Like most things in life, personal development success isn’t majorly complicated.
But – also like most things in life – it’s easy to get distracted along the way.
These five simple steps to personal development success will help you to move forward fast and start reaching your goals.
As with most things, start with a fairly simple goal so that you can tick it off as a success. That helps keep your motivation longer term.
1. Know where you want to get
What’s your destination in your quest for personal development?
You need a destination – often called a goal – so that you know roughly how to get there, how close you’re getting to it and when you’ve reached it.
Otherwise you’re just wandering aimlessly and anything will do.
So decide on a goal.
Be as precise as you can without going so narrow that you’re almost guaranteeing you won’t get there.
For instance, the precise house of your dreams may never come on the market. But picking a description that’s similar to it and then allowing that or something even better to manifest in your life works very nicely.
Grab a piece of paper and a pen – there’s something more real about this kind of thing the old fashioned way than just typing away on a screen.
Then write out your goal in as much detail as you possibly can.
Describe what you’ll see and hear. How you’ll feel. What you’ll experience.
Make it as vivid as possible – as if you’re a child again, sitting in the front row of an Imax movie.
2. Plan the main steps involved
You won’t get to your goal in one leap. Otherwise you’d have already done it.
There will be steps involved.
Maybe a few, maybe lots.
The precise quantity of steps doesn’t matter.
And precisely how you’ll get there doesn’t matter either.
It’s OK to have “black holes” in the steps – there’s a good chance the things you need to do to fill the gaps will become clearer as you move towards your goal.
But there can’t just be a single gap between starting now and achieving your goal – that’s too nebulous.
So plot out as many of the steps as possible in as close to the right order as possible without stalling the process too much.
3. Start taking daily action
Daily action moving towards your goal is essential.
OK, you might allow yourself the occasional day off.
But if you only move towards your goal once in a blue moon, it’s not going to happen.
It’s a bit like buying a single lottery ticket once a year when the jackpot is big. The odds are heavily stacked against you.
Not that I suggest buying a lottery ticket – the odds really aren’t in your favour and it’s basically just a cop out for doing some real work to get you closer to whatever your idea of personal development success is.
Incidentally, like lots of things, there isn’t one single answer to that.
Your idea of success in personal development will be different from mine.
That’s fine because this can be an intensely personal journey.
Taking daily action is important because it reinforces the idea that you’re serious.
It tells your subconscious mind that you really do mean it this time.
And, over the coming weeks and months, that will help you to persevere.
Or it will tell you that your original goal isn’t actually what you want now. That’s fine as well, so long as it doesn’t happen on a daily basis.
4. Keep a journal
Keeping a journal may seem antiquated in this day and age.
You can keep a written journal – I like to do that last thing at night, before I go to sleep, so that I have positive thoughts buzzing through my mind as I sleep.
But if you prefer the accountability of an online journal, do that instead.
Note what you’ve done, what that achieved, any successes you’ve had, any road blocks you’ve met that you’re going to need to get over or work around.
It can be as simple as a few bullet points each day.
Or it can be more in depth.
It depends on you and your personality but you’ll soon work out a style that is good for you. So long as you actually do this step.
A journal also helps keep you on track and accountable.
5. Keep doing things to get closer to your goal
It’s easy to get distracted.
There are so many things to do in our modern lives that we can’t fit them all in. It’s just not possible.
So make sure that you keep doing things to move yourself closer to your personal development goal.
Or – if you’re lost enthusiasm – knock the whole project on the head and start over.
So long as you’re not just using that as an excuse not to move forward in life, that’s OK.
You can’t do the personal development equivalent of throwing good money after bad. That’s just not sensible.
Perseverance is part of most things in life and that includes your success in your personal development goals.
Finally, although this isn’t a separate bullet point, don’t be afraid to get help.
There are lots of motivational things you can get online free or cheap or expensive.
Start with the free things – they’re often very good quality because they’re designed to get you to work more closely with their creator longer term.
I’ve compiled a list of lots of free things you can get – usually as a swap for your email address.
They include meditations, complete hypnosis and subliminal tracks, help with the law of attraction and much more.
Click this link and I’ll send you the complete list, free of charge.
