How is your personal development going? Most people approach personal development (growth) in the same way they do physical development. You get the book by John Maxwell, “15 Invaluable Laws of Growth” and devour it within a week or two. Then, you go to bed and get up the next morning and only one thing is different ̶ you read a good book. If your goal is to read a certain amount of books in the year, you are off to a great start. Just like physical exercise, we need to be consistent in doing what it takes in personal development before we are able to see a difference.
This is sort of how we tend to do it – At the end of the year we notice improvements in areas desperately needing our attention. So, we set new goals. Then, the month of January is over and so are our intentions. Let me encourage you to create a check-off box that reads – Complete a Personal Development Regime and bullet point the areas you must see improvements in before it gets a checkmark (i.e. – Discipline, Temper, Patience, and the like).
Add to your personal development plan an accountability team. The objective is never perfection, but always progress in the direction of your goals. Here’s a list of questions to guide your accountability team.
- LEARN: What am I learning? Who/Where am I learning it from?
- LIVE: Is what I’m learning changing how I’m living? Is it for the better?
- LEAD: How is God leading me IN this so that I can lead others THROUGH this?
- LOVE: Do I love what I’m experiencing and who I’m experiencing it with?
- LEGACY: Am I happy with the legacy I left today? If not, how can I make it better?
Look at these questions through the lens of the goal you have set before you. Answer the questions through that lens. For example: Your goal is fitness. Look at each question through the lens of fitness. If the goal is personal development or finance, answer these questions through that lens. After you have selected your goals for personal development and your accountability team (2-5 people), you will begin seeing progress on your personal development journey and it will start to take shape. As you move forward, keep making small changes that you need to make. This will help you see improvements in your personal growth progress.