Set A Monthly Focus For Your Development
We often want to make changes in our life for the better, but sometimes those changes can make quite an overwhelming list! Quite often, we need to change our habits, which is not easy when we’ve been doing something a certain way for a while. One easy way of developing yourself is to give yourself a monthly focus, just one thing, that you can identify or work on and improve for a month. Obviously there are 12 months in a year, so 12 different areas of your life that you develop this year.
Think about what character traits or habits you would like to work on in the next 30 days. Some suggestions might be generosity, kindness, patience, saying no, or making time for family. Write your focus somewhere where it will serve as a daily reminder such as the calendar, your diary, a journal, or even a post-it on your bathroom mirror.
Tom Ziglar, son of the famous Zig Ziglar says that “The fastest way to success is to replace bad habits with good habits.” Plan what you will do when your bad habit rears its head. If you are working on patience and you get stuck in traffic, plan what you are going to say to yourself or do to achieve your goal? If you are working on kindness, how are you going to react when that work colleague pushes your buttons? What can you do instead?
Another way to work on the new habits, is to go over your schedule for the day and identify instances where you are likely to commit your bad habit. Can you predict any time in the day where it is going to be challenging for you? How are you going to react?
By thinking and working on this every day it will accelerate you to achieve your goal and be a better person. At the end of the day, and also the end of the week - check how you did. Reflect on your wins and also where you had losses. Are there any patterns that you can identify? Remember to celebrate your wins - breaking a habit takes time, and it might be a rocky road to success. Don’t beat yourself up if it’s not perfect the first time!
Once the month is up, review how you went and then set another goal for the next month. Hopefully your new habits will build month to month and you will have developed and improved qualities that you value to be a better person. Some people find it helps keeping a journal to write about their progress, and it is also great to have a record that tracks your success. Sometimes our brain only takes notice of what it wants, and so keeping records is really helpful. Hopefully, this will be one way that you can grow in your personal development, and people will be amazed with your transformation.
Right, let’s go!
Answer this question:
This month, I am going to focus on ______________________ . I am going to write it on my calendar and focus on how I am going grow in that area of my life every day.
Good luck!
Nathan
I am a Certified High Performance Coach who after 15 years as a professional photographer and small business owner, have been inspired to help others achieve a sustained level of happiness, clarity, and productivity.