The Importance of Personal Development

We all know life moves fast.

Even if you think you have all the time in the world to reach your goals ... I promise you this is not the case.

With as quickly as life can pass you by, it can be easy to choose the "fun times" over the difficult tasks that will ultimately create success and better times in the future.

If you have big goals and dreams in life...

You have to exercise personal development. Consistently.

Most people get too comfortable with their current situation in life.

They work 9 to 5...

Go home for dinner...

Watch TV for a few hours...

Then go to bed to repeat this cycle week after week after week.

Eventually, they come to the realization that with as much time that has passed, they haven't made any progress.

Don't let that be you.

The truth is, I was this person.

But through personal development and a commitment to pursuing my goals...

I was able to change this permanently.

If you're truly serious about becoming the person you say you want to become...

Personal development is not optional.

It's a requirement.

What Is Personal Development?

Personal development is the actions, habits, and routines you develop to build your mindset and skill set.

It's building your value by becoming more skilled and growing mentally, physically, and emotionally.

It's the constant pursuit of information and challenges to get better.

It's the reps you're taking every single day to be better than you were the day before.

...and it's humbling yourself and recognizing that you have an endless amount to improve upon.

Through your commitment to these actions and habits, you can get better.

No, personal development is not what most consider to be "fun."

It's not sexy.

It's not exciting.

You'll have to put in a lot of work.

It's going to get monotonous.

It's going to be uncomfortable.

But it will also change your life.

Why Is Personal Development Important?

Personal development is ultimately what leads to your progression as an individual.

Whether this is in your business...

In your relationships...

In your health and fitness...

...or in any area of your life...

Personal development is a requirement for achieving true excellence and success.

If you never take the time to reflect and improve upon your weaknesses...

You can't get better.

Do you think Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of all time when he was born?

Of course not.

But through his commitment to personal development...

...and executing the daily actions and habits required to develop his skill set...

He became the greatest of all time.

Without his obsession with the relentless improvement of his craft...

None of that would have been possible for him.

So, what makes you think you'll be able to achieve your biggest goals without personal development?

You won't.

That's why personal development is important.

How Do You Exercise Personal Development

Talking about personal development is one thing...

Putting it into practice is another.

How do you start building your skill set and mindset through personal development?

Truthfully, there are a lot of ways.

But through my 25 years of building businesses ... I've come to identify some of the best ways to start exercising personal development.

Take these practices and apply them immediately.

Your life will start to change at an alarming rate as a result.

1. Start Reading for Your Personal Development

If you want to develop your mindset...

If you want to develop your perspective...

If you want to get better...

If you want to learn a specific skill set...

...and if you want to start putting personal development into practice...

Start reading.

Most people get confused when I say this.

Allow me to be clear...

I'm not instructing you to pick up Harry Potter or 50 Shades of BS for your personal development.

I'm instructing you to pick up a self-development-focused book.

Whether that's about mindset...

Finances and wealth...

Business...

Relationships...

Or any specific skill you're looking to develop that will contribute to your success in life...

You should be reading a book that will help you get better.

There is close to nothing nearly as valuable as the lessons, experiences, mindset, and perspectives of people who are much further down the road than us.

That is exactly what these books give you.

If you have big goals and dreams in life...

Don't expect to reach them without taking full advantage of these resources.

Personal development, for me, will always start with reading 10 pages of a book every single day.

That's a commitment I've stuck to for well over 20 years.

I credit a lot of my success to this.

Pick up a book.

Read 10 pages.

Do it every day.

While it doesn't seem like much...

That's 3,650 pages a year.

With the average book being close to 250 pages...

That's close to 15 books a year.

How much more knowledge could you acquire through 15 books?

The answer is a lot.

Don't skip this.

Choosing not to read and being illiterate are no different in my mind.

Your personal development starts here.

2. Open Yourself to Constructive Criticism

A lot of people are so consumed by their own ego that they miss one of the biggest opportunities for personal development: criticism.

While not all forms of criticism are constructive ... Some are.

But if you have too much pride to admit that you could be wrong or need to improve...

You're only hurting your own ability to get better.

I highly recommend developing a strong sense of self-awareness. Being able to delineate between constructive and non-constructive criticism can serve you greatly.

Because the truth is, you can learn something from everybody.

Perspectives outside of your own can help you identify your shortcomings better than you can.

Don't let arrogance and ego stand in the way of these free opportunities to improve.

Invest in your personal development by accepting the criticism that can serve you.

...and when it comes to advice...

You can get a lot of great advice.

But I would only take it from people who are living the life you want to live.

Don't take advice about success from someone who's struggling to make ends meet in their life.

Don't take advice about nutrition and fitness from someone who's obese.

Don't take advice about relationships from someone who doesn't have a good relationship.

Get it?

Use heavy discretion when it comes to who you're listening to.

3. Exercise Discipline

Achieving your personal and professional goals in life requires discipline.

It means reverse engineering these goals into the daily actions necessary to reach them.

Then ... It's executing these actions every single day without compromise.

That's discipline.

...and if you're looking to develop yourself personally...

You need to exercise it daily by keeping the promises you make to yourself.

If you're trying to get in great shape, that means doing your workout every day.

Drinking your water every day.

Following your diet every day.

These are the promises you make to yourself when you say "I'm going to get in great shape."

Part of personal development is making sure you are exercising this discipline.

Discipline is one of the single most important skills you need to reach your goals.

Build it by keeping the promises you make to yourself.

That includes keeping your promise to prioritize your personal development.

4. Challenge Yourself & Get Uncomfortable Consistently

If you do the same things every single day...

Eventually, these things become habitual and easier.

Another component of personal development is consistently challenging yourself.

If you aren't uncomfortable...

You're comfortable.

...and comfort breeds complacency.

What you must understand is there is no such thing as "maintaining" or "coasting."

You are either going forward...

Or going backward.

Always.

Make sure you are constantly demanding more of yourself.

If you're trying to grow your career...

Continually adopt more tasks.

Tighten your deadlines.

Become more efficient.

Put in an extra hour.

If you're trying to improve your fitness...

Increase your workout intensity.

Take fewer rests.

Tighten up your nutrition.

Add extra reps or time.

Regardless of what your goals are...

You will not reach them by staying consistent with your current actions and standards.

Seek ways to put the pressure on yourself in order to improve.

It's the only way you will.

...and that improvement will come in the form of your productivity.

Your standards.

Your mental toughness.

Your skill set.

Challenge yourself and challenge yourself often.

It's a critical element of personal development.

What Skills Can Personal Development Help You Build?

There's no skill you can't gain from personal development.

...and it's up to you which skills you place focus on.

However, exercising personal development alone can help you build a few.

These are skills that can serve you in more ways than just one.

Personal Development Can Help Build Self-Awareness

If you think you already know everything...

You can't learn anything new.

If you think you don't have anything to improve on...

You can't improve.

This is part of what can make personal development so useful.

The more information and skills you acquire...

The more you realize you don't know and how much you need to improve.

This is the Dunning Kruger Effect.

It's a cognitive bias we can all succumb to.

When we're just getting started and gain some knowledge and experience ... We quickly begin to think we have it all figured out.

After more exposure to personal development, new information, and new experiences ... We adjust our perceived expertise to a more modest and realistic evaluation.

Through personal development, you are able to build awareness of your shortcomings by realizing how much more you do not know.

This goes hand in hand with humility.

No matter how good you or I get...

We will always have infinite amounts to learn and improve on.

Personal development can help you build this self-awareness and deliver an honest, unbiased evaluation of yourself.

Personal Development Can Help Build Mental Toughness

By staying disciplined to personal development, you can build what I consider to be the most important skill for success in anything you do.

That skill is mental toughness.

...But the keyword here is discipline.

If you are not exercising discipline when it comes to personal development...

You are missing the entire point.

You're also not building mental toughness.

Mental toughness is the foundation for which all great things in your life come to fruition.

It's also the foundation of skills such as confidence, self-belief, self-worth, grit, fortitude, and much more.

Stay disciplined and consistent with personal development.

It will change your life from the inside out.

More Tips For Personal Development

When you make the commitment to your personal development...

You can build the skills, mindset, and perspective necessary to win in anything that you do.

You can also use personal development to help you build specific skill sets in any area...

Your health.

Your relationships.

Your leadership.

Your attention to detail.

Your finances.

...and anything else you can think of.

Commit to a plan and stick with it.

Make sure you're reading and consuming new information.

Make sure you're open to constructive criticism and use it to guide your growth.

Make sure you're exercising discipline in your life and with your personal development.

Make sure you're constantly challenging yourself and avoiding complacency.

If you're not sure where to start with personal development ... I recommend you start with 75 HARD.

75 HARD is a FREE 75-Day transformative mental toughness program.

Every single task on the program is geared to help you develop yourself.

If you execute on the program exactly as I designed it, with 0 compromise and 0 substitutions ... You and your life will never be the same.

I mean this in the best way possible.

If you're looking for a book to read to get started with your personal development and growth now, check out my book, The Book on Mental Toughness.

You can also listen to my podcast, Real AF, as another method to improve yourself, your mindset, and your skill set.

Those are your tools.

Now all you have to do is go out and execute.

Personal development is only useful in practice.