Ten Ways to Improve Your Personal Development

For our Idea Tribe: Day 51

Steps that I am taking or will take towards personal development. Note: Someone in our tribe suggested that I should start replacing “should” with “will” He was right. 

1. Currently taking courses to increase skills that deeply interest me.
2. Will revamp my résumé to help appraise skills, to give it some stand-out-of-the-crowd flavour and to send off to local companies that interest me. It can also highlight some items that need to be developed.
3. Reading, reading and reading some more. There is no shortage of books in line waiting to be finished or opened.
4. Will re-evaluate time management. For example, since taking on some smaller projects, I’ve dropped my exercise routine, which should never be an option to drop.
5. Watching tutorials and reading articles about creative projects that I’m keenly interested in. Will put this into practice soon because there is no better way to develop than actually doing it.
6. Assign a time frame to achieve certain goals, e.g. 30 days to lose the weight I’ve put on in the past 4 weeks, must paint new dining chairs within 2 weeks (which will be learning a new skill).
7. Will consult with a life coach or counsellor to help to make some important decisions.
8. Will put in writing what I’d like my legacy to be and take action on living that life.
9. Will evaluate what isn’t going right and make lists on how to turn those things around.
10. Will seek out mentors to study.

Ten Things I Deny Myself Permission to Buy and Why

25: Ten Things I Deny Myself Permission to Buy and Why

1. 1. A new wardrobe. I really need a whole post-maternity wardrobe makeover, but I think I’m a bit of a mom martyr by spending all of my money on my peanut and I can’t stand spending on work clothes. Would so much prefer spend money on fun weekend clothes.
   2. New shoes for the same reasons as above. Love new shoes, so will have to take the time to do it.
   3. A meditation and/or breathing course. I’m afraid to ask my partner to care for our little one while I go. Sometimes listening to the sighing feels like more trouble than it’s worth. To bring the honesty up a notch, maybe I can’t let go of missing the time with my little one either.
   4. A personal trainer. I need someone to teach me how to work out smarter in the little time of day I have to work out now. I used to have all evening and the weekends to exercise, but now I have about 30 minutes of free time a day. I think it’s a money issue here, but now that I’m typing this, I realize that I should make the investment.
   5. A new computer! It’s on its last breath, but I keep pushing it to live a little longer, much to the chagrin of my efficiency levels. It’s a bit of a letting go of the money issue and I keep hoping we can hold out until Windows 10 is released. Fat chance that she’ll make it.
   6. A new dining set. My partner broke two of our chairs. The dear man has become a little meaty; consequently, the chairs couldn’t hold him any longer. I have my eye on a beautiful upcycling table and chairs project, but I might have to face the fact that I might not find the time for this until about 2020.
   7. Regular manicures and pedicures. I love doing this so much. I do it, but not regularly enough to look polished 7 days/week. It’s a time issue. I always feel like I should be doing something else instead.
   8. Home décor for the house we’ve been living in for a year and a half. I have this uneasy feeling that I won’t be there for long (relationship issues), so it’s hard to justify investing in items that seem like a temporary luxury.
   9. A bike rack and attachment for my peanut to ride in. We live in a beautiful country setting by the water, but the old country roads are too narrow and dangerous to cycle locally, so I keep putting this off.
   10. A life coach. Not a psychologist, but a life coach with experience in what I’m trying to accomplish. Someone who can help me focus on which of my ideas I should grab onto and run with. Someone to make me accountable for finishing what I start. Someone who is honest about what will work and what won’t. It’s a bit of a money thing and a lot of a fear thing.