting the milestones you need to hit? What issues are slowing your progress and why? Make you’re reflecting on who you’re becoming as you progress on your journey. Make sure you stay aligned with your overall purpose for starting this process in the first place.

4. Celebrate your wins

What’s the point of achievement if you can’t integrate the wins into your identity? Obtaining impressive results and success is one thing, feeling personal satisfaction in your progress is another. Take the time to celebrate your progression. Remember how far you’ve come and be kind to your old self. You can only ever do what you can, with what you have, with what you know at the time. The goal is to get better and enjoy the feeling of growth, not to beat yourself up?

Over the years I’ve come to recognize the difference between fads and wisdom. You probably can see the difference as well. This actionable plan is designed to be the timeless foundation for implementing a lifestyle of personal growth. It’s what I wish I had at the beginning of my personal development journey.

Remember, everyone starts somewhere, so just choose to begin today! Have fun, experiment, get some results. And don’t forget to really feel your wins along the way.

Stay awesome,

Joey