Personal Development: A Comprehensive Overview

By Rena Williams  |  

Do know what the phrase 'Personal Development' really means? Personal development can be defined as the practice and study of improving one's life; this can especially be true in terms of health, education, happiness, career, productivity, relationships and other personal challenges. Some common aspects of personal development usually include changing habits, goal setting, improving awareness, motivation, self-actualization and realizing one's beliefs and values.
Personal development has played an extensive role in history, as it has influenced many cultures through the course of history. Such cultures are that have been affected are: Western and Eastern religions, Ancient Greek philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Gestalt therapy, Humanistic Psychology, Existentialism and Hypnotherapy.
Currently, there are many theories and concepts in personal development that have started to undergo scientific testing in the realms of Clinical psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Neuroscience and Positive Psychology. Yet, before you get started, understand that there are many assumptions associated with this topic. The following information will give you a good oversight at some of the most important assumptions that you need to know if you are seeking to personally develop yourself.
Personal Development's Common Assumptions
Before we get started describing the assumptions, it's important that you keep in mind the fact that you are responsible for the way in which you live your life. Those traveling down the personal development road understand that their actions and thoughts play an enormous role in how life turns out.
-Define exactly what it is that you want, before you begin trying to achieve it. There are a lot of people who go aimlessly through life, never having a clear path mapped out. However, ultimately, before you are able to achieve life's values, you must realize them.
-Long-term benefits can be achieved through short-term costs. Trying to change one's life is not a cake walk. On the other hand, real change takes effort and failure. No one will present you with a blueprint or magic pills to follow. You must be willing to invest and believe in yourself; this alone will require short-term costs, but will lead to long-term benefits.
-People constantly go through changes. The fact of the matter is that regardless if you plan an active role in your own personal development, you are constantly developing and changing as an individual. Everyone is on their own type of personal development path, but the difference is that some people take more control over their own destiny than other people do.
-Your own thoughts are important. At times we consider our own thoughts to be inconsequential and immaterial; however, that couldn't more untrue. The way in which you think will strongly influence your actions, and this can ultimately determine what you get from life.
-Habits are very important to personal development. Much like the way you work to change your thoughts, you should also constantly work toward exploring new habits. Think of it like this - if you always do the same things day in and day out, things will never change. At times, you won't know the best course of action until you have tried other things. So, if you allow it, personal development can be used to create habits that lead to success.
-Your place of power is the present moment. Each conscious decision that you make or action you take happens in the present moment. The truth is that the more aware you are of the present, the more control you will have over your daily actions.
-Learn from past experiences. Even though you cannot change the past, what you can do is look back at it and learn from the successes and mistakes contained therein.
-Constantly remain optimistic about your future. Although you will never be certain about where your future will take you, if you remain hopeful and optimistic, then you will allow yourself to act in ways to make this reality. Most times optimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It is difficult to sum the entire personal development movement into one article, but the key concepts discussed above can help you through your own development process. The one thing you must remember is that personal development isn't an idea that can be absorbed or learned in just one day. In reality, this is a process that never ends, as your life is constantly changing, which leaves you with new and improved ways to act and think.
Personal Development's Importance in Life
As you can see, if you are a person who wants to grow and change for the better during your life, then you should be on a path of personal development and you will most likely achieve it. However, on the other hand, there are many people out there who still do not understand the importance of striving for personal development, and they tend to live unfulfilled lives. The truth is that those who seek to make themselves better, generally keep a more positive outlook and attitude towards life. This friendly attitude can be a welcome for others, which leaves you open to a life full of opportunities. On the other hand, someone who is not concerned with personal development can carry around a negative attitude and outlook on life that can begin to pour over into other areas.
In the end, personal development is essentially about making positive changes. To accomplish this you will need to find the resources necessary for change to help you set goals, move past obstacles and eventually find happiness. However, just bear in mind that it does not matter what part of yourself that you are trying to change, this change will not happen overnight. Instead, you will need to remain persistent and use all of your willpower to help yourself improve. Although this will be a difficult period at the beginning, you will be developing yourself for a lifetime. In other words, you will obtain forever change that is well worth the effort!

Jim Rohn: The No Excuse Guide To Success (Jim Rohn Personal Development)

 

The Importance Of Good Personal Development Plan

By Jake Oliver  |  

 

Creating a personal development plan is as important to your success as creating a business plan is to the success of a company.
"Planning is bringing the future into the present
so that you can do something about it now"
- Alan Lakein
Your personal development plan is the roadmap that you are going to use to become the person that you want to be. The key is to take developing a personal plan step-by-step.
Step 1: Decide who you want to be - This isn't just about a career; this is about your life. Do you want a powerful spiritual life? Do you want to be a huge success in your career? Do you want to be a parent? Do you want to retire at 50? Do you want to have a one year vacation every five years? These are the decision you need to make to have a complete personal development plan.
Step 2: Figure your timeline for each of things on your list that you want to do, while you're developing your personal plan. If you are 45, your timeline will be very different than if you are 25. If you want to be a doctor, you will need to get started sooner than some other careers because it takes longer. If you want to start your own dog walking business, you can be working tomorrow. Honest timelines are an important part of your personal development plan.
Your Personal Development Plan on Paper
Step 3 will be where you start developing your personal development plan and putting things on paper. This is also where you will separate needs from wishes and wishes from dreams.
If you have a debilitating fear of commitment, you really will need to address that before you can do anything else. Mainly because you need to commit to this plan.
If you still have issues with your parents that you carry around, you are going to need to handle them. You can't write the chapters of your future until you stop re-reading the chapters of the past.
If you want to own a G-6, that's great but there are a few steps in between. Each step doesn't need to be spelled out while you're developing your personal plan, but it should be implied.
Making Your Personal Development Plan Work
After you have figured out what you want to do, then next step in developing your personal plan is find the resources you need to make it happen.
If you want to be a doctor, but you don't yet have your high school diploma, then you will need to get a GED.
If you want a deep spiritual life, then you will need to explore until you have found the right path for you.
This is a Personal Development Plan, not an 'Already Completed Snapshot.' Don't get discouraged if it seems like there is a lot to do. That's precisely why you are developing your personal plan with a timeline longer than "NOW!"
Find mentors - If your goal is to make money as a blogger, find someone who can show you a method for doing precisely that. (I know someone who is doing precisely that. [Shameless self-promotion alert!]) If your goal is to be a veterinarian, stop by your local animal hospital. You get the idea. Find someone who is already successful at doing what you want to do and make them part of your personal development plan.
A quick note - Your personal development plan contains absolutely nothing unique. I know we all want to be unique and we are, but someone has already done what you are hoping to do. Find them and find out how they did it. You don't make a triangular wheel just to be different.
Find resources - There are literally millions of books, websites and pamphlets that can guide you through your personal development plan. If it is spirituality you seek, you will find billions of resources. Follow your heart as long as you follow your plan. And don't cling to any one resource while you're developing your personal plan. It's personal, after all, so no one source but you is perfect for the job.
Tell everyone - Tell people about your personal development plan. If you keep it secret, it is much easier to slip from the plan. Post it to your Facebook page, your blog or on LinkedIn. Show family members and friends while you are developing your personal plan. In fact, you might inspire others to do the same.
Get someone to hold you to it - A best friend, spouse or work partner should have a copy of your personal development plan. Let them be a part of developing your personal plan. They have permission to nag you incessantly. They can pick on you and call you out in public until you move your plan forward. Knowing that someone is a part of developing your personal plan with will make it that much harder to procrastinate.
Your success is as important to the people around as it is to you. Everyone who understands how the world works wants you to succeed.
I want you to succeed and I believe your personal development plan is a huge part of that.
Your success means that you have more wealth and resources to buy more things, contribute to the economy and raise the quality of life for all of us.
Start today and don't look back.
Stay consistent with your plan.
Don't Quit!!
Share your story with the world because you have a great story.
It's up to you to make a difference in the lives of others.
Create your personal development plan TODAY!

Focus On Your Journey - MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO

Personal Development Who Needs It?

By David H Solomon  |   Submitted On December 06, 2013

Personal Development and Why You Need It.
Why?
Why do you need personal development you ask; well the answer is rather simple. If you do not develop continually you are going backwards by going nowhere at all. Life will continue to evolve shift, expand and contract and if you stop being able to develop new skills and talents; then you will get left in the dust. You have so many undiscovered talents and skills in you it is almost funny but the sad truth is many people take their gifts and talents to the grave with them. Many people never afford the world the opportunity to experience the uniqueness of their character that only they can offer. So do not cheat the world of your presence and ideas make personal development a weekly task and find out what you are truly capable of.
Personal Development
Personal development is the key to becoming the best you that you can be. No one on earth is at a point in life where all of the skills and talents they have are all firing on the same cylinder. We all have room to grow and mature no one is beyond personal development. The human species is one of the most complex and marvelous creatures aside from our seemingly insatiable appetite for war and violence of course, we are pretty creative as well as resilient. However, we all need to continually train our minds and bodies to be better. When you stop seeking some form of development you will plateau out and will eventually succumb to complacency and procrastination. Arriving at a level of extreme complacency will lead to being unfulfilled and eventually psychologically and possibly social digression. You must keep moving or else your passion for life will die and take you with it. A passionate pursuit for personal development is the only way to avoid this tragedy.
Remember that personal development consists of not only being conscience of your physical health but your mental health as well. Pursuing mental and physical wholeness requires that one word that the lazy shun like the plague and the dedicated hold dear "commitment". While serving in the Marine Corps the word commitment was engraved into our mines religiously. This brutal yet effective method of indoctrination caused me to develop good internal habits that I still carry with me to this day. While pursuing various aspects of personal development; you must accept that training yourself to be a student of personal development comes at a price.
Skill Development
Everyone has a certain set of skills they have acquired over many years of working however, like anything you have learned how to do; those skills can continually be fine-tuned. I was reading a book a while back called the millionaire mind and it discussed how successful people do not simply rely on innate talent but they lean heavily on their ability to sharpen those talents and skills to remain successful. Being a good business owner is one thing but being a great one requires effort and discipline. Furthermore, developing your skill sets will not only make you a better asset to your occupational field but it will also add a since of fulfillment knowing that you are making a deliberate attempt to become the best you possible.
Personal Development and Success
You will be hard pressed to find one individual that is classified as successful that has not made learning and development a vital part of their lives. Let me add that being able to go to a great learning institution and attain a degree is a very fundamental aspect of personal development. Personal improvement requires you to dive into your psychological patterns, your habits, relational issues, spending practices and a plethora of other things looking for the perfect balance in each. If you have time, check out a book called "THE COMPLETE 101 COLLECTION "by John C. Maxwell it's a great tool. It expounds on the multiple aspects of personal development and how it directly correlates with a leader's effectiveness. I use it daily and will actually be putting together a life overhaul program based on some of his key discoveries and viewpoints on leadership and development.
Being the best you can be requires you to train yourself to push beyond excuses and setbacks and find the fortitude to become the excellent version of yourself you may have been longing to become. So stop running from personal development you may be.. no let me rephrase that you are indeed running from your destiny to be great.

DREAM BIG - MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO - Personal Development University

Performance Appraisal and Personal Development - The Unholy Alliance

By Jeremy Francis  |   Submitted On June 08, 2016

There is currently an increasing emphasis on maximum performance from each individual in organisations. At the same time there is a corresponding concern as to how to achieve this in a way which is effective and focused for the organisation, and motivating and constructive for each employee.
In most organisations the assessment process take the form of an annual performance appraisal review between the manager and the employee. This interview provides the opportunity for a full and frank discussion about the individual's job performance for the previous 12 months, and for both parties to agree the key performance and development issues resulting from the discussion. These issues normally include updated performance measures, new personal objectives, and the delivery of training and personal development plans.
Whether appraiser and appraisee admit it or not, pay is also an important part of the agenda, and in the future it will become even more so, as remuneration becomes increasingly performance-related.
However, the irony of the current situation is that whilst Performance Appraisal is being undertaken by many organisations with a fresh urgency and focus, feedback from managers and employees suggest that very little is being achieved. In fact, current Performance Appraisal procedures seem to excite most staff to a level comparable to a visit to the dentist!
Why? Surely an organisationaly-supported discussion which gives managers and employees the opportunity to discuss their views and ideas on critical work issues like performance, pay, and career development should only benefit both.
What Is Going Wrong?
There are a number of key issues which organisations need to urgently review:
- unclear and unreviewed job roles
- 'woolly' or ill-defined performance measures
- inconsistent and unimaginative pay and performance policies
- 'wayward' and frankly inconsiderate interpersonal skills on the part of the managers.
However, the most critical factor requiring a complete re-think is that of a personal development planning forming an integral part of the Performance Appraisal Discussion.
For the majority of employees, the Annual Appraisal Meeting is still the only time that their career path and personal development will be discussed in any detail with their manager.
Many employees complain that their personal agenda of career development, job satisfaction and personal development is just 'tacked-on' to the Performance Appraisal discussion, and in an atmosphere where all too often subjective options about performance are being expressed and a pay award is up for grabs?? Not easy.
So why is the atmosphere of the Performance Appraisal meeting not at all appropriate for Personal Development Discussions? Because the emphasis and focus of each should be different.
Performance Appraisal
- Manager led
- Results based
- Past performance
- Organisational needs
- Pay/Compensation related
- Judgmental
Development Discussion
- Employee led
- Skills/Talents based
- Future growth
- Individuals' needs
- Career related
- Developmental
Performance and pay cannot be sensibly discussed alongside growth and development. The danger is that the shorter term pay issue will always cloud the longer term development issue. The development issue, which is actually of greater long-term benefit, will always come a poor second.
Organisations must recognise and signal that employee success is not just about past performance, it's as much about their future personal development.
So What Is The Remedy?
1. Personal career and development planning requires the same organisational priority as performance management, assessment techniques, training and compensation. It needs to stand alone as an essential piece of personnel practice in its own right.
2. The view that career development can only be measured in promotional terms has to be put into perspective. The stark reality is that 'right-sizing' will preclude promotion for an ever-increasing number of employees. Organisations and employees need to accept this and redefine the meaning of success at work.
3. Each employee must be taught how to take responsibility for their personal growth and development. They need time and encouragement to prepare a regular personal development agenda for discussion with their manager.
4. Growth and development should concentrate on an individual's personal skills and talents, particularly those which individuals want to use more and are also crucial to job success. The result is a win/win for the individual and employer.
5. People's growth and development will require more flexible organisational job structures where new responsibilities, assignments and projects will provide the opportunities for personal growth.
Recent research has shown again and again that growth and development are amongst the top motivational issues for employees today. To increase corporate performance the personal development issue must be tackled as a strategic issue.
Employees must be given quality time and opportunity to discuss with their manager their development and growth plans and aspirations. They also need a means to achieve this.
Just as Performance Appraisal never works in the hands of untrained managers so it is with Personal Development Discussions. They simply won't happen unless Managers are trained to handle them effectively.
Performance Appraisal Meetings and Personal Development Discussions are essential for any organisation wishing to increase performance, maintain motivation and retain their staff. Both activities are ultimately inter-dependent and interrelated, yet with an emphasis and focus which are different.
Performance Appraisal discussions should focus primarily on 'how effectively did you perform against the objectives which we discussed and agreed, and what needs to be done to improve performance in the coming year?'
Personal Development Discussions should focus primarily on 'what actions do you feel need to be taken to make your job more satisfying, and to make greater and more effective use of your talents and skills?'
There is a 'wind of change' blowing which recognises that individuals hold the key to organisational success. Individuals will provide the organisation with increased performance if the organisation provides the individual with real opportunities for personal development and growth. Organisations won't grow if the individuals within them are not growing.
The message is clear. Personal Development has outgrown Performance Appraisal; it now stands as its equal and must be treated separately.

Personal Development - Motivational Video

The Elements of a Productive Mindset

What is a productive mindset?

A productive mindset is one that makes the best use of your resources - your time, your energy and your efforts. It is not trying to do everything and be everything, or even doing it in the quickest way possible. 

It is making the most and best of what you have while enjoying the process.

In order to make the most of who we are and what we have, there are certain qualities or characteristics that assist us in accomplishing that end.

Here are some of the elements of a productive mindset:

• Curiosity - The willingness to seek, question, and explore new ideas and concepts. It is the willingness and desire to know and learn new things. 


• Desire or Motivation - Cultivate desire. Without desire or motivation there is nothing to drive us to make progress and improve. Inertia is the opposite of desire and a destroyer of progress.


• Vision - To be able to visualize what you want helps you focus on it and gives you an idea of what the outcome would look like. Without that picture in your mind, it would be more difficult to strive for a goal. We've all read how men of 'great vision' have been able to accomplish the seemingly impossible.


• Critical Thinking - Acquire the ability to assess a situation in an objective manner or to see it how it really is. Look at the pros and cons and be willing to make the appropriate adjustments.


• Self-confidence - The faith and belief that you are fully capable and can do what you set out to. Without self-confidence and faith you cannot reach your full potential.


• Persistence - Most things do not come easily. Be willing to overcome obstacles and adversity. Challenge yourself and persist in order to reach your goals. Do not let circumstances, the opinions of others, or setbacks, thwart your determination to succeed.


• Positive attitude or outlook - Your attitude, be it positive or negative, can make, or break, you. Possessing a positive attitude allows for any possibility, while a negative one defeats you before you can even start.


• Open-mindedness - There is nothing like an open-mind for generating new and innovative ideas. You become receptive to groundbreaking experiences when you are flexible and open-minded.


• Balance - Ultimately, to function well and get the most from life, we must maintain balance. Working towards goals is important, but we must also take time to rejuvenate and recharge. Doing too much, or pushing too hard on any one thing, can lead to burnout and frustration.

By integrating the above elements into our though processes, we not only cultivate a productive mindset, we set ourselves up for reaching our goals more effectively, develop positive habits and we sharpen our minds to function at high levels.

Related articles:
Ten Positive Habits to Develop
15 Life Lessons You Don't Learn In School
Invest In Your Personal Development 

https://www.essentiallifeskills.net/productivemindset.html

7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Self Improvement by Stephen Covey

How To Restore Passion For Your Life

When was the last time you felt truly passionate about something? Felt good, right? And so it should! Good thing is, you can learn how to restore passion for your life.

Passion is most evident when body, mind and spirit work together to create, articulate or manifest feelings, ideas and values. Passion is ignited when all of you work together. It is the presence of your soul combined with the totality of all you've experienced, and it empowers to live at optimal levels.

Passion your natural state. When what you do is in alignment with who you are, it increases your energy. Passion is like water flowing along its natural riverbed, gaining momentum from its course - unlike many work environments, where it feels more like trying to force water up and over a mountain!

Passion creates resilience. It enables you to overcome obstacles and to look beyond current setbacks to the infinite potential that's yours to claim. The passionate soul discovers nuggets of potential in every situation.

Passion transfers vibrant energy to every person or situation it touches. You can't fake it. Anyone can spot a phony by sensing lack of authenticity and depth in their actions.

And yet, many people run from passion because they're afraid of being burned. They hang on to the pain of betrayed trust and misplaced confidences as a reminder to dampen their own passion, lest they be hurt again. Perhaps they held the bucket for soulless greed and overzealous egos disguised as passion. Consequently, they're afraid of taking the risk to live life fully, openly and passionately. They may have even vowed to never go there again.

Instead, they opt for a more predictable, monochromatic existence. Rather than taking exploring the endless possibilities of life, they insist on hiding inside a safety bubble; giving up on adventure to exist in a sanitary, colorless world where nothing new happens.

What they really need is to restore their passion!

If you want a juicy life, you need to open your heart and mind to the multidimensional experience of passionate living every day.

Can you imagine how much more meaningful our roles as parents, lovers, business owners, employees, teachers and leaders would be if all our actions were predicated on our true passion? There is no limit to how far your influence can reach! To tap into your potential, you must engage life with passion. By bringing passion to what you do, you express every aspect of your creative being.

Here's the secret to living a passionate life: Never try to throttle down your passion for fear of what might show up! You cannot selectively suppress some part of your being without also suppressing the rest of your energy. When you suppress your passion, you also suppress your Life Force.

Truth is, every activity you engage in expresses the whole of you - much like one part of a hologram reflects the whole in its entirety. Even if you pick a narrow skill like running a marathon or cooking, your whole sense of self is expressed through that activity when doing it with passion.

https://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Restore-Passion-For-Your-Life&id=9997814

When living from your passion, you bring your entire identity to the party, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but actually it's the most natural way to approach anything.

When you hold some part of yourself back, you deny it exposure to life; you repress its energy and keep it from learning what it needs to know. Imagine a baby who wants to learn how to walk but has these reservations:

• I don't want to look bad.
• I don't want to fall down.
• I don't want to fail.
• I don't want to expend all my energy.
• I don't want any pain.
• I don't want to suffer.

It would seem absurd! If these thoughts prevail, the chance for mastery could never present itself. Yet as adults we resort to such reservations all the time - and deny ourselves mastery as a result.

The minute a situation arises, all the negatives around that situation will arise in the mind along with all the possibilities. The key is that you have a choice about which to focus on!

When you choose to focus on negatives, you yield to subconscious fear to shut out understanding. Do that often enough and you become a victim, subject to bewildering fears that can threaten to overwhelm you. These fears aren't coming from blind fate or misfortune; they simply represent holes in your awareness, the places where you haven't dared to look yet.

To break free from such self-limiting behavior, try looking at an issue that has kept you from totally engaging in life. For instance, if you are worried about what others may think of your effort, then that is the issue you need to challenge!

When I launched out into a solo practice, well-intended friends questioned whether I would make it in a highly demanding field. I chose not to listen to the voices of apprehension; instead, I redoubled my efforts because my passion is to help people.

At the time, it was the scariest, riskiest, most challenging thing I could think of doing with my life. It was also the one thing that kept me dreaming and working against all odds. Today, I can look back at decades of amazing outcomes and success.

Choosing to follow my passion took me to the edge of my comfort zone and stretched me in every way possible. It also brought growth, joy and fulfillment into every area of my life. I wouldn't trade what I'm doing for the world, because I get to use my innate gifts daily. I love living in alignment with my purpose and my passion!

What is that one, wild dream you have buried deep within? Is it time to let it emerge into the light where you can nourish it into a passionate path to fulfillment? How will you know unless you try?

You can restore passion for your life.

Start voicing your inner dreams and passions. Face down your fears, and treat your dreams like tender threads of gold, for they are every bit as precious. They form the fabric that fabulous lives are woven from!

Ada Porat is a seasoned kinesiologist and pastoral counselor who founded Stillpoint Holistic Services, a center for healing and transformation that serves clients around the globe.. She is passionate about helping clients live their best lives. She can be reached at https://AdaPorat.com.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ada_Porat/22141

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9997814

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind to Achieve ANY Goal

Effective Goal Setting

By Z. Hereford

The purpose of effective goal setting is to achieve what you want in life in a successful, focused and decisive manner by taking the right actions in a lesser time frame. 

Who doesn't want to achieve more in less time? Yet, many of us abandon our goals before we accomplish them. Why is that?

Some of the reasons include: lack of confidence, not having a workable plan for achieving them, being unrealistic by expecting too much too soon, fear of failure, and lastly, putting too much pressure on ourselves to accomplish them. Luckily there are strategies and behaviors we can adopt for successfully setting and achieving goals.

How do you start?

Know that you deserve success and achievement. Before beginning the process of setting goals, know that you deserve success and that it is achievable for anyone who puts his/her mind to it. You must believe you can do what you set out to do and that you possess the talents and abilities for doing it. Unless you begin with this crucial premise, your efforts will be thwarted and you will fall short of accomplishing what you want. 

Determine what you want. One of the biggest problems people have in setting goals effectively is not knowing what they really want. Lacking a clear concept of what you want in life makes it difficult to proceed. The one thing all successful people have in common is that they are extremely focused and intensely goal oriented. They know what they want and they understand it takes setting goals to achieve it. 

A good way to begin the process is to take the time to write down the goals most meaningful to you and then list what you would need to do accomplish them. To figure this out you can look at the 'big picture' of your life. Start a journal or workbook and write down for yourself the answers to some of these important questions:

• Do I want to be in the best of health and what will it take to get there?
• What do I want to achieve in my career?
• What kind of family life do I want?
• What kind of lifestyle do I want today and in the future?
• How do I see myself in 5, 10 or 20 years from now?

As an example, under the goal of maintaining good health, you can jot down: exercise 3-4 times a week, eat a balanced diet of protein, fruits and vegetables, get 7-8 hours of sleep etc.

For where you want to be in 5 years, you might include: finish college degree; be earning an income of x amount of dollars; have a serious personal relationship (or avoid having a serious relationship until career is established).

Plan, organize and prioritize your goals in smaller, manageable chunks. If you look at everything you want to achieve all at once, you might find it daunting and overwhelming, so it's best to organize and prioritize your goals. Instead, devise a workable plan for each item you want to accomplish. 

You know that your health goals need to be ongoing ones, so establish a daily routine or agenda that you can keep up on a regular basis. 

For career goals, categorize them; in monthly, quarterly or yearly chunks. List points, or plan the actions required to attain a particular point in your career. This may include taking the odd supplemental course, doing extra reading, or volunteering in the community in order to get exposure and experience. Since careers take time and effort to build, planning and organizing your moves makes good sense.

Review, update and revise. Review and update your goals on a regular basis to ensure they are still relevant to you. Doing so also keeps you on track and taking the appropriate steps and actions. 

If some of your strategies aren't working, fine tune them, or devise new ones. Likewise, figure out which obstacles and distractions are getting in your way and determine what you need to do to overcome them. 

We all know there will be setbacks and bumps in the road along the way to achieving our goals, but we need not let them hinder or take us off course. Revise and adjust the game plan where, and when, you need to.

Stay focused and motivated. Staying focused and motivated is probably one of the hardest things to do when setting goals. It is common to periodically fall off the wagon however, it is essential to get back on track as soon as possible.

A great tool for keeping you focused is the journal or workbook you've been maintaining. Go over it regularly as a reference point and to remind yourself what you want to accomplish. Set up routines or habits that will ensure you stay on track. For example - do your exercises at the same time each day; drink your protein shake first thing in the morning.

Other helpful techniques for staying motivated include the use of relevantaffirmations and visualization. Many successful people, especially athletes, swear by both. It's important to 'see' yourself accomplishing a goal before you actually do. Positive affirmations implant positive thoughts into your subconscious, which in turn, prompt you to take the right actions to achieve your goals.

The Benefits of Setting Goals

• Give you the 'big picture' direction you want your life to take
• Help keep you organized and focused
• Build self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment
• Help you achieve success more efficiently and in less time
• Make the small day to day tasks more meaningful and purposeful

Goal setting, and certainly effective goal setting, has been a tried and true method for achieving success and accomplishment in life. Without it we would drift aimlessly and waste valuable time and effort in pursuits that lead nowhere. So start now! Decide which goals are most meaningful to you and devise a plan for achieving them.

https://www.essentiallifeskills.net/effectivegoalsetting.html

Related articles:
Affirmations - How to Make Them Real
Visualization The Key To Reaching Your Goals 7 Power Habits That Will Improve Your Life Immediately