Have you done a personal growth checklist on your life lately? Many goals are never reached due to lack of self-assessments. It is frightening and overwhelming to sit down and have to face yourself. Yet, in order for personal development to happen, it is exactly what you must do.
Get yourself a small notebook to be used for all thoughts concerning you. Inside these pages you will keep notes, to-do lists, inspirations and basically, everything about you. When you put yourself on paper consistently, it becomes a life management bible. Seeing who we are in written form is magic to personal growth. There is value contained here about your purpose in living. By privately writing down your daily to-do’s, aspirations, or even 5 year plans, these pages outline where your life is going. Where your life has been. The notebook becomes your intimate novel to personal development growth. It makes you self-aware of your behaviors and habits. It puts your dreams in your face to encourage self-actualization. No matter how terrifying the pen gets, you have opportunity to change your life on the very next page.
Getting your personal development growth I.Q. involves mastering the pages you’ve written about yourself into new pages of re-inventing yourself and your circumstances. It is through doing a consistent assessment of your life, and bravely finding new ways to approach setbacks. Questions about who you are and where you are going are constant within these pages. You have made yourself accountable for your life by writing everything down. It is easier to take personal responsibility for what happens to you if you acknowledge it with a pen. You cannot grow if you do not know. So much happens to us in the course of a day and can easily be missed as an opportunity for growth. By keeping notes, it can be measured and evaluated. Days can melt into months, and years, leaving us in the exact same spot as we began. And then the moment comes where we wonder why our life didn’t turn out the way we planned. It is because time moves forward, and so should we.
Consider this self bible your life instructions. Critique yourself honestly. Applaud the little successes you see, because had you not wrote them down you probably would have missed them entirely. Life is a continual process of renewal and opportunity. To measure your personal development growth I.Q., look back on the pages of yesterday and see if you have climbed ladders or fell steps down. What can be learned? What is within your power to change? How will you recreate yourself in small ways tomorrow? Even one step different than the one before begins a new path. By writing all of you down on paper you have made yourself aware of you. Awareness acknowledges our existence in this world.
An added bonus to purging your thoughts on paper is the release. What is inside you should come out to keep a healthy mind and attitude. This is why journals exist. This is a reason people have day timers and diaries. Humans can take in so much information daily, and then swirl it around into a feeling or opinion, even a stressor. It is imperative to good mental health to release all this somewhere else–preferably to paper and not another person.
Encourage good things to happen in your life. Help the process through timely self-assessments. Re-invent yourself through writing. Face the written words and change them.
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Tags: goals, I.Q, Personal Development, self development, self help
The path to personal and professional development is different for everyone. Depending on what your interests, dreams, and goals have become, your path to personal and professional development will be different than anyone else. Personal development and professional development are undoubtedly linked. Without professional development and success, you cannot achieve personal development and your personal dream. Because of this, there are some typical similarities on the path to personal and professional development.
- The first step on the path to personal and professional development is to decide what exactly you want to do with your life and your career. To do this, you must examine your strengths, weaknesses, interests, skills, and talents. Discovering more about yourself and what you want from life will help you to find your way to a rewarding and fulfilling career that will take you where you most want to go.
Once you have decided what career path you want to take, you have to figure out how to get there, and how you will obtain your ultimate dream. Most personal and professional development requires some kind of furthering education beyond high school. If your career can be started without education, you may want to start your career and continue your education while working.
There are many ways that you can do this. There are part time and nigh classes available through most community colleges and small universities. One great way to continue your personal and professional development is through online colleges and universities. These learning institutions allow you to advance in personal and professional development on a flexible schedule that allows you to work around your career.
Another part of personal and professional development is recognizing your obstacles, and how you need to overcome them. For example, resources such as Federal Financial Aid or your local community college financial aid department will be able to assist you in overcoming obstacles such as payment of high tuition and book costs for college courses. Another example of overcoming obstacles might be surrounding yourself with a positive and motivating support system, while removing yourself from negative comments of current family and friends.
- A large section of your path to personal and professional development is setting goals and a timeline for achieving them. Having a dream is great. But that dream will be much easier to achieve if you set obtainable, periodic goals, rather than focusing on the larger goal of your dream. Setting goals and creating a timeline for success is a great way to advance your personal and professional development.
Once you have set your goals, created a timeline for success, and made those first steps toward achieving your first minor goal, you will be well on your way down the path to personal and professional development. There are many books, websites, and magazines that will help you on your way. For additional help and information, you may wish to look into hiring a personal and professional development coach, trainer, or consultant. These professionals can greatly help you in your self assessments, as well as goal setting and finding resources to help you meet your goals for success.
Tags: dreams, path to personal and professional development, recognize your obstacles, set goals, top steps
Many people think that management and leadership go hand in hand automatically.
But just because you are a manager does not mean that you are a leader. Many management techniques are being thrown out the window in favor of leadership skills. But making the transition between manager and leader can be difficult for some.
The best way to become an effective leader is by creating a personal leadership development plan.
The first thing that you need to do to create a personal leadership development plan is to understand the difference between management and leadership. While some do not see the difference, others cannot explain it. Quite simply, management is something that you do. It is a career. Leadership is having strength and courage in your convictions, and the ability to see those convictions manifest in reality.
So what are your convictions? You may think that you know what you believe in, but it is important to take a step back and actually list your beliefs and values. There are many assessments available that can help you do this. This important step in creating a personal leadership development plan will likely teach you things about yourself that you yourself did not realize were true. It may seem like a waste of time, but until you know what your convictions are, you cannot manifest them in reality through effective leadership.
Once you have a clear understanding of your convictions, you need to apply them to your organization. Do not look at numbers and people. Look at the overall purpose and mission of the company. Then, narrow your view to your team, and finally yourself. If you do not see your values and beliefs reflected in your actions, the actions of your team, and the actions of the company, then your work is cut out for you.
When creating your personal leadership development plan, first outline your beliefs, ethics, and values. Then, outline the ways that those beliefs, ethics, and values show in your actions within the organization. Are there ways that you need to improve? What support does your team need to obtain personal and organizational success that you have failed to give them? After all, their success is your success. Write down all of your thoughts and ideas for manifesting your convictions in the reality of your team and organization. This is the bare bones of your personal leadership development plan.
Next, do your homework. Talk to your employees, team members, customers, and suppliers to learn what more you can do or be that will assist you in manifesting your convictions and your personal leadership development plan. Sit back and listen to the ideas and feelings of others. This is the only way that you can learn from other perspectives what is needed for organizational or team success. Until you are aware of the changes that need to be made, you will not be able to make any changes for the common good of the organization and your employees.
Remember that while you may be able to affect change in your own small part of the world, the organization as a whole may not reflect your convictions any time soon. Change within large corporations is either very slow or nonexistent. Watch for signs that your personal leadership development plan is making a difference in your immediate environment.
Tags: leadership plan, personal development plan, personal leadership development plan
We may not realize it, but self-esteem is a great determinant of whether or not we will be a success in life or not. Why? Because self-esteem, or the way we view ourselves, including ours skills and our talents, affect our thoughts. And these thoughts turn into actions.
Taking actions are very important. Actions are the ones who move us closer to our dreams. If you have dreams and goals in life and you realize that you are not moving towards them then maybe you are not taking any action s or you are taking the wrong ones. What most people are not aware of is that thoughts and actions are linked. Having positive thoughts leads to positive actions in the same way that negative thoughts can lead to inaction or negative actions.
Achieving your goals and making your dreams come true naturally takes time. And the thing that can give you the proper drive or push is high self-esteem. High self-esteem can provide you the determination and personal power needed for you to take actions towards the achievements of your goals. Consequently, low-self esteem is one of biggest blocks to a person’s success. Why? Because when a person has low self-esteem it is more difficult for him or her to perform the right actions to achieve their goals.
Simply put, self-esteem refers to how a person looks at one self. If one looks at him or herself in appositive way then he or she has high self-esteem. On the other had, if a person ha a negative view of him or herself in including his or her abilities, then he or she definitely has low self-esteem.
One of the things that lower self esteem is criticism. The worst kind of criticisms is the one that comes from you. When you always criticize yourself it can lead to having feelings of self doubt.
If there is one greatest killer of dreams known to man it is a negative thought. Nothing can be more destructive. Do not tell yourself that “I can’t.” or “that’s impossible.” Instead, believe that anything is possible and that you can achieve anything.
So how do you build self-esteem? Since thoughts are the roots of feelings and actions then you must always make sure that your thoughts are positive and beneficial. Instead of focusing on your failures and mistakes, why don’t you take notice of your achievements? This is not vanity. It is simply recognizing the things that you have done in the past and acknowledging your abilities.
Everyone has his or her own share of accomplishments ion life. The best thing that you can do is to get a piece of paper and list down your accomplishments for the last years. Remember all the challenges that you were able to hurdle and the obstacles you have been able to overcome. You will be surprised to know that you have achieved many things in your life already. In moments of great doubt, you can always refer back to this list and remember your accomplishments. You can continue to add to this list as you achieve more in life.
Always remember that there is a strong connection between self-esteem and success, so do anything that you can to improve the quality of your thoughts for it determines your future success.
Tags: achieve goals, goals, Personal Development, self confidence, self esteem, targets
Do you find yourself striving to move forward, but getting nowhere? You likely have barriers to personal growth and development that you may not even be aware of. Many people have barriers to personal growth and development that hold them back from achieving their personal or career goals in life. However, regardless of the nature of your barriers to personal growth and development, you can overcome the obstacles and achieve your goals with a few lifestyle and mindset adjustments.
- The most common barrier to personal growth and development is your own imagination. How much a person can accomplish is only limited by the vision and determination of the person. If you think that you cannot accomplish something, then you will fail. If you think that you can accomplish something, and you put in the effort, you will succeed. Often, personal growth and development is often that simple.
- Another common barrier to personal growth and development is past failures or events. Often our past failures or bad events in our lives get in the way of personal growth and development. It is natural for our minds to dwell on such events, but only by moving past them can we truly grow as people and in our careers. These incidents must be put aside so that we can accomplish our goals.
- Another common barrier to personal growth and development is our support systems, or lack of support. Negative messages from family, friends, and co-workers will only serve to bring us down, not lift us up. Surrounding yourself with people who are like minded and striving for success in their careers and their life will help you to do the same. Whether you get support from an organized group, your friends, or your family makes no difference. The support that you get, the motivational pep talks and the shoulder to cry on when things go wrong, will help you to realize all of your goals and overcome your barriers to personal growth and development.
One of the less common barriers to personal growth and development is the basic lack of planning. Many people go through life taking what is handed to them, without ever setting down goals and striving to exceed expectations. Setting goals, figuring out how to reach those goals, and making a timeline for success is a vitally important and often ignored barrier to personal growth and development.
Remember, whatever your personal barriers to personal growth and development, you can overcome your obstacles. Any person who sets goals, creates a timeline for success, has adequate support, and strives for excellence can overcome these barriers to personal growth and development and achieve the success that all people deserve.
If you need further assistance in personal growth and development, you can find a lot of information on the internet or in books through your local library or your favorite online book store. Personal development coaches, career development profiles, and other personal growth and development tools can also help you to overcome obstacles and achieve what seemed like the impossible.
Food Can Keep You Youthful
Many of us do not understand the power of food to keep us young-looking. We need to educate ourselves about how, what we eat can affect how fast- or how slow- we age, and ultimately the quality and length of our lives.
This article on food incorporates the latest research on the food that can keep you youthful and healthy.
Below you will find how food can affect how we age. The eating plan is to maximise your health and make you more youthful.
Food
- Sardines
Properties
An excellent source of omega 3
Essential fatty acids, protein and calcium
Salmon also is good for protein and omega 3 fats, but choose red Alaskan or sockeye ( tinned is ok) rather than farmed salmon
- Green and other dark green leafy vegetables such as cabbage, kale, broccoli, spinach
Greens contain numerous protective antioxidants photochemicals that have anti-ageing benefits including lutein (boost skin hydratation and elasticity, also flight wrinkles). Consuming 10 mg of lutein (4 oz of spinach or 2 oz of kale) daily the skin look younger in just few weeks.
Spinach comes with higher levels of iron, folate and other protective photochemicals
- Tomatoes
Rich source of lycopene, which forms the red pigment producing their colour. Lycopene has and anti-ageing effect, helps preserve mental and physical functioning , reduces the risk of some cancers
Watermelon and pink grapefruit also contain some lycopene.
- Garlic
It is called natural antibiotic, being anti-fungal and antibacterial. It contains a chemical called allyl sulphide which research has shown to help flight cancer cells, especially the cells that attack the digestive system, the breast, and the prostate gland. Garlic also has the ability to make blood thinner and less sticky which means it helps to prevent plaque build-up in the arteries
Kyolic garlic supplements are effective defences against bacterial infection.
- Goji berries
Goji berries contain 18 amino acids including all 8 essencial amino acids, and 21 trace minerals, in particular zinc, iron, copper, calcium and phosphorus. They contain 500 times more vitamin C per ounce than oranges – and vitamin C helps you produce collagen that keeps skin firm.
- Blueberries
Very rich sources of antioxidants
Also eat black grapes, blackberries, cherries, cranberries, raspberries, organic strawberries
- Purple and red grapes
Contain the antioxidant anthocyanins, and the phytochemical resveratrol, which protect the heart and blood vessels by decreasing stickiness of blood platelets. It is also anti-inflammatory.
Drink also purple grape juice, red wine( in moderation)
- Meat
Meat is high in protein for building lean tissue, and zinc, which helps develop white blood cells to flight off harmful bacteria and viruses
Include lamb, beef, poultry, fortified cereals, yogurt and oysters.
- Extra virgin olive oil
Contains heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. Rich in poliphenol antioxidants with the most being found in extra virgin olive oil, which can help combat oxidative stress caused by exposure to UV rays
- Virgin coconut oil
It is a very stable fat that does not change in chemical structure when heated for cooking. It also enhances thyroid function, boosting metabolism and increasing energy. It is also contains the antimicrobial lauric acid, which enhances the immune system
- Sweet potatoes
A good source of beta-carotene, which the body quickly turns into vitamin A, important for our skin; has other immune boosting benefits
Choose also carrots, mango, papaya, apricots, cantaloupe melon, squash, yellow and orange peppers, pumpkin
- Eggs
Eggs contain omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids. Also contain antioxidants lutein, selenium and vitamin A, plus folate and iron
Choose free range eggs which contain higher amounts og omega 3 fats
- Tea
Green tea is high in polyphenols, which protect DNA to prevent ageing. It has potent antioxidant and anti—inflammatory properties.
- Yogurt
Yogurts that contain active cultures are a good source of healthy bacteria for digestive system. Gut bacteria also help make B vitamins, vitamin A and K
- Kiwi Fruit
Higher in vitamin C then oranges
It is a good source of vitamin E
- Dark Chocolate
Has strong antioxidants properties , increase dopamine release and provide flavonoids, which keeps arteries healthy
- Xango juice
Made from mangosteen fruit, which delivers a rich source of xanthones, antioxidants associated with ageing
Research has shown that xanthones help maintain intestinal health, protect against free radicals, improves the body’s natural defences, and keeps joins healthy
- Basmati Rice
It is a grain with a lower glycaemic index than white rice so provides more release of energy.
Choose also brown rice, whole grain pasta, many legumes, including chick peas, kidney beans, black beans, lentils
Tags: healthy food, high protein food, Nutrition
