Self Development: A Journey, Not A Crusade

Self-development is more about igniting the fire from within instead of external factors. External influences only act as facilitators to the goal of development. The goal could be to quit smoking, become more available to your family, take classes to learn new skills or practice philanthropy.

Development encompasses factors such as how much time you are willing to dedicate to a particular task. Is it long term? How do you see yourself grow as a result of achieving that goal? The answer to these questions and other similar ones can lead you to draw a road map as to how to go about them in future.

People consider personal development a crusade. They want to instill a particular trait in themselves by hook or by crook when they fail to realize that if they have become a chain smoker it was not overnight that this happened. It may have been peer pressure or the need to combat stress away or drive it away or heavy reliance on nicotine levels due to the nature of work over time that led them to this point. But when it comes to quitting, they want to come clean the next hour. This isn’t going to happen and will only occur in due time. The trick is to stick to a regimen by staying focused and determined that you have to call it quits. Change can be drastic but something which is deep rooted is not easy to overcome. So if you used to smoke two packs a day, start by limiting yourself to two cigarettes a day (just an example).

In the above example, you can see that to bring about growth and development you have to consider the transition a journey instead of forcing it on to yourself. Break it down into smaller bits and gradually work towards making it a whole. Usually, when you try to force things, they backfire. For instance, if you are unable to sleep at night and know that you have to wake up early tomorrow, no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to put yourself to sleep. To compel your brain you have to try other means such as listening to binaural beats in order to help you put yourself to sleep. By simply telling your brain to “go to sleep” you are actually activating the tendency of it to resist.

All in all, self-development is purely subjective. You cannot definitely label something self-development because to other people it may mean different interpretations as conveyed in my opening paragraph. If you are learning to drive a car, make sure to set aside some time for it every day. This is how you will master the art of driving or any other pursuit you seek. You can then cross off items in your quest to become better.

Catherine Daisy is a social media activist. Her areas of interest include writing self-help guides, training and delivering lectures on management skills as well as working for an assignment help service.