If you know even just a little bit about me then you know that I am constantly working on personal growth; getting to know myself and figuring out little things to tweak so that I can become a better version of who I am. I intentionally started my personal growth journey in college. I am pretty sure it started way before then because we are always growing. However, this is when I made a conscious decision to challenge myself to grow in certain areas of my life. This centered around improving my communication in order to become comfortable with talking to strangers and voicing my opinions even when nervous. It is amazing to see how much I have accomplished, how self-aware I have become, and how much I will continue to grow.
Every day I strive to build on top of the skills and strengths that I have gained thus far. These last six months have been so hectic with me graduating from college, moving to Dallas, and starting a new job at a high school that I have neglected the intentional part of my personal growth journey. I say intentional part of my self growth journey because with as many changes as I have had recently it is bound that I have grown but I have not reflected on my experiences nor do I even have written goals of where I want to focus my attention. This is not to say all is bad but to say that I want to continue to put a focus on my personal growth so that I can tailor my skills.
First Step: Where Am I?
The first thing that I want to do is identify my strengths and area of growths. This is important because the areas I might have said I struggled in six months ago might not be areas that I struggle in anymore and vice versa. That's the cool thing about personal development. It is a lifelong process that is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and sty goals in order to realize and maximize their potential. This definition was courtesy of some online dictionary.
Now let's see what we are working with. I am no problem using myself as a guinea pig.
Strengths
- Optimistic
- Planner
- Solution Oriented
- Adaptable and Flexible
- Self-Awareness
- Waking up early
Areas of Growth
- Independence
- Collaboration
- Execution
- Direct Communication
- Consistency
- Speaking Up
Things to Consider
Do you want to work on your personal development/personal growth? Why?
Where are you now? What are your strengths? What are your areas of growth?
I ask this because I feel like this will be a good centering place to figure out how to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to go. This is what I did, at least. The next step I have in my head is moving towards figuring out how to improve our challenge area. I am definitely going to talk about SMART goals because if I don't they may never get done.
Resources
I have included a couple of blog post that can help you to get thinking about your personal growth journey and begin reflecting.
Goal Setting for 2019 by Alyssa Freitas
The Dreamers and Schemers by Mimi Chenyao