Personal Growth

There are many different ways that one can start to find joy in each day of their lives…. From the people you associate yourself, to your favourite hobbies… from your dream house to that adorable puppy that you brought home to show you unconditional love… Each of us finds our own ways to cope, to develop the strength and courage we need each day to get up with a smile on our face and a skip in our step.

Having gotten involved in a leadership development organization myself, I have recently had my eyes opened to something that has helped me to move LEAPS AND BOUNDS beyond where I used to be and the things I used to struggle with. The association through this group is phenomenal, full of upbeat and positive individuals who light up a room when they walk in. People that truly believe in your and want the best for you in your life. The biggest turning block for me however has been the ability to be in a state of continual growth.

I have learned the value of not just settling with the person that you are, not in the negative sense of being upset that you’re something you wish you weren’t, but in the positive sense of recognizing what exactly you have the ability and power to become with a little hard work and personal commitment. For this reason I have now made it part of my daily routine to read each and every day. Not just any book either, books that are going to work on the different personality traits and improvements that I am currently focusing on improving in my life. This could be people skills, my faith, skills related to being in the business world (like tenacity, confidence, etc), whatever it is I am currently working on.

The most recent book I have read was You and Your Network by Fred Smith. This was given to me by a close personal friend and mentor who felt that I could grow and achieve further personal growth and success through the principles present in this book when he read it. This book touches on the many different networks in your life (you, your heroes, your models, your mentors, your peers, your enemies, your friends, and your family) and how each of those can be used in positive ways to help you in building yourself on a personal level.

There is one part of the book that caught my attention in particular though, touching on the very topic of today’s post, the importance of continual growth. Too often we find ourselves caught up in the Education system, and book learning… I’m not saying there is anything wrong with those streams, they have their purposes, but although they prepare you well for whatever career path you are heading down as far as the information and knowledge goes, they don’t satisfy your human need to grow personally. After all, you are by far your greatest asset!

The book quotes Sydney Harris: “Education is not a mass of facts or inert ideas, as Whitehead called them, but an attitude and appetite and approach, a frame of mind, a function of the full personality, of the will, the spirit, and the imagination as much as of the intellectual force.”

That quote demonstrates what I was missing in the education in my life. I was an ‘intelligent’ person, or so the school system stated… always a top student, great grades, promising future… but I felt like something was missing. That something was the very type of education mentioned in that quote. The type that will invoke my personality, my will, my spirit….

Maybe, rather than just settling for where we are and the ruts that we have found ourselves in… that person who wakes up to the alarm (that they hate), to go to a job (that they would rather not be at), to work to make money for someone else (that we really can’t stand), while we continually crumble about how we feel we aren’t fulfilled, that we’re tired, worn out, and getting nowhere. We’re stuck on the never ending cycle that we think will be our life… Instead why not make it something more, something exciting…

I’m not saying run out and quit your job tomorrow, you need an income to pay bills and maintain an existence in today’s society, but what about those evenings you spend in front of the television, your mind shut off as you watch the latest ‘fad’ show while eating your favourite junk food… why not take a bit of time out to do something meaningful? To grow yourself personally? To make a difference….

I’m not sure what it is for you…. Maybe you want to develop better people skills because you find most people anger you, or you anger them…. Maybe you want to further your financial skills so that you can get your finances in order and not be living paycheck to paycheck… or Maybe you want to expand your knowledge and belief in your Faith (I’m not saying you have to be religious, that’s a whole separate topic, but I will begin by adding when I started this journey in my life, I was definitely not). Whatever it is, get out there and do it!

For those of you ready to pick up the challenge, its time to find the means… maybe it’s a book that you think will help, a mentor that you can work with, or a situation that will assist you in growing (a lot of volunteer work is great for this!). Whatever it is, feel free to comment and keep me updated on the status of your personal growth, and the amazing things that it does for your life and your self esteem (not to mention your relationships with the people already in your life)

Remember, you are all amazing people, beautiful on the inside and out… You are brimming with potential, you just have to harness it… Throw your heart over the line… Take this and run with it, and you’ll be surprised by just how amazing you can be!!!