5 years ago, I was at a very low point in my life. I ideated suicide as a result of several issues that crowded my life. But thank God, 5 years later, I have grown tremendously in every area of my life which happened as a result of my commitment and quest for self-development. You can also see it as personal development.
I will be sharing 10 ways to improve your personal development skills and help you stay on top of your game this year.
But before then, what is self-development (personal development)? Self-development can be seen as the process of learning new things and building new skills—skills that help us increase our chances of success, achieve our goals and manifest our dreams.
As you work on self-development, we get good at the social, emotional, and practical skills that we need so that we can accomplish what we set out to do.
So, let’s drive into the 9 important skills you must learn to improve your life.
1. Be ready for the new you
Most times, people want their status quo to change, but psychologically they are not ready. They allow their current status to limit them from stepping into that next phase of their life mentally. This is basically tied around “the fear of making mistakes” which leads us to avoid challenges and new experiences—experiences that would help us grow. So, you need to be ready for the challenge that is coming ahead.
You need to do this by developing a growth mindset. When we have a “growth mindset,” we enjoy challenges, despite the risk, usually, because we value learning and growth more than others thinking we know what we’re doing. That’s why those with a growth mindset often build new skills more easily because they believe they can, and so they really work at it.
2. Calm yourself & de-stress
High levels of stress are not only bad for our health and well-being, but they can also prevent us from effectively pursuing and achieving our self-development goals. By learning some stress-reducing strategies, your body and mind will be more equipped to handle the challenges that will inevitably arise.
3. Develop your ability to think like an entrepreneur
People can benefit from learning how to think like an entrepreneur, regardless of whether they have their own business. Why? Because entrepreneurs have to be innovative, good at planning for all possible outcomes, and skilled at getting others to buy into their vision or dream, they tend to be adaptable and capable of thriving in all sorts of situations.
4. Develop your positivity reflex
We all experience ups and downs, and we both know life is hard sometimes. But we don’t all respond to these ups and downs the same way. Some people let the hard times defeat them. In 2020, I applied for the Russian Government Scholarship. When the list of successful candidates came out, I didn’t read the instruction attached to the list. I went ahead to look for my name. I saw it, and I so thanked God. When I read the instruction, I didn’t fall in the region of students who made the list. At that point, I never felt defeated, I believed that the plans God had for me are plans of good and not of evil. A week after this event, the school informed me to email them why the school considered me. I did, and I was given the scholarship, and I am currently studying for a degree at Saint Petersburg State University. It is very important to develop your positivity reflex. If you can be even a bit more positive, the bad times don’t look so bleak.
5. Keep developing yourself in new ways
The science is clear—the more ways we develop ourselves, the broader our skillset and the more success we tend to have. So try learning some new emotional skills or try out some activities to build these skills. You just might learn something that changes your whole life. We are in the digital revolution era where the technological world is moving from web 2.0 to web3, it’s the best time for you to be in line with these new technological trends, and grow your knowledge with things around this revolution.
6. Stay mindful of the present moment
When we are mindful and stay present at the moment, we’re taking each day as it comes. Even though we have a goal or dream we are striving for, we can better enjoy the process and take pleasure in the simple and wonderful parts of just being alive. I’ll admit, this is a skill I struggle with, but I see how struggling with mindfulness limits my success, so I keep trying. You can give it a try too and build some mindfulness skills.
7. Develop yourself to be more resilient
Resilience is that super important skill that helps you bounce back quickly after being knocked down. This is one of the most indispensable skills for success because none of us will ever achieve anything if we don’t keep trying when we fail. So build some resilience skills.
8. Get yourself a mentor.
Staying under authority and mentorship has had a significant impact on my personal development. For your knowledge, Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor.
A mentor can be anyone from a peer who knows something you don’t, and you want to learn, all the way up to someone vastly more experienced who is willing to take you under their wing (in exchange for your working in some way for or with them). Mentorship is by far the fastest path of learning.
9. Find others to push you and train with.
Growing with other people has a lot of positive impact on your own growth. This is because self-development is not just a solo game, just like in the game of football, you need others to help you grow. In fact, the best self-development is done with others in some capacity. Spend time with people who are working on similar things as you, and you’ll find yourself growing with them at a faster rate than if you had tried to do it all alone.
10. Consistency is bedrock to success
Most influential people we celebrate today got to this height of their lives as a result of consistency. Self-development doesn’t happen overnight. It happens slowly and deliberately. Consistency is what creates truly meaningful change–and this is what makes the process so difficult for people. It’s not that you pop and pill, and you’re done. You don’t do it once, and you’re “fixed.” Self-development is a daily practice and lifestyle.
In summary
The 10 things you can do in your daily life to improve your personal development that I shared above are things that have worked for me over the years. Our own personal self-development is key to achieving whatever it is that we desire. We might not always succeed 100% of the time, but the more tools we have in our toolbox, the greater our chances for our success.
If you need to talk to anyone about self-development or how to improve your personal development to go on to win your world, you can talk to me here.