hey hey hey everybody welcome back it's your
host neogentrics and we're back here on food for
thought thoughts if it were you season two it's
been a little bit it is about i want to say five
o 'clock in the morning at the time of this recording
so it's a great wednesday morning and i'm happy
to see everybody is doing well continuing in
the same format as we were before We're going
to look at something else towards personal development.
I guess you could say this is part three of what
I've been covering. We're going to talk about
your personal development top tips. Things that
you should probably keep in mind so that you
can move forward. This will be a short one, so
look forward to another episode coming out a
little bit later today on a different topic,
okay? As we go through what we have to discuss
today, it might become clearer what I'm going
to cover later. let's get started with personal
development top tips and you know when that topic
comes to rise I want you to understand that you
know sometimes it can be hard to know where to
start when it comes to personal development as
is evident from all the other things that I've
covered up to this point so one of the questions
that I've received is should I try to eliminate
my weakness Should I focus on my strengths and
build them up even further? Or should I just
do something completely new? Well, you may by
now be in a state of analysis paralysis, if you
will. And you may not be sure as to what you
want to do. But I'm here to help you get started
and keep you focused on what really matters in
moving forward. in your development let's get
started all right everybody welcome back we're
going to cover the tips top tips that we need
that you can use for your personal development
There are seven in total. I'm not going to go
too in -depth into each one, as you know, each
one of these topics could be their own individual
podcast. But I'm going to cover as much information
as I can, as always, in this short amount of
time. Moving forward, starting with this first
one. Why are you trying to develop? This is a
question that everyone has asked, very few people
give an answer to, and two ways I could think
of doing it before I go any further. would be
to develop your personal vision and then refine
and narrow that vision these two things in particular
on their own are not something simple that anybody
can do but it is achievable it just takes a little
practice something i'll definitely dive more
into on a later date but The answer to all the
questions about what and where, you know, what
should I do, should I address my weakness or
build my strengths, where should I begin, all
become clearer once you actually identify the
fact as to why you want to change. Learning...
in that of itself can be interesting, it can
be fun, it can be a way to develop and improve
specific different purposes in your life. It's
important to be clear about this purpose so you
can assess whether or not your learning and development
activities are moving you closer to your goals
or further away, or taking you to something that
you never would have considered to be a goal
in the first place. It's also easier to get motivated
when you have a clear picture of where you want
to be in the end of the process. as you're moving
forward but this depends on the person the second
thing i want you to make note of is the planning
of your development planning your personal development
and documenting your plan will help you make
it more uh as they say realistic or in some people's
cases more materialistic something that's easy
to see and essentially just make it physical
There is something about writing things down
that makes the exaggeration of it look ridiculous.
And unrealistic stands out like a sore thumb.
Anything unrealistic stands out like a sore thumb
at this point, once it's been written down. Because
once you look at it on paper, it doesn't seem
nearly as crazy as it does when you just sit
there and think about it. Make a plan. for your
personal development, which includes time limits
and stages of development. And this will force
you to be as realistic as you can about what
you can achieve and by when. Of course, writing
it down does not bind you irrevocably to that
paper in that list at that time. Everyone's lives
changes. Your priorities may as well alter after
you've planned your big development cycle. Who
knows what's going to happen to you tomorrow?
A bus could come out and slam into your job and
the whole place gets shut down for two to three
days while they rebuild. Or a random storm comes
through and you're stuck at home because the
roads are flooded. You never know. But a written
plan, however, gives you something to look back
on and a way of keeping tabs on the goals that
you're focused on doing. Even formally altering
them if necessary as you go. Douglas Adams said,
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but
I think I've ended up where I needed to be. Stating
that even though you plan to be at a certain
place at a certain time doesn't necessarily mean
that you need to be specifically at that point
at that time. You just may need to be nearby
or heading to that point to get to the destination
you need to be. And this also applies to a lot
of other things in your life as well. Okay, so
we understand that why you're trying to develop,
and we understand the whole planning you're developing
and why those are important. But let's look at
number three, shall we? Documenting your plans.
This may seem trivial considering what we just
talked about about 15, 20 seconds ago, but...
I want you to know that writing down your plans
and activities enables you to review your progress
as you progress moving forward. You know, keeping
detailed records may sound like something that
you would prefer to avoid, especially since a
lot of people don't want to put in all that extra
effort and don't want to try, you know, so on
and so forth. But your personal development activities,
if documented carefully, not only enable you
to review your progress, but also provide a record
of your thinking over time. it's incredibly easy
um to forget how you felt about things at different
stages this is why keeping a diary of everything
that you do is important even why you thought
a particular goal was important is is noteworthy
Okay, carefully documenting your thoughts will
help show you what works best, what doesn't work,
what you can do, what you can't do, what you've
enjoyed, what you've disliked, quite possibly
point to you more suitable activities and areas
for development. For example, for me. trying
to write a book i've never done this before i
didn't know where to start i didn't know what
to use i didn't know what programs were allowed
what fonts what systems what things and then
i found out that by a little bit of trial and
error and doing a lot of research and writing
down everything that i tried things that i knew
work things i knew it didn't work i found ways
to around most of everything and i self -published
my books mind you in the process of doing this
i didn't expect anyone to read it i didn't expect
anyone to see it okay But I did it because I
enjoyed it and I wanted to move forward and I
wanted to become an author. I am one now. I may
not be popular, but I'm doing it. But the thing
is, I kept documenting everything I did. I documented
what worked. I documented what didn't work. And
I'm still making progress, even if it's not a
lot at the moment. Which brings me to the fourth
point. You need to make sure you know what works
for you. Okay? It's important to find out what
personal development works best in your field
or area that you're aiming for or whatever type
of personal improvement goal you have that you're
aiming towards. There's an enormous range of
development activities available to everybody,
from formal training sessions through online
training to experimental learning, reading, discussing
other ideas and topics with other people. And
as with anything, it's important to find out
what works best for you, as in, what do you enjoy
the most? What helps you learn and develop quickly
and effectively? What keeps your mind motivated,
stimulated, and focused on the set topic? One
of the things I've covered in the past is your
personal SWOT analysis, and this helps you decide
on what you need to do and what works for you
in a productive sense. You can also find out
more of these techniques by checking out some
of my other videos. videos and podcast episodes
that I've made before on that specific topic
on recording stuff. But my point is, by documenting
your experiences and including feedback from
other people about your progress, you can also
assess the relative effectiveness of different
learning techniques that you need. Which brings
me to number five, focus. Focus, focus, focus,
focus, focus. I don't think I can say that enough.
What is really important in your personal development
is the question at this point that should be
asked. And I want you to understand that personal
development is a lifelong process. It's not something
that can be done in three to eight weeks. Now,
skill learning can be, but personal development
is an ongoing thing, which is why it's sometimes
described as lifelong learning. Okay. And in
practice, although it can be hard to remember
this. This means you do not have to do everything
all at once I don't know why everyone tries but
you can take your time unless you're in a hurry
for specific things But I digress taking your
time is the best option that you can do Okay
Now with that being said I can get this working
Your personal vision to identify what really
matters now is what you have to do first to achieve
your vision. And you need to concentrate on that.
Only once you've achieved that, or at least made
reasonable progress, should you move on. Uh,
butterfly style, if you know what I mean. Personal
development fitting from subject to subject,
and that may keep you interested, but will...
probably be less satisfying and or effective
in the long term. Okay? Okay, everybody. It's
about time we wrap this up with the top tips.
So we've covered the next three, which is documenting
your plan, finding out what works for you, and
focusing. So what else could there possibly be?
The sixth thing is to grasp any new opportunities.
Don't be afraid to take an opportunity that you...
you know, had not considered before. Just because
it's not something that you thought of or would
have considered working before doesn't mean that
it's not a possible solution or may not or may
help you get closer to your desired goal. Okay?
Not everything in life or personal development
is predictable. This is the first thing you have
to keep in mind. Sometimes you may be offered
an amazing opportunity to do something that doesn't
fit your immediate priorities, but which sounds
too good to miss. It is worth considering. I
mean, Whether taking this opportunity will slow
down your progress towards your ultimate goal,
and if so, whether that even matters or not in
the long run. In some cases, if it does slow
you down, is the skill at least worth having?
You know, it's not worth turning down something
simply because you've never thought of doing
it, or therefore it doesn't feature in your life
plans. Sometimes taking a little short step to
the side to take a break from your life development
plans and whatnot might be the kind of break
you need to help you move forward faster. Ultimately,
being offered this kind of opportunity probably
helps you to find your goals better in some cases.
I mean, if it sounds very exciting and you really
want to do it, then just do it. If it changes
your goal and vision, so be it, as long as it
helps you grow and move forward. I'm sorry, as
Chad Michael Murray once said, our biggest regrets
are not for the things we have done, but for
the things we haven't done. And he's made a good
point of this. I mean, there's a lot of times
in life where you're offered an opportunity and
you're like, well, it's not in my plan, or it's
not necessary, or I don't need that. We all say
that. We all consider it. We all think about
it. At the same time, some people are so happy
to jump for these opportunities that they run
over the people in front of them. Not realizing
that the very people they're running over and
ignoring are probably the ones they're either
going to work with or the ones who are supposed
to help them progress forward. Thus making the
opportunity void despite the fact that they just
got it. Last but not least is number seven. Let
your personal development evolve. Don't let it
stay stagnant. Yes, your priorities will change
and that's okay. Few if any of us will ever say
that we are exactly the same person. at 35 that
we were at 15 or even 25 i'm 27 about to go 28
and i decided to start writing a book in 2016
i am not the same person as a matter of fact
i doubt i could think the same way i did then
that i do now however as you grow and change
taking on new responsibilities and work or at
home you know so your priorities and goals will
change is normal The key is to recognize that
this is fine. It's okay. What matters is to ensure
that your personal development activities continue
to take you where you want to go. Regularly review
and revise your personal development activities.
Then plans and anything you do will ensure, from
that point forward, that they continue to change
with your priorities and remain relevant as you
grow. Okay? With that being said... It's been
a pleasure. I really enjoy doing these podcasts
with you guys and I thank you guys for sticking
around with me. If you like what you see here,
feel free to check out some of my other podcasts
or support me on Patreon or on anchors .fm forward
slash neogentrics on the website or buy one of
my books on Amazon. Go ahead and read one of
those and see if the same person who you're listening
to now could possibly be the same person who
wrote those books and let me know if what I've
done then Still matches the me now. This has
been Food for Thought, Thoughts If It Were You,
and I'm your host, Neogentrix. Enjoy the rest
of your day.