Many people get trapped in self-growth without understanding its real value. That is why I am going to show you what is personal development in its actual sense.
But first, let’s look at why it is important.
To help his family meet their financial needs, a 17-year-old boy worked as a janitor after school and on weekends for $40 a week. Like many, this boy too had a childhood and early adulthood full of problems.
His mother was addicted to drugs and physically abusive. He constantly saw incoming and outgoing stepfathers and was homeless at one point. In short, he was broke as hell. But for his own sake, he was a “brave and go-getter” broke.
Trying to find a way out of his misery, one day, he asked the owner of the building in which he worked, “My father said you were once a loser, so how did you accumulate your wealth?”
The surprised owner said, “I attended a seminar by a motivational speaker named Jim Rohn, and my life turned for the better after implementing whatever I learned.”
Mesmerized by the new insight, the boy requested the owner to buy him a ticket to that seminar which cost $35 back then. Sure it wasn’t a big deal for the owner, but he refused by saying he wouldn’t value it if he got it for free.
In this situation, many would have given in to the immediate problems and refused the idea of attending a seminar that could potentially change their life, but not this boy.
He mustered up the courage and decided to spend almost his week’s salary to “invest” in something that could have an impact of a lifetime.
Eager to change his life, he was quick to apply the learnings from Jim Rohn. He spent most of his time getting into the depth of it by continuously following the cycle of personal development.
The boy got so obsessed with it that he started working for him selling his tickets to know more about the philosophy. While doing this, he found his calling and decided what to pursue – personal development coaching.
He started solving people’s problems in any way he could and worked his way up to become one of the best personal development coaches of all time.
From jam-packed seminars to best-selling books to sold-out CDs, his work took many forms and influenced the lives of millions for the better.
His name is Tony Robbins.
But . . . what ignited this massive change of fortune?
Was it Jim Rohn’s seminar? I admit this event gave him direction and insights that helped him during his life. But there were plenty of others who have been to such seminars. Not everyone but a few tasted similar success like Tony Robbins.
So what made all the difference?
It was his dedication to the never-ending cycle of personal development AND TO DELIVER VALUE TO OTHERS USING IT – in his case, as a personal development coach.
He admits being an advocate of a philosophy he calls CANI – Constant And Never-ending Improvisation – in his book “Awaken The Giant Within.”
But there is more depth to this mindset which many overlook and thus find themselves fluctuating between pseudo success and silent misery. Let’s dig deeper.
What is personal development, and why do we all need it?
Would you hire an obese trainer for your weight loss training, assuming you are overweight? No? Why? Because: –
- If he could help you in losing weight, he would have done it for himself.
- His characteristics don’t suit the thing you are trying to accomplish.
Now think, how often do you become your own mentor/guide/trainer without questioning whether your own characteristics are credible to help you in achieving your goals?
If you are trying to lose weight, do you check whether your character is of a person determined to lose weight?
Had Tony Robbins showcased in him a person that gets carried away with life problems, would people have trusted him as a personal development coach? I won’t.
Got the importance of personal development?
Whatever you do, your character is always involved in determining your fate.
But what actually is personal development?
It is the acknowledgment of your true self and working continuously to build a character that supports your goal.
Is there anything wrong with you?
“Personal development, heh? It means that there is something wrong with me,” you may think. Otherwise, why else would you need to develop yourself for the better? But there is a better way to look at it.
Let’s face it, folks. We all suck at many things in life. We are flawed. We are imperfect. And it is fine!
But what is not fine is your shortcomings becoming a hindrance to whatever you want to achieve. Do you procrastinate? Do you always easily get pissed off? Are you low on self-confidence?
This is where the role of personal development comes in.
Personal development helps you to turn yourself into your ally instead of a roadblock by constantly evolving a version of you that aligns with your goal.
Thus, there is nothing wrong with you as long as you accept your inner demons and are willing to do something about them.
The trap of personal development
There are at least two reasons why people pursue personal development: –
- For self-care
- To achieve success
1. Personal development for self-care
Sometimes we just want a good and healthy lifestyle. Hitting the gym, reading books, meditating, dieting, etc. are classic examples of doing so. Here our purpose is only self-growth.
You just want to stay calm when somebody tries to piss you off. Or to keep your body immune from the ever-growing list of diseases.
2. Personal development to achieve success
At the beginning of this post, we met Tony Robbins. He was living in poverty and wanted to get out of there. So what did he do for that? He developed himself continuously and, along with it, worked hard to achieve his goal.
Many of us too every day hear that inner voice, feel that inner dissatisfaction that compels us to work on ourselves and keep the wheel moving.
***
If your purpose behind personal development is to achieve success, then you need to be beware of its trap.
Often people take personal development as an excuse, thinking that they are not yet ready to start working on their actual goal.
“First, I will be the fittest person in the city, and then only I can start my fitness center.”
“First, I need to be a Shakespeare, and then only I can start writing that novel I always wanted.”
Notice a pattern? People set an unrealistic milestone in personal development that they feel they need to cross first, and once they cross it, that’s the green signal to start pursuing their actual goal. IT’S A TRAP!
Personal development isn’t any milestone or goal. It is a way of life that helps us to achieve our goals faster. But the problem is that when we start to see changes in ourselves, it feels so gratifying that we mistake personal development for the actual success we wanted to achieve.
I admit that I was also tangled in this trap. I thought that “First, I need to be as disciplined as a ninja, and then only I can start my personal development blog.” Had I not, this blog would have celebrated its second anniversary by now.
Now, a question may arise in your mind that…
How to avoid the trap of personal development?
You can avoid this trap if you understand how you are pursuing personal development.
So whenever you notice that you are starting to take personal development as an excuse to delay working on your actual goal, immediately STOP and rethink.
Ask yourself: –
- Was this my actual goal?
- If not, what is my goal?
- What is the first step I can take toward achieving my goal?
- What should I do simultaneously with personal development so that my personal growth complements the progress toward my goal?
Remember that personal development and working on your goal should go hand-in-hand. Had Tony Robbins waited to grow himself first and then started to work towards the life actually wanted to live, we would have missed the change he has brought to this world.
You are never done with personal development, no matter at which stage you are in your life. That is why ultra-successful people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates read books even after gaining such large reservoirs of wealth, wisdom, and experience.
So why take personal development as a handicap for achieving your actual goal? Go, suck at it and continuously improve. But start now and do it anyway.
The ultimate purpose of personal development
The world doesn’t budge with even the best intentions of the masses and moves with even the small continuous action of an individual.
Personal development makes the world a better place to live because the world changes when people change.
An individual doing the mere personal act of losing obesity and achieving a better physique is also changing the world for the better. How?
- He is breaking the stereotype of others who think it is impossible.
- He is motivating and influencing others, knowingly or unknowingly, to become fit.
- He is improving the statistics of obese people and related diseases, which makes it less scary.
- With increased confidence, he is contributing to improving the overall happiness index. This makes the world a happier place.
- He is increasing his efficiency to provide more value outwards.
You might say that these changes are very subtle and hardly noticeable. That’s where the magic lies.
Like money, tiny changes also have a compound effect. At first, these don’t seem to make much of a difference. But when it showcases the compounded result, it often leaves people mesmerized.
Conclusion
So let’s join hands together to take responsibility for ourselves and, along with me, become less mediocre every day with personal development. The world will thank you.
Quick question – What are some of the areas in your life you would like to grow?
Let’s Connect Beyond
Hey buddy, I hope you found this post valuable. But Make in Yourself isn’t limited to this blog. It goes beyond this where I provide you with bite-sized digestible insights so that you can grow on the go.
Subscribe to Wednesday Wisdom Newsletter. It’s free!
Get 3 short pieces of daily life wisdom delivered to your inbox each Wednesday.
