No matter what, keep growing

How can you keep yourself motivated towards self-development when things fall apart?

New season brings new changes. It feels like this is my favourite period of the year to go through changes. Not all of them are planned, but it’s up to me to choose how to react to them. That’s the thing with life, we don’t get to pick when things will change. But this doesn’t mean that we should stay still and watch them pass by.

It’s scary when changes become overwhelming. I love embracing a change, but I also love having a routine. So, as I’m looking for a new job again (along with a new flatmate, a new motivation, a new beginning), I pushed myself to go back to what happened the past year.

This wasn’t easy. When you feel the need to process a change, it’s easier to become lazy, confused, and disorientated. And you have every right to be. That’s probably the most important time to focus on evaluating your growth.

Write down what you’ve learned the last year. All the unexpected changes. All the positive outcomes. All the sad stories. An overview of all of them.

• What skills did you acquire?
• Did you manage to overcome a fear?
• How did you improve yourself?
• What mistakes should you avoid doing again?
• How did the last year help you grow?

The list can go through your personal, professional, spiritual moments, anything you consider important at every level. It doesn’t have to be big, even the smallest changes can still make an impact.

By the time you write down an overview of your best and worst memories, skills, achievements, or surprises, you’ll realise that even in the hardest year, you have many things to write down. In fact, we usually have more things to remember during the hardest years. That’s when the learning occurs. That’s when the growth happens. It’s all about being real, celebrating your wins, learning from your mistakes and reminding yourself to be proud of where you’ve reached.

I decided to get back to my Personal Development Plan as an attempt to find the lost motivation.

It’s not easy to be inspired every single day, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t keep trying towards it.

After writing down a list of what I need to remember from the past year, I started organising all the things I still need to improve while growing. From losing weight to acquiring a new skill, everything can fit in this list, provided that there’s the dedication towards achieving these goals.

It’s not just about creating “wish-lists” of ideal plans. It’s about finding what’s realistic and setting deadlines and actions on how to work towards each goal. That’s how I started by focusing on the small and short-term goals, going through the bigger ones, the longer plan of what I’d like to improve on. It’s a great way to keep yourself accountable, even in the least inspiring times.

This wasn’t easy. I still haven’t found the missing inspiration. But it felt good to go through this process.

Self-development in every level is crucial. It’s hard, but it can get more practical once you start setting goals.

No, things don’t magically work out. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t keep trying.

It’s for these moments of confusion that you need to keep growing. And there’s no end in this journey. That’s the beauty of it.

xxx