What three areas of personal growth are you working on right now?
Why 3?
Three is a manageable number, a doable factor. Think of jugglers. Most of them learn to juggle with three items. Advanced and professional jugglers can juggle more. For most of us, three is a reasonable number. Also, think of a tripod. A 3-legged stand or tripod is triangular and considered one of the most stable platforms for supporting weight. Three is the number for strength and stability.
Personal Growth Categories
Here is a simple list of top areas for personal growth.
- Health and Fitness
- Self-Virtues (e.g., Courage, Integrity, Authenticity)
- Significant Relationship
- Family and Close-Friend Relationships
- Community
- Finances
- Spirituality
- Creativity
- Productivity
- Career Development
The above list is just a start to get you thinking. Pick three. There are a lot of categories to choose regarding personal development. What three subjects interest you the most? Choose three and set a time frame on what you want to do and how you want to improve.
An Example
For example, I have chosen to work on the following three areas during this time of sheltering-in-place: fitness, finances, and career development. These are high-level categories. I want to be a little more specific on how to improve and get stronger in these areas.
Under finances, my goal is to save an extra $500 a month, which equals about $125 per week. Eating meals at home and ordering take-out once a week is one way I am saving money and working toward reaching my goal. I keep track of the savings in a journal. Every week, I also monitor all the expenses to find other opportunities for savings.
For health and fitness, I have committed to getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night and exercising 4-5 times per week. With working from home and staying at home, the days seem longer. I have not had any trouble achieving the nightly 7-8 hours of sleep. The workouts at home have been a challenge, and I am managing to get three days of cardio and two days of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts per week. I schedule these workouts on my calendar to make sure I get them done.
Finally, for career development, I have set a goal with my manager to go deep in learning a specific area of the business. The goal is to get better in my work and further develop my career. I meet with my manager every week to check-in and review what I am learning in this specific area.
Three Areas within a Dedicated Time Frame
I am committed to working in the three selected areas for the next six weeks. I will keep track in my journal where I can monitor and evaluate my progress. After six weeks, I will assess again, and then keep going or select new areas to work.
I can speak from my experience that working on three areas of personal growth for a specific time has elevated my energy across all areas of personal growth. Working on three areas helps me get better in other areas.
Your Turn
Focus on growth that helps you boost all areas of your life. To do this, hone in on three topics at a time and do the incremental work of improvement, knowing you never fully arrive at mastery or completion. The work of personal growth is a lifetime quest. Growth is more about quality and less about quantity. Give yourself time to do the effort, process the outcomes, and learn from the results.
Be mindful of how your work in specific areas over time will improve your overall personal development. I recommend keeping a journal during the process to track your commitments and progress. Also, use the journal for self-awareness about your areas, and what you notice, what is happening or not. Are there struggles? Moments of insight?
There is no right or wrong way to select something to work and improve. Growth happens when the topic of personal development resonates with you, and when you are committed to taking action to your transformation. This exercise does not have to be perfect; it just has to be persistent. And if you see no significant change, spend some time reflecting on why? Then re-focus and move on to what works.
How about you? What are the three areas that inspire you to grow? Professionally? Personally?
Your thoughts? Comments always welcome.
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