A lot of people ask me what I mean when I say that I love to work on personal development.  Well, to put rather obviously, I mean to develop one’s person.  However, it does go quite a bit deeper that this and I think this is something that’s important for everyone to understand.

Personal development, in my opinion, is all about making the most of one’s self.  It means bringing out one’s talents to be used to their fullest potential.  It means strengthening one’s weaknesses so that they do not hinder the path toward a goal.  Personal development means finding away to learn from both successes and failures to grow one’s self on a regular basis so that each day is closer to ultimate happiness than the previous.

Personal development is not as simple a concept as it may seem.  It is, in fact, rather complex but can certainly be accomplished in a simple manner.  One of my own favorite aspects of personal development is that there are so many areas that can be improve with a “duh” solution.  A “duh” solution is one that most people never think of initially, but, when brought to light, trigger an immediate “why didn’t I think of that sooner” response.  Furthermore, when the “duh” solutions are carried out, they almost always lead to a statement of “if only I had done that sooner…”.  It’s a beautiful thing.

The world of personal development is very exciting.  Seeing myself improve and grow on a daily basis is awesome!  That’s one of the biggest reasons for this blog.  I love to see my singing improve, but that’s just a small part of my overall personal development.  Singing has made me more confident, more comfortable with myself, more energetic, more open, and happier.  Seeing this development is remarkable!

When you get a few minutes to yourself, write down a little bit about your own personal development.  How have you improved yourself in the past few days, weeks, or months?  How have you grown?  What have you learned?  How have you developed and brought out your talents?  Have you discovered new talents?  How have you improved your weaknesses?

Seeing your development feels incredible, you’ll see.  Next, take a minute and plan your own personal development for the next week.  Think of a weakness to strengthen.  Think of a way to refine your talents.  Think of a way to better utilize your talents.  Make some goals and go after them!

Personal development is a beautiful thing.  It’s more than goal setting and achieving.  It’s about working with what you were given and making the most of your life for the good of yourself and others.  Personal development is about maximizing the happiness in your life and the lives of those around you.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about staying motivated throughout a big project and this morning I found a great blog post that addresses this exact point. The author of the post entitled “5 Ways to Stay Motivated to Finish What You Started” gives five great tips for staying motivated to get you to the finish line. It’s one of the most difficult aspects of personal development, but also one of the most important.

Staying motivated throughout a project is, admittedly, not easy.  In the past, I have been labeled by myself and others as a “serial starter”.  Most of us actually have this tendency.  This is because there is so much passion at the beginning of something new that when it wheres off it is very difficult to keep going.  If the passion remained all the way through, who knows what each of us could have accomplished by now?

You’ll hear a lot of people say that the toughest part is getting started.  Maybe that’s true, but I’m starting to believe that the toughest part is really seeing it through to the end.  A person who finishes a project with the same enthusiasm that they had at the beginning is truly a special person.  I want you to be a special person, so I’m going to try to help you keep your passion to the end.  Read the article linked to in this piece, and I will come back with more tips in the future on this very important topic.