12 Simple Personal Growth Strategies To Master Thyself.

Let’s accept it. Most of us are slaves of our habits. We live like zombies. We wake up, carry out habit and go back to sleep only to wake up and do it again. Therefore, it’s high time to master our tendencies and eventually ourselves. One who has mastered thyself is greater than the one who has mastered a thousand men in battle. It is said so because it is not easy to overcome our habits and mindset. On the path of personal development, the smartest thing that we can do is to observe our own thought patterns and consciously change negative with positive ones. Most of the people get too much attached to their identity and thoughts which results in a continuous flow of same information again and again. I encourage you to break those patterns and master yourself. Here are the top 12 strategies that you can apply:

1. Ferociously Brave

When do we grow the most? When we face our fears. Most of the people are not successful because they worry a lot about what other people will think. Ralph Smart says that

F.E.A.R. is simply False Evidence Appearing Real.

The human brain has been conditioned for survival over the years that is why it looks for things that can go wrong. We need to get out of the survival mode and step into expansion mode.

While skydiving, before jumping out of the plane, people feel maximum fear. But, as soon as they jump, they realize that it is the most beautiful feeling. Therefore, we should understand that everything beautiful in life is on the other side of the fear.

It is very normal to feel fear before doing things that we have not done before. We should definitely listen to our calling, make a list and do exactly what we are most afraid to do. We should not be afraid of being vulnerable. If we want to hunt, we will have to go into the jungle full of wild animals.

2. Self-discipline

It is the only skill that is required to master any other skill. We should develop habits, which help us to grow. We should be committed towards our goals, not just interested. We can’t be distracted easily when we focus single-pointedly on something. Time is not just money, it is life. Anyone who wants to succeed in life should learn the value of time. We are temporary visitors on the planet and don’t know our expiry date which might be even tomorrow. A lot of people who died yesterday had plans for today. We should thus, hack the mentality of top managers and learn to manage everything including time, finances, relationships, emotions etc. We should take extreme ownership of everything that is happening in our life.

3. Developing Insight

Finding and cultivating wisdom will lead to development of an insight. Dr. Robert Zajonc, psychologist at the University of Michigan, says that

In many cases when people explain why they’ve made a certain decision, they simply rationalize, and attribute what sound like reasonable bases.

Instead of doing that you should be very specific and know exactly what we are doing. We should even know exactly why we are doing what we are doing. We should consistently ask ourselves questions related to our existence. For example, who am I as a being? Why am I here on the planet called Earth which is revolving around the Sun in empty space? What is my relationship with nature and the universe? Why do I feel amazed when I look at a beautiful scenery? etc. Questioning every segment of life like a child will help us to find clarity. We should flush away the fixed mindset and develop growth mindset.

4. Willpower and Integrity

Your will has the power to rewrite your subconscious.

The road to personal mastery comes with a lot of hurdles. But, we should accept that it is the part of the game. Exercising willpower makes us stronger and helps us manage life in various ways. Certain things look difficult in the beginning but if we do them with dedication and commitment they start to look easier. Very soon, we then look back and feel proud of ourselves. In the process, we should never lose sight of our values. We should live authentically with integrity. We need to realize that whatever we are doing in life is to become a better human being first. We should focus on doing the right thing even when nobody is watching.

5. Know yourself

One who does not know thyself, knows NOTHING.

We should consistently seek advice from people around us regarding our personality. It is our responsibility to make people comfortable in telling us the truth. It should be like a feedback system through which we can improve ourselves. Determining needs versus wants is also extremely important. We should know that what are the things that we absolutely need in order to be in a joyful state of being and what are our desires and expectations from others and life. We need to figure out our priorities so that we can create boundaries accordingly. We should know that what matters to us the most in both long and short run.

6. Self-expression and Creativity

We should find an outlet for our thoughts and emotions like an artist who paints his mind out. Everyone should express himself or herself completely. If you are an introvert who likes to keep things to yourself, then, you should start dairy writing.

We should write our story so that we can observe and learn from our own thought patterns. Be creative. Majority of the people assume that art is not their thing. We are all a part of an enormous creation and the very source of creation is within us. Your art can be singing, poetry, painting, photography etc. It doesn’t matter that how good you are at it. Never compare yourself. Everyone is simply unique. But we should definitely spend time on polishing our creative skill. It even helps in creating a vision for our own life.

7. Positive Environment

Many people don’t realize the seriousness of surrounding themselves with like-minded people. It is your duty to keep yourself in places where you feel appreciated and motivated. Get along with other seekers who will push and stretch you. Jim Rohn says that

We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.

We absorb a lot of information both consciously and subconsciously, which directly affects the way we think. Thus, overcoming negativity in the form of people, habits, and behaviours is extremely crucial.

8. Self-love

We should know what makes us truly happy. For some people it is spending time in nature, for others, it is playing with their children. We should do that so that we know what we are supposed to do during our downtime. Furthermore, we should figure out certain self care habits that can be practiced every day, which will keep us going. We should take complete charge of our own well-being.

We can’t serve from an empty jar, so keeping ourselves happy should come first.

9. Mentors

We should be humble enough to realize that nobody can make it alone. We should always find someone who have been where we are today. Successful people were themselves helped by someone during their journey and thus, they are able to relate and empathize. They have learnt lessons along the way and they are usually willing to share because they want to give back. We need to cultivate the courage to ask for help. We should not hesitate and always look for help from others.

10. Love

The more we emit the frequency of love, the more we are loved back. This is the universal law. From the moment we are born, we are dependent on the love and compassion of others. It is our original nature. Even animals understand the concept of love. The nature of our love should be selfless. If we are expecting in return than it is a mere transaction. Help others who are going through the same thing what you went through in your past. When we start looking at other’s problem, our problem start looking small all of a sudden. Too much of me, me, me will always bring misery. We feel fulfilled and joyful only when we are acting out of love.

11. Faith

At times you will be required to surrender and believe in something bigger than yourself. We can not control everything. If we will try to control everything, we will end up developing a lot of anxiety which will further lead to development of ego and it will bring anger, frustration and many other negative emotions with it. Practicing humility is, therefore, very crucial. Especially for men, accepting mistakes and imperfections is one of the most difficult things to do. Throughout life, we have learned to relate ourselves too much with our emotions, thoughts, and things which creates a huge barrier on our path to success.

Life is a choice. It is not a choice of what happens, but, choosing to be happy no matter what. We have to trust that if we consistently work with complete dedication, everything will come to us at the right time.

12. Play smart

According to Dr. Emmanuel Donchin, director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology at the University of Illinois,

An enormous portion of the cognitive activity is non-conscious, it could be even 99 percent.

He mentions that probably we will never know precisely how much is outside our awareness. We might be working 18 hours a day but, the end result might not uplift us in any way. Therefore, we need to keep a regular check on our efficiency and effectiveness of every action.

If you are running a business, focus on growth and sales more than the other mundane things which might be extremely important for the product but, don’t forget that your main agenda is not to make money. Similarly, all the actions that you are doing, you should do it consciously. Add more awareness into your being.

You should try to hack your subconscious mind and immediately stop acting so impulsively. It is said that most of our actions come from the unconscious state of being. Furthermore, our subconscious mind is 30,000 times more powerful than our conscious mind.

You need strong emotions to master your subconscious. If you don’t run your subconscious mind yourself, someone else will do it for you. Practice mindful awareness and I promise you that it would be the best thing you would do to yourself.

In conclusion, I would say that if we want to be successful, we definitely need vision, power, commitment, speed, strategy, and skill. We should be very clear that we want to master ourselves and take immediate action. We should be willing to invest in ourself as much as we can. All the material things like clothes, shoes, cars, and houses always depreciate and lose their value after a certain span of time. It is the mind, body and life energies that grow with use. Cultivate wisdom and compassion for others. Work on yourself and help and motivate others to do the same.

Keep Learning, Keep Hustling.

The road to self-mastery might be hard but, it is worth it in the end. Hardest climbs always end with the most beautiful views.

• Chirag Garg

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