Are you ready for the New Year? And, by ready – I mean – are you setting some strategic goals for your personal growth? Have you thought carefully about all you’d like to accomplish or will at least set out to achieve? No matter where you’re at with your life professionally and personally right now, everyone can work to achieve some personal growth. It’s part of becoming and being the best version of our best self – and who doesn’t want that? From leading the way in your professional life to tackling those tough-to-achieve personal goals, here’s a look at a few ideas for how to achieve more personal growth in the year ahead.
How to Achieve More Personal Growth in the Year Ahead
Invest in Your Education. Everyone can always use more education, right? It’s the best way to fast track your own knowledge and skill set. But, education can come in many forms and isn’t really just about hitting the school books. Perhaps you have some new technical challenges at work that could use you practicing a bit to understand or maybe you’d like to enrich your cultural skills by enrolling in a cooking class or learning a new conversational language. From photography, to music, to history, yoga….the list goes on and on, there’s always room to learn and you should put yourself at the front of that ship.
Network. Sometimes you learn the most interesting and best things from the people you meet along the way. But in order to meet new people, you have to put yourself out there – it’s just how it works. Let friends of friends make connections for you, accept invites to mix and mingle even if it’s a new group and you feel intimidated. Use the power of LinkedIn and social media to work on expanding your professional network and think about joining a board or getting out there to volunteer. In a nutshell, meet more people. You’ll be surprised at just how much these new connections can (and will) enrich your life.
Develop a financial plan. That may sound intimidating or a little complicated, but trust me – it’s not. It can be as simple as figuring out exactly how much you need to save each month to get the down payment for your first home, purchase a newer car or even take a trip to a new destination. Whatever it may be, you’ve got this – but getting a plan in place will mean the difference between dreaming about it and actually doing it.
Work on making positivity your mantra. It is amazing what a little positivity will do when it comes to expanding your own horizons. Rather than bringing yourself or others down, how about spinning the situation to find the positive. Try appreciating every moment you spend with your family, rather than getting consistently frustrated and if you know that some aspect of your life is overwhelmingly negative, let it go. Positivity breeds positivity and when you surround yourself with those feelings and people who share that same attitude, you’ll very rarely have a bad day.
What do you think? Are these things that you can work into your plans for the year ahead?
