Mental Strength and Personal Development

Many people are looking at ways to “change” themselves and their lives in order to achieve personal success.

To accomplish this “change” many people will tray various personal development techniques. However, many often find them hard to accomplish. Barriers, such as physical fitness, mental strength or self control, can hinder those who wish to try personal development.

I’m going suggest a few tips that can help you succeed with your personal development plans.

1 – Reward: Reward yourself for positive behavior. Whether you are actively trying to lose weight or trying to better your time and distance on your morning run, recognize when you have made an important improvement and reward yourself accordingly. A new outfit or a trip to the salon would be a real incentive to work until you achieve your goals.

2 – Passion: Your personal development goals should absolutely match your passions in life. In other words, you should not only propel your whole self to greatness, but seek greatness in the fields you dabble in. Your passions should develop along with your sense of self. It will keep your goals varied and interesting, and motivate you to work harder every day.

3 – Affirmations: Positive affirmations can be a powerful tool for your personal development, but not if you speak them by rote, without engagement or interest. Always get emotionally involved when you repeat your affirmations to yourself. When you are repeating your affirmations, invest your full attention in them and concentrate on building up positive feelings.

4 – Exercise: Get some intense exercise in your routine. Intense exercise can really improve your mood. Take short bursts of running, do a little bit of stretching, and get some sort of movement in your day. Intense exercise energizes you, leaves you feeling slightly more upbeat, and can even help to alleviate annoying aches and pains.

5 – Action: Take action and own it. It's easy to second guess potential choices in life; so easy in fact, that it can be paralyzing. The choice never made is no choice at all. Be confident in your ability to make a choice and own whatever successes or challenges are created. Every choice is a step forward, and if there is no forward movement, there is no personal development.

6 – Rest: Make sure that you are well-rested. Working when you're tired can really make your work sloppy and it can really stress you out. It's also not that great for your health. Sometimes, even taking a nap can clear your head and you can be more productive after you wake up.

7 – Acuity: When it comes to personal development, make sure that you are able to distinguish between coming close to what you were hoping for and completing your goal fully. This is important so that you strive to be the best at what you do, not just getting the job done well enough.

8 – Purpose: Find the purpose for your life. To do this you will need to do some soul-searching. What things would you do if you knew that you would not fail? Make a list of these things. Look at your list and narrow it down to things that are realistic. Use this to make a goal.

9 – Volunteer: Often times, we find ourselves depressed or lacking meaning in our lives, one of the best ways to conquer these feelings is to find ways to give meaningful service to others. Serving others is often a great way to focus on other things besides yourself and when we do these things we will find happiness that we never knew existed.

10 – PMA: (Positive mental attitude) If your thoughts are negative, it colors everything about your day. Engage in some positive thinking for a quick and straightforward challenge to the way you conduct yourself in your day to day life. Positive thinking is an amazing and powerful tool for personal development, so do not skimp on this process!

11- Like Minded People: If you are seeking to increase the positive energy in your life, surround yourself with positive people. Identify the people in your life that bring new and beneficial values to your day. If you surround yourself with positive people, it won't be very hard at all to adopt their positive outlook for yourself!

People often find the personal development process hard to do. The reason for this is because of different barriers that prevent their development. Keep these tips in mind for the coming year and you’ll develop the mental strength to eliminate any barriers in your way and reach your personal success.

Gregg Swanson is a peak performance consultant and human potential coach and has authored several books and numerous articles on peak performance. Gregg specializes in developing mental strength in individuals that desire to reach their full potential. He has developed a unique online training program “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior.” You can also pick up your free eBook,” Why Change is So Hard” by going HERE.