There is no specific age at which people begin to think about their own destiny. Some people take the path of self-development from a young age, while others take many years to realize that daily work on themselves is necessary.
But once people firmly decide to make efforts to change their own lives, there is no turning back. All that remains is to choose effective ways of self-development. Focus on each of them in turn or on several at once.
What methods of self-development can be offered to beginners?
It is worth noting that the advice from the articles is advisory in nature. By trying them one by one, you will be able to understand in practice which ones will be effective for you and draw up a personal development plan.
Educate yourself
It's not about getting another diploma, but about a deep understanding of the world around us. Most people stop learning after receiving secondary or higher education. Don't lose your natural curiosity if you want to train your mind.
Start by working with an explanatory dictionary. Open it every day to learn new definitions, expand your vocabulary, and become a more interesting conversationalist.
By the way, about reading - the main secret of education. Don't get hung up on your favorite genre, read a variety of literature to saturate your mind with new ideas. If it is difficult to perceive information in this way, download audiobooks or watch informational videos. The main thing is that the information received is informative. Say a firm “No” to TV with stupid shows and advertisements.
Expand your horizons
Start learning a new language - not only for the sake of new knowledge, but to make it easier to contact people around the world. You will enjoy visiting other countries and get to know their culture better. By realizing how differently people live in all corners of the world, you will expand your consciousness and also become a smarter and more interesting conversationalist.
Drawing
Many people perceive this type of creative activity as just a hobby. After numerous studies, scientists have come to the conclusion that everyone needs to draw, even those who do not have any special talent. In addition to its ability to reduce anxiety and stress, visual art also helps with brain function. Experts say that drawing can restore and improve connections between brain neurons. This suggests that a person can more easily focus on a subject and quickly absorb new knowledge.
Unconventional ways to develop yourself and change your life
The following recommendations deserve special attention, since they differ slightly from generally accepted ideas about how to live. It is important to understand that most people make mistakes and are therefore unhappy. If you want to live differently, then you should act differently than many.
Giving up unfavorable things and accepting favorable ones
First of all, the recommendation concerns bad habits. A common misconception is that you can radically change your life by continuing to drink, buy, cheat, etc. Any negatively affecting actions and thoughts should be ruthlessly eradicated and replaced with new, healthy habits.
How to increase energy levels: experiment on yourself
In this article we will talk about how procrastination is useful, why there is not enough energy to achieve your goals, and I will also voice my own plan for increasing energy, which I am going to implement as an experiment next month.
Why doesn’t making to-do lists and plans achieve anything in itself?! After all, it happens that a lot of important things have accumulated, but you simply cannot get off the ground and start taking action! Otherwise, it’s the other way around – even more “stuckness” begins in social networks, in front of the TV, “urgent” tasks such as general cleaning, sewing a chair cover and polishing the floors until they shine. That is, avoidance of important matters, switching attention, distraction to secondary things. The list of important to-dos increases, and a feeling of guilt, self-flagellation and self-doubt is added to it. How to get out of this vicious circle: stop running away from really important things and start moving towards your goals?
These questions pushed me to insight - a person cannot act if he does not have energy. But how then to increase energy? How does energy affect the standard of living and the fulfillment of desires? So where does it go and is it possible to increase energy levels purposefully?
I know a lot of successful people who have achieved a lot and are constantly on the move - they are all very energetic. Conversely, people who take little action, cannot get what they want or even really want something, have an extremely low level of energy, are often lethargic, sleepy, and generally have little interest in anything in life. Some people's energy levels are so low that they find it difficult to even set goals and write down an action plan, let alone implement it.
Procrastination and energy levels
Obviously, achieving goals requires a sufficient level of energy. When we set powerful goals for ourselves, but do not have the energy to achieve them, the goals remain just letters on paper, and life continues to resemble a “tank of stagnant water.” And being stuck on your phone, aimlessly wandering around the Internet, watching endless TV series (your option) is not a reason for “downtime,” but a consequence of a lack of energy.
Sometimes it is worth admitting that we simply do not have the strength to fulfill our obligations to ourselves and therefore we run away to a place where we can forget about them, not think about anything and relax. In this sense, procrastination is not just avoiding one’s goals, it is the body’s signal “the battery is low - it needs recharging!” And only when the energy reserves are replenished again will the exit from inaction occur as if by itself and the period of creation will begin again.
I admit that alternating periods of “procrastination” and active creation is a familiar (albeit unpleasant) thing for me: for some period of time I actively write and publish, and then it’s as if I hibernate in order to again accumulate energy in “my den.” " for "going out into the world." Is this normal?
Probably yes, because everything in the world is cyclical. But I’ll be honest - I don’t really like long periods of inaction: I feel bad during them, I reproach myself for laziness and inability to systematically move towards my goals. Although, by and large, you need to relax and live this “procrastination” to the fullest - relax, rest and disconnect as much as possible from to-do lists... If the body and brain require “unloading”, there is no point in straining it with external motivation and artificially increasing productivity. But a driven horse will not gallop another 100 kilometers! Simply because she can’t do it anymore - she needs rest and a long recovery period.
On the other hand, the longer you plunge into inaction, the more it draws you in and the more difficult it is to interrupt it. Therefore, you need to develop a balanced and comfortable pace of movement for yourself, so as not to bring yourself to the state of a “hunted horse”? Maybe sometimes it’s worth honestly admitting to yourself: “Yes, I’ve taken on a lot, I’ve overloaded it, it’s hard for me,” choose a load that’s within your strength, a comfortable pace of movement, and move in systematic steps towards your goals? Maybe then these protracted uncontrollable drops in energy won’t happen?!
In any case, you need to try - after all, I can at least try to influence a situation that does not suit me? So I’ll try it, at least as an experiment.
Experiment on yourself
I was pulled out of my previous procrastination by the practices suggested by Elena Anikushina - namely, summing up the results of the month, day, praising yourself for what you have done (more about this here). They showed me how much I was doing, gave me the strength and confidence to make plans for the month, get off the ground and start taking action. When you write down the results of the day, you see every day how much you accomplish, and this is very inspiring, motivating and gives strength “How much I still do, which means I can do even more and achieve my goals!”
After emerging from “autumn hibernation,” I really wanted to understand what a person’s energy depends on, whether it can be increased and how to do it.
I've given myself a rough list of factors that affect my energy levels, and I'm going to gradually work through each of them. For now, I will not turn to specialized literature or specialists on this issue (surely, there are some), but I will try to check whether a person can independently increase his energy level without turning to external sources.
I will write in my reports how this will happen, what works and what doesn’t, and how it affects my energy level and the achievement of goals. And now I will announce my master plan.
Plan to increase your own energy
- Complete rest.
Here I mean timely complete disconnection from your goals and immersion in “rest” mode. This applies, first of all, to weekends (by the way, you can allocate them to yourself as needed), as well as rest in the evening and at night, of course. On weekends, you should try not to think about what has been accomplished or not, and abstract yourself as much as possible from your goals. Even if they are very beloved, internal burnout gradually sets in, after which a period of inactivity begins. And separately about “full-fledged” - lately we are increasingly relaxing with phones in our hands, on social networks or anywhere else. But, in fact, such a pastime has nothing to do with proper rest. Because it continues to “suck” energy out of us and load our already busy heads with other people’s thoughts and ideas. The goal of a good rest is to unload as much as possible from our head all unnecessary things and create the basis for relaxation. There can be a great variety of different options for relaxation and leisure time, depending on your interests: massage, meditation, going to a beauty salon, a gallery, an exhibition, a movie, a club, a party, etc.
My task 1:
give yourself a real weekend - disconnect from your goals and thoughts about them, stop “resting with your phone in your hands,” diversify your leisure time as much as possible, learn to relax and enjoy it.
- Daily routine and proper sleep.
This point may not require explanation for organized people, but not for me. I am a person with absolutely no routine; it is difficult for me to get up in the morning, go to bed on time, and even more so to do both the first and the second every day at the same time. If I have already somehow decided on the time of getting up, then with the time of going to bed, “everything is complicated” for me. I like to go to bed no earlier than 1.00, and if everyone has forgotten about me, then I can stay up until 3.00. And if you also take into account the need to get up to see the child almost every night for the third year in a row, then normal sleep for me is just a dream. And although sometimes it seems that I have already gotten used to such interrupted, fragmented sleep, I now understand that chronic lack of sleep is very exhausting and negatively affects my energy level. Therefore, something urgently needs to be done about this!
My task 2:
stick to your daily routine and get enough sleep. First, learn to get up at 7.30 and go to bed no later than 24.00.
- Balanced diet
This point is important for me, because again, I don’t have a diet, and if I’m passionate about something, I completely forget to eat, contenting myself with tea and chocolate. At the same time, I realize that these are just fast carbohydrates that quickly satisfy hunger, but do not satisfy the body’s needs for proteins, fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals. And, yes, of course, it is important to at least approximately follow the diet - at least not eating 4 hours before bedtime. After all, the body should rest at night, and not digest food loaded the day before.
I would also like to note that you need to drink enough water (for me it’s 1.8 liters per day). Much has been written about the benefits of water, and there are also many programs that will calculate the required amount of water for you personally and remind you to drink on time. Personally, I see its benefits for myself, at least for the beauty of the skin, the proper functioning of all organ systems and, again, for increasing energy. In the summer I conducted a similar experiment: I drank 2 liters of water a day and felt cheerful, energetic, and in good shape.
My task 3:
stick to your diet, diversify your diet (vegetables, fruits, less flour and sweets), drink enough water.
- Hobby.
A hobby is something that fills me with energy, brings pleasure, makes me forget about everything and immerse myself in a state of childish delight, the joy of creativity. I admit, I used to consider myself a person without hobbies - but once I remembered my childhood hobbies, I found so many activities that now it’s difficult to find time for each of them. And yet, this is what I will try to do next month.
My task 4:
regularly set aside time for hobbies: drawing (at least 1-2 times for each), fiction (on weekends), flowers (as needed).
- Sport
Playing sports develops endurance, strength and makes it possible to increase the volume of stored energy. But with certain reservations - you need to carefully monitor your body: there should be exactly as much sports as you need to be cheerful, and not to the point of exhaustion and exhaustion. I’ll give you my example: I started running in the morning in the spring. At first it was 1-2 km, but then my achieving nature and athletics background said that they wanted to run a half marathon and I began to increase the load. In July, I already ran 5 km - it was not easy, but quite tolerable. A discovery for me was that after such morning runs it became almost impossible to write texts - I simply did not have the strength to concentrate on mental activity, physical fatigue was taking its toll. I reduced the number of runs and started running every other day, but the situation didn’t change much either. In general, I started having health problems and, under the threat of surgery, I had to stop running, even give up strength training and stretching. I gained an important experience - overload and excessive energy consumption became obvious, I revised the amount of loads and checked my “threshold of physical strength” - it turns out that it is not as high as I thought! Now the optimal physical activity for me is swimming, as well as walking - thanks to walking with my child, I felt a beneficial effect on the body. Walking at any time of the year is not just a change of pictures before your eyes and saturating the body with oxygen, but also the best prevention of depression and apathy.
My task 5:
exercise regularly, carefully observing the body's reaction. Go to the pool once a week, choose a yoga routine to practice at home, and don’t neglect walks in the fresh air.
- Friends
Meetings with friends are rest, relaxation, reboot, motivation, as well as fun, laughter and a sea of positive emotions. Friendship reveals our capacity for deep relationships, provides emotional support and creates a favorable atmosphere of mutual understanding and support.
And our friends are our reflection. It’s not without reason that they say: a person is a person – this is the arithmetic average of the 5 people with whom he communicates most often. A good reason to think and another mini-test for self-knowledge.
But what I mean is that you should, whenever possible, include interesting, successful, purposeful people in your social circle, if, of course, you strive for this. You should not neglect interesting acquaintances - after all, reaching a new level of self-development is associated not only with fresh ideas, but also with the inclusion of creative people in your environment.
My task 6:
Meet with friends regularly (at least once a week), be open to new acquaintances.
- Family and love
I thought for a long time whether to include this item in the factors for increasing energy and finally included it. Because moving towards your goals is impossible without a normal home environment and the support of loved ones. Harmonious relationships, a sense of need and importance are the basis for successful self-realization.
After all, if there are problems in the family or in personal life, then it is difficult for a person to concentrate on something else. When a person feels loved, needed, protected, a favorable emotional environment is created, energy is not spent on sorting out relationships or finding a partner.
What measures can be taken in this area to ensure that it contributes to increased energy? I think for people in relationships, harmonize them as much as possible, and for people outside of relationships, do not ignore this important component, be open to deep relationships and move in this direction.
My task 7:
improve family relationships, communicate more about important things, work on common goals, organize family weekends and holidays, develop family traditions.
- Motivation
This is undoubtedly an external way to increase energy, and if there is not enough energy inside, it does not always work. But sometimes what’s needed is just a push from the outside to “wake up” and start acting.
At the same point, I include reading inspiring and motivating literature - for me now this is the book by V. Zeland “Reality Transurfing”; from what I have read, I can recommend the books by Stephen Covey “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and Dan Waldschmidt “Be the best version of yourself. How ordinary people become extraordinary."
This also includes self-motivation
- this is summing up every day, creating a board of your achievements, a list of your strengths, priorities and values, rereading your goals and recording your progress towards them.
My task 8:
read inspiring books, take stock every day, celebrate your achievements, praise yourself for the work you have done.
- Psychological factors
A bad mood, internal anxiety, worries over trifles or because of someone’s opinion do not in any way contribute to increasing vital energy, but only take it away. How much internal energy is consumed by this constant “mental stirring”! And also the desire to “be ideal”, tossing between “I want” and “I need”, the desire to “meet hopes and expectations”, “not to disappoint”, to prove something to someone, to look good in the eyes of others... The list of possible internal problems continues I won’t - because there are a lot of them, and each of us has our own unique set.
The question is how to detect them and how to overcome them? I have already written about this before - you can read an article about negative attitudes here, and about overcoming excessive worries and dependence on the opinions of others - here. Last month I was actively working on studying myself and working through childhood traumas (if you are interested, let me know, I can share my experience). To be honest, these practices take a lot of energy, but when negative attitudes and traumas are worked through, there is a powerful release of energy and a surge of strength!
In this same paragraph I will include reducing stress levels -
Eliminate from your life negative factors that cause bad mood or mood swings, negative thoughts that cause apathy and despondency. It’s more difficult with negative people – especially if they are close ones. But if they cause you negative emotions, change your attitude towards them, do not take their words to heart - put your inner comfort first and limit communication if you need it. Remember that difficult relationships are also those “devourers” of internal energy that interfere with the disclosure of your potential, active creativity.
My task 9:
discover, work through and eliminate negative factors and thoughts that take away energy; develop stress resistance.
- Minimum Internet and social networks – maximum awareness
The Internet and social networks give us many benefits - it is impossible to imagine the modern world without them. But at the same time, their influence on humans and energy levels has not yet been fully studied. Not everyone perceives phones as absorbers of our energy, although, in fact, they are. Excessive use of the Internet and social networks reduces awareness, productivity, ability to concentrate, causes obsessive thoughts, sleep disturbances, and even detachment from reality.
These problems are actively being studied at the special Institute for the Study of Internet Addiction by Kimberly Young. According to their questionnaire, a lot of people fall into the category of Internet addicts. Here are just some signs of Internet addiction:
- you spend more time on the Internet than you intended;
- you neglect household chores in order to surf the Internet longer;
- you block out disturbing thoughts about your real life with thoughts about the Internet;
- you note that labor productivity is decreasing due to addiction to the Internet;
- you neglect sleep by staying up late on the Internet;
- You fail in your attempts to reduce the time you spend online.
How to avoid the negative influence of the Internet without giving up on it? Minimize useless time spent on the Internet, consume information consciously, and dose its volumes. Here are some effective ways:
- Go online purposefully - with a specific task, without being distracted by unnecessary things.
- Disable all application notifications and remove unnecessary ones from your phone altogether.
- If there is a need to work on social networks, set aside a fixed time for this (for example, 20 minutes for a specific task).
- Properly build your feed on social networks, filter information and ask yourself: “Why do I need this? How will this help me now?”
- Do not scroll through the feed aimlessly, engaging in so-called “scrolling”. Don't be distracted by all sorts of chats.
- Do not go online immediately after waking up.
- Don’t fall asleep with your phone on – put away gadgets at least 2 hours before bed!
- Do not use the phone while eating or communicating with loved ones.
My task 10:
turn off notifications on your phone, remove unnecessary applications. Go online purposefully. Don't be distracted by all sorts of chats.
Well, well – the master plan has been announced!
For my convenience, I collected all 10 tasks in a separate reminder file to print out and hang in a visible place. I'll leave it here just in case it might be useful to someone else.
I will start implementing it immediately and will practice for at least a month (and then we’ll see). You can read my impressions of the implementation of the plan, its effectiveness (or not, this is still unknown) and the results of completed tasks on the blog in weekly reports on Fridays.
Well, wish me luck! Better yet, join the experiment!
UPD: the experiment was successful - no one was hurt during it)))) Reports on the experiment can be viewed here:
- How the first week of the experiment went – report 1,
- How I spent the second week of the experiment - report 2,
- How was the most difficult third week – report 3,)
- Read the full report and results of the experiment here.
With wishes of cheerfulness and energy,
Sasha Leonova
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Comments
What can serve as an effective method of organizing self-development?
At the very beginning of the journey, it is permissible to resort to simple ways to achieve harmony. Once you see the positive effect soon, you will be able to move on to more complex options for self-development.
Personal vision
The essence of the method is simple. It is important to honestly reflect on several topics alone with yourself:
- What are the 5 main values?
- What are the 10 things you like to do most?
- What 3 goals are relevant in the physical, spiritual, career, family, social, financial, personal and entertainment spheres.
- What are 3 things you can do while working to feel like you are moving in the right direction?
- Is there anything that one might have regrets before death, and what is it?
After having a sincere dialogue with yourself, it’s time to start developing a personal vision. It is understood as a personal document where you need to record your intentions for the future. It is a written commitment that several times increases the chances of achieving goals, according to the well-known motivational speaker Brian Tracy.
Personal Development Plan
The method is that you need to write down a plan for the next year or several years. First, identify the priority areas of life in which development is important to you. Then identify effective ways to motivate yourself. After that, begin to implement your plan with specific actions.
Types of intelligence
In psychology, there are several types of intelligence that are interrelated. These include:
- Logical-mathematical. With this mindset, a person easily operates with numbers, systematizes and structures information, and masters basic thought processes.
- Visual-spatial intelligence. This type assumes the ability to analyze what is seen and draw conclusions based on visual images. Developing it, thereby improving the imagination, and also stimulating the ability to remember and fix visual information in memory.
- Verbal-linguistic. An important role is played in a person’s life by the ability to receive information and correctly convey it in speech form. Scientists have noted that mental development is closely related to speech acquisition. This conclusion was made due to the fact that deaf and mute people who do not speak a special language have the same level of development as preschool children. Linguistic intelligence presupposes the presence of such qualities as the ability to correctly perceive the interlocutor’s speech, analyze it, as well as competently compose sentences and adhere to the rules of speech etiquette during a conversation, dialogue, monologue or discussion.
- Naturalistic intelligence. People in whom this type of intelligence dominates are very close to nature and all living things. As a rule, they are suitable for professions related to biology, veterinary medicine, archaeology, ecology, tourism, forestry, farming and geology.
- The social type of intelligence, otherwise called interpersonal, gives its owners communicative abilities. Such people tend to understand the emotions and needs of others, as well as to be the center of attention. This type of intelligence can be developed through group activities where collaboration is encouraged. For example, it could be a team sport.
- Intrapersonal intelligence has another name - intrapersonal. Owners of this type are characterized by sound reasoning, emotional restraint and a high degree of awareness. The development of this type of intelligence is facilitated by meditation and keeping diaries or blogs, where a person can express and record his own thoughts.
- Tactile (kinesthetic or bodily) type of intelligence. Those with this type of intelligence experience the world through touch, movement and sensation. A high level of tactile type is manifested in the work of virtuoso woodcarvers, sculptors, talented blacksmiths and engravers. Without developing this type of intelligence, it will be difficult for a person to master embroidery, knitting and other types of needlework. Mental abilities of the kinesthetic type begin to develop in children from preschool age, so during this period it is very important to develop fine motor skills of the hands.
- Emotional intellect. This type, just like the tactile one, is laid down from childhood. A six-month-old child is already able to understand the feelings and emotions of another person. This type of intelligence plays an important role in the lives of modern people, as it not only helps to avoid depression, but also to build relationships with others. You can check its level using a special test for emotional intelligence. The harmonious combination of balance and emotionality depends on this type. Therefore, there are tests for emotional intelligence and special programs aimed at its development.
- Musical-rhythmic intelligence gives its owner a sense of rhythm and an understanding of melodies. This type includes not only musicians and singers, but also speakers, teachers and actors, because the ability to perceive, analyze and reproduce a melody directly affects the intonation and emotional nature of speech.
We have found that human intelligence has many types, each of which can be trained throughout life with the help of appropriate exercises for the development of intelligence. Psychologists have noted that the higher the intelligence, the longer a person retains his love of life and high performance.
