In our previous lesson, you learned about the importance of developing a growth mindset and how that's a critical part of creating your best year ever. In this lesson, I'll share some specific actions steps you can put together into a personal growth plan, as you set out on the journey of creating your best year.
The truth is, we all have the same amount of time every single day. How we spend our time greatly separates those who keep growing vs. those who remain stagnant and doing the same things repeatedly.
To continue to grow and strive for higher potentials, you must continuously build self-awareness, your character, skills, relationships and spirituality.
One way you can put this into practice is to become an avid learner. Whatever your purpose, your passion, your industry, your expertise – always seek more improvement, wisdom and knowledge than anyone else.
Continuously work to learn something, on a regular basis, in what you do, whether it's watching a video or reading a book from your industry or even having a conversation with an industry expert. Become a sponge. Become a professional learner. The more you learn, the more you earn. The more knowledge and wisdom you gain, the more you'll become someone who isn't satisfied with being average and you'll stop settling for mediocrity.
But make sure it's the right kind of wisdom. Don't feed your mind garbage. Knowing what's going on in the latest episode of every reality tv show or what's going on in the news on a daily basis is not going to do anything for your level of knowledge and wisdom – unless of course, you work in those industries.
Create a personal growth plan by writing down what you're going to do, on a regular basis, to improve yourself and create the habit of personal development.
For example, this could be reading 10 pages of a book daily, watching some inspirational videos on YouTube, listening to positive audios and podcasts, and surrounding yourself with a coach, mentor, or accountability partner.
These may seem like small actions, but the results will be significant over time, as you begin to think differently and become a different person overall – just by learning something every day, feeding your mind daily and making self-improvement a habit.
Another component of your personal growth plan should be practicing the rule of five every single day. This is something I learned from one of my mentors, Jack Canfield.
The idea is to identify 5 tasks you want to accomplish (ideally the night before). These should be tasks that bring you closer to your vision and goals and help you become the person you want to be, and the success you want to experience. These can be both personal and professional tasks.
Doing 2 hours of client work, going for a jog, sending out thank you cards to your customers, finishing a presentation, meditating for 30 minutes, spending meaningful time with your partner.
Once you have identified the tasks you want to accomplish, do whatever it takes to get them done before you go to bed that night. I encourage you to identify those tasks the day before and review them before you go to bed, so you wake up with them clear in your mind.
So as the action step for this lesson, create a personal growth plan by listing what you're going to do to keep improving yourself. Is it reading for 30 minutes, watching inspirational videos, attending a virtual event? List them out. Also, make the rule of 5 part of your personal growth plan.
Now that you have a purpose, vision and a personal growth plan, in the next lesson, we're going to explore how to improve your environment by surrounding yourself with the right people, who will help you create your best year ever.
