A few weeks ago I was given a book called The Miracle Morning routine by Hal Elrod. I love to read, but with a busy work and home life I often find that time to read is rather low down on my list of priorities.
Within a day or so of receiving this book, I decided to consciously make time to read every day. For me, it was about making a commitment to myself to work on my own personal development.
Permission for Personal Development
As a coach, I work with clients who are on a variety of different journeys, all of which have in some way or another given themselves permission for personal development, and it dawned on me that I wasn’t practising what I preach. It was time to change that and allow myself the time, even if it was only 30 minutes a day, to do just that.
Over the last fifteen years or so I have explored, experimented and embraced all sorts of things, including Yoga, Mindfulness, Meditation, Running, NLP, Hypnosis, Singing, Chanting, Spiritual development and the law of attraction to name a few. Some I hold close and others I have played with for a while and moved on.
Yoga and running are two that have played a big part in my life over the years. Both I would say I have a love-hate relationship with, especially running! And both I couldn’t live without. Running is a challenge and I connect more and more with it when I set myself a goal, such as a half marathon ( I have done three to date and each time I swear I will never do another one). What running gives me is not only a sense of massive achievement but also a feeling of ‘mind over matter’. It’s all about mindset and this is something I work with every day with my clients in different capacities and contexts.
Reading The Miracle Morning has reengaged my interest and love of meditation and also affirmations, two elements that I have seen and felt the benefits of, although for some reason I have chosen to put them in the ‘I’ll come back to that another day’ box. I have made a commitment to myself to add these elements into my personal development goals.
So my question to you is what are you not doing that you know would and could benefit you in a positive way? Have you started something such as daily mindfulness or meditation and then found yourself putting it further down your priorities list? Why do we do this?
What is Personal Development
Personal development is how we assess our skills and qualities to consider our aims and goals in life to reach our potential.
There are many excuses and potential limiting beliefs we can use to justify the reasons why we stop doing something that although we may find a little challenging, we know, feel and see the benefits of. So here’s my challenge to you, as I take on my own……. choose one thing that you would like to explore as part of your journey of personal development. It might be something you have done before or something completely new. Whatever it is, give yourself permission to take that time out every day to explore and play. It’s not for me to tell you how you set the goal and how you will know when you have achieved it. Maybe you will do it by the number of days, after all there is the school of thought that a new habit takes just 28 days to embed. Or you maybe you are someone who works more effectively with a ‘reward’ system. Whatever works for you is right. So will you take on the challenge and take your journey of personal development?
As Jim Rohn said “Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going”
