I want to invest in myself! I’m on it!

Well, you go, girl! Just don’t run over yourself on the way, ok?

And since this is a life-long journey, here are some tips for you to work on your personal growth sustainably.

First, don’t bite off more than you can chew.

When we start going down the rabbit hole of self-development, we might get excited and want to learn everything, incorporate all the “amazing habits for successful people,” and watch all the YouTubes, and read all the books, and eliminate everything that we decided is not suitable for us… and I lost my breath. Too much, people, too much.

Take one step at a time. It takes around three months to develop a new habit and have it fully incorporated. It is better to work on one change or new habit at a time and really get it than to start a lot simultaneously and get exhausted. Even if you don’t give up, at some point, you just can’t keep it up, and you start feeling stuck and useless. It is not worth it, trust me.

You can make a list of everything you want to learn, study, and change. But after you complete the list, choose one thing and dig deeper into it. Read and listen to all the content you need.  Understand how it works for you. Define simple steps and experiment. See how you feel about it. Master it. You will know when you are ready for the next topic on your list.

Second, there is a time for everything, and you have your time.

The other day, a client said she believes the information is there, but we hear what we need to hear in a given moment. You sometimes hear the same information multiple times. It doesn’t mean much the first times, but then one day - bazinga! That’s it! I get it! It is true - sometimes you don’t want to hear something difficult, and you keep denying the facts. But many other times, it just wasn’t the right time for you.

Because we are constantly changing, we have different circumstances, and we learn continuously, other topics become also more or less relevant. Work on the topics that are relevant to you at the moment. For example, I have been aware that I need to have better eating habits for years. I’m not too fond of fruit, and I always felt guilty about it, so I have been forcing myself to eat it. Finally, after listening to some interviews, I had this “brilliant idea” of learning about how our body works with what we eat. I had seen books about this all along, but they did not speak to me for some reason. But they do now. Great!

Lastly, don’t get trapped by the “best practices.”

There is so much material out there about every possible topic. We could make an endless list of everything we should do to be healthy, successful, happy, satisfied, etc.

The problem is - although these might be excellent ideas, they are not tailored to you. Only you can know what really works for you.

So when you are working on incorporating something new in your life or changing something that is not going so well, think of the purpose of the practice. Then, based on the purpose, find what works for you.

For example, is journaling good? Sure, it is a great practice! But what is it for? 

Journaling gives you space for reflection and introspection, which bring alignment with yourself. Now, do you need to do that through journaling?

I will give you just some other ways of getting reflection and introspection:

• Dictate (instead of writing)
• Meditate
• Go for a run
• Pray
• Take a bath 
• Sit in nature
• Color mandalas
• Make a puzzle
• Etc. etc. etc.

Anything that clears up your head can work.

How do you know what works for you? By trial and error. Define the purpose you seek, list possible “candidates,” and try them for a short time. Then notice - how are you feeling, does it feel right? Do you enjoy it? If not that much, is it because you don’t master it yet, or for some other reason? With time, you will get better at recognizing what works for you.

Give yourself space to grow, and you are sure to flourish.

Yours,