3 Ways Personal Development Has Changed My Life
Diving into personal development has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me.
I’ve always wanted a fulfilling life for myself. I knew from a a young age I wanted to be happy more than anything. I also wanted to help others achieve happiness. Ultimately, I wanted to leave my dent in the universe.
“When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life.” — Unknown (Not John Lennon)
I’ve always struggled with internal conflicts in the sense that what I actually did on a day to day basis wasn’t in congruent with what I actually wanted. This has brought about states of sadness, numbness, bad habits, and worst of all inaction.
I began my journey into personal development at the start of 2016. I consumed Gary Vaynerchuk content religiously. It got me motivated enough to start researching this whole idea of personal development. I spent the better part of 2016 consuming information on the topic.
Fast forward to the end of 2017, and there’s clearly one thing that has changed.
I take action
If there’s one message Gary Vee tries to get across, it’s to DO. To take action.
In fact, if all his followers stopped consuming his content because they were too busy taking action and building something for themselves, he would die the happiest man in the history of man (and woman).
Here are three ways personal development has changed my life.
1. I write every single day
I write in a daily journal, I write on medium, I write on my iPhone, I write on sticky notes, and I even write on napkins or my hand if there’s no paper. I also study machine learning and python every single day. I go to the gym or exercise every single day. I meditate every single day.
Gaining the discipline to write every single day allowed me to do a lot of things every single day.
I write because it takes the zettabytes of data stored in my brain and translates it into actionable information.
I write down my goals, and i review and revise them every single day so I know exactly where i’m going and what i’m doing. This allows me to focus on the day to day tasks I need to do in order to be one step closer to those goals.
2. I know how to say ‘No’
I used to be really bad at this. Like. Really bad. Growing up in Orange County, CA, and going to school in Santa Barbara, CA had distractions thrown at me every second of the day. When I was younger, an easy ‘yes’ would trump a difficult ‘no’ because I wasn’t yet practicing personal development. I didn’t have my goals clearly defined, which meant that most days I didn’t have a checklist. In those moments, choosing to party, or go to the beach, or go to happy hour, or road trips, just made more sense.
These days it’s a lot harder to distract me because I know exactly what i’m doing, every day.
3. I’m learning what it means to be happy
This might be the most important part. I used to think happiness was achieved by finding your passion or having that “aha!” moment. Or buying a nice car or a nice house. Well, that is not the case.
What’s making me feel a deeper sense of joy and happiness is the fact that what I want, what I say i’m going to do, and what I actually do, are slowly becoming one.
It’s important to note that not every day is perfect. And that’s totally okay. Its life, and i’m fine with it because I always try and pick myself back up the next day. I’ll leave with this quote I've been pondering lately:
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. — Mahatma Gandhi
What are some ways diving into personal development has changed you? Please share in the comments below! Also if you liked (or didn’t like) any part of this publication, please let me know! I’m really trying to convey my thoughts on paper better every day, and you all help me in that respect!!
Thank’s for reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate!)
