To fulfil your potential, you need to have dreams and to turn those dreams into actions.
But it is very important not to limit your dreams because we can all achieve more than we think we can.
In the personal development, you need to acknowledge weaknesses and unfulfilled potential, but it is crucial to stay positive and to not be too hard on yourself. Otherwise your self-esteem and confidence can take a real beating. Follow these tips to learn how to gently and gradually become a better person.
1 Set a deadline
When you are trying to better yourself, set a deadline. Decide how long you will need to make up your mind and stick to that time-frame. How much time do you need to reflect and gather information? When you decide, set your deadline and tell yourself that you are ready to live a better life. Without a deadline it is unlikely that you will fulfil your dreams as you will put actions off until tomorrow. We all know that tomorrow never comes.
2 Turn your dreams into desires
If you have dreams of a better life, make those dreams your desire. Dreams live in the head, but desires live in the heart. When your heart desires something, you will naturally seek ways to fulfill those desires. Your dreams will no longer be passive dreams, but will have a chance of coming true. So many people have dreams but very often they stay as dreams as they do not turn them into desires, and the desires are not turned into actions.
3 Build your self-esteem
Build your self-esteem by controlling the way you talk to yourself! Be nice to yourself and accept your little foibles and mistakes. Nobody is perfect, and you probably wouldn’t be hypercritical and unforgiving of other people, so don’t act that way toward yourself! Allow yourself to make mistakes and be unique.
Making mistakes is an important part of our learning and development.
4 Take a little action every day
Working on personal development does not mean that you need to better yourself constantly but that you are always working on some aspect of yourself. You can try to fit this into your free time by using your time efficiently, such as practicing a language while stuck in traffic with a book on tape. Just take a little action every day, and at the end of the year you have taken over 350 actions.
5 Dedicate some space for your development
Make sure that you set up action areas in your home or office. These are places that are designated to one action each so that you can perform this action and then move onto the next one. For example, you can set up an area for filling orders, an area for boxes that need to be shipped, etc.
6 Spend time with your friends
Even if your schedule is packed with things that you have to get done, be sure to fit in some time to spend with your true friends. Even if it is just time for a cup of coffee together, these friendships are going to make your life a bit more joyful and contribute to your well-being.
You have probably heard “All work and no play makes Jack a dull fellow”
7 Anticipate what needs to be done and take action
When it comes to personal development be sure that you act before action is needed as often as possible. This is important so that you are able to act as swiftly and thoroughly as possible. If something is inevitable, take action now before it is too late to do anything so that you are the one in control.
8 Take time for breaks
Personal development is hard work, so remember to recharge your personal battery. Take time to be with yourself. Exercising is an excellent way to clear your mind of the stress of day to day life, and allows you to practice self-discipline. You’ll feel better about yourself and build greater endurance to get through your day! You will be surprised how invigorating a 30-minute walk can be. Personally, I do this quite a lot and I find I come up with quite a few new ideas.
As you can see from the list of tips, you can really make a difference in how you feel about your life. It takes a lot of work, a lot of planning, and tons of patience, but it is all worth it in the end to become a better person. You will get more out of life.
Michael Phelps is one of the best-known sports people in the world.
He is a former American swimmer and is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals.
Of those 28, he has won 23 gold medals, which is an astonishing achievement.
At the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero he won 5 gold and 1 silver medal.
This meant that for the 4th Olympics in a row, he was the most successful athlete.
As an outstanding performer, it is worth taking note of his quotes, and he gives us some advice in the accompanying video.