Personal Development Archives - Page 6 of 23

Celebrate Your Achievements

Do you take time to celebrate your achievements? I know that I tend to be quite a reflective person and like many others I tend to incline towards reflecting on what could have gone differently or better. It’s all too easy for us to default to reflect on those things we can learn most from and that tends to be the things which could have gone better. However, we need to make time to also reflect and celebrate our achievements.

This can be especially helpful at a time when you are looking to secure a new job because it brings to front of mind those things you have done which have made a difference. You can then ensure that you weave these into your answers at interview as examples of what you have achieved.

When we sit back and look at things, as I encouraged you to do with the post around Personal Skills Mindmapping, we soon realise that we have achieved things in our life and work.

Do You Celebrate Your Achievements?

You should celebrate your achievements. Many people don’t. They marginalise their achievements. If you do this, you need to stop. It can set up barriers to achieving more. Learn how to break those barriers by recognizing and appreciating your own achievements.

Why shouldn’t you celebrate your own lifetime achievement?
It’s a big deal for anyone in Hollywood to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. They celebrate it as an event, publicize it, and film it for all to see. Just because you aren’t famous, doesn’t mean you haven’t accomplished anything. Be proud of what you have accomplished.
The next time someone recognizes an achievement of yours, don’t pass it off as no big deal.
Thank them, and consider yourself lucky that someone noticed. Also, write down the event any time it happens. This will show you that your achievements are worth it.
Appreciate the achievements of others.
One way to get people to recognize your achievements is to congratulate them on theirs. Be genuine in your praise. If you are just doing it to try and win points, this will be seen as shallow, and people will know you are not
If you are feeling a bit light on the achievement scale, try to figure out why that is.
It could be that you need to define your goals more concretely. Start with high-level goals and break them down into tasks and sub-goals.
One achievement that people overlook is helping others.
This doesn’t have to be through volunteering. It can be helping a neighbor or somebody at work. You can choose to volunteer as well. When you help others achieve something, that is an achievement as well. It feels great knowing that you made a difference in someone else’s life.
Read about the achievements of others.
The reason why biographies of successful people continue to be published is that they help people learn the circumstances of these successful people. You can see that they were just like everyone else. It’s the classic, if they can do it so can you. Try to read several books per month, consistently. Also, read people who you admire as well as people who you find controversial. It’s good to get perspectives on different people to help you keep an open mind.
You want to appreciate your achievements. But, at the same time, you don’t want to rest on your laurels.
You always have more to achieve, so make sure that you appreciate what you have done, but understand there is more.

3 Actionable Next Steps To Celebrate Your Achievements

Write down all your achievements that you can remember. Try to think back as far as you can. Don’t limit yourself. If you had achievements in school or college, put those down as well.

This action will help show you everything you have achieved. It will give you confidence in your ability to accomplish anything you set your mind to.

Create a blog about your achievements. First, it will get you to write about them and how you got to where you are. Second, you never know who you may inspire by describing your experiences.

When your blog becomes popular, it will motivate you to achieve more because you want to keep your editorial calendar as full as possible.

Align your daily to-do lists with your overall goals.

If you don’t have higher-level goals defined, start with these. To-do lists are good tools unless you are not performing the right tasks.

High-level goals will help you determine what you need to be doing on your to-do lists.

Personal Skills Mindmapping Exercise

Before you do this mindmapping exercise please watch the Personal Skills Mind Map video below to get started…

The idea is to focus on all of your skills and talents and then dwell on all of the benefits and advantages that these skills bring you in life, business, etc.

This can be a great technique if you need a confidence boost or to raise your energy/spirits.

Set a 15-20 minute timer so you can do this quickly with as much focus as possible.

You will spend the whole time concentrating on your personal skills, natural talents, etc.

For each skill you uncover, you are going to acknowledge all of the advantages and benefits of having these skills.

This brainstorming session will help you mind dwell on your strengths and create a boost of confidence for your day!

Do this for yourself when you need a “pick me up”.

You might also want to try this with colleagues, friends or family as well. It can be a great collaborative exercise!

Aligning Your Purpose and Career – Questions To Ask Yourself

In terms of your career have you considered how it aligns with your purpose in life? Do you know how to find your purpose? If you posed that question to people around you, I suspect that the majority would likely answer no. It’s because there is a world of possibilities. People are often afraid to try something new out of fear of the unknown or because it is all too easy to settle for the here and now. They often don’t know how to go about looking for what they should be doing.

If you want to find your “Purpose” then you need first to ask yourself if what you are doing now is satisfying. Put aside the bills and your salary slip for a moment. Do you get a buzz out of getting up every morning to go to work? How do you feel on Sunday evenings, assuming you start up work on Mondays? Do you dread having to get up in the morning on Monday, or does it excite you?

Another problem is you may feel stuck doing something in which you don’t believe. Suppose you work for a company that isn’t living out its values or pays lip service to them. It pays well, or it is safe and comfortable and that is why you stick with it. You even like many of the people who work there. You need to ask yourself if you can continue to work in an environment which doesn’t fit well with you.

You will also need to ask yourself what will it take to make changes to get out of your current situation and into something you enjoy. It may require going back to college or perhaps undertaking some online training. Luckily, nowadays with the explosion of learning opportunities online there are many options available, and many of them are cheap or free.

If you find that the path is well laid out, ask yourself are you’re willing to put in the time and make an effort? If not, you haven’t truly found your purpose. You either need to continue what you are doing or find another path. Keep reflecting, challenging yourself until you reach a point where you are willing to put in the effort.

Your Career and Purpose Don’t Necessarily Mean The Same Thing!

You should keep in mind that your career is not necessarily your purpose in life. It may be a part of it, but for many people, there is a need to look a lot deeper. For instance, you may love helping others out and feel that is your purpose. If your current career doesn’t focus on helping people, this can help you determine where to look to make changes. Try to find organizations where you can make a difference.

If you go this route, you will align what you want to do for your career with what you feel is your purpose. That will make your new career choice fulfilling. It can give you a reason to want to get up to go to work, which is fantastic.

When you focus on aligning your career and your purpose together, the decisions needed to establish your new path becomes much more natural. Yes, you could of course randomly pick a way forward. However, it’s more likely you will succeed when you fit your career with who you are or who you want to become.

Nine Simple Meditation Techniques

I want to share some simple meditation techniques with you that I hope will prove helpful. Studies show that individuals who participate in regular meditation tend to have a more positive outlook and focus less on the negative situations that everyone has in their lives. It makes it easier for them to emotionally navigate issues affecting them. This is because meditation activates the more positive parts of your brain.

Learning to meditate is like anything else you want to do. You need to learn how to do it, then practice doing it, and do it regularly so that it becomes a normal part of your life. That’s really the process of developing any type of habit that is good for you. Keep practicing and keep doing it.

Nine Simple Meditation Techniques

Let’s look at some simple meditation techniques to make meditation work for you.

1. Prepare for Meditation – The best way to help yourself get used to meditating is to set up a process that prepares your mind and body for meditation. It might be having a cup of tea, drinking some lemon water, or doing something else that makes your mind think that it’s time to meditate.

2. Try to Sit Still – When you start meditating, it’s important to find a comfortable position to sit in so that you can sit still. Don’t try to make the poses that everyone else makes if you’re not used to it. The most comfortable sitting up position for you is best.

3. Pray or Use a Mantra – Sometimes, saying something repetitive can calm your mind and help bring your mind into the present. When you are meditating, you don’t want to think of the past or the future; you only want to think of right now. Reciting a prayer that you know, or a mantra, or even a poem can be helpful in bringing you to the present. If you have an Alexa device or something similar then you can also use some of the “Skills” that are available to support you in your meditation

4. Close Your Eyes – Getting rid of visual stimulation is something that will help you become more mindful. Try closing your eyes but don’t look down. Instead, keep your head up and your eyes upward even as they’re closed. This will help keep energy while you are meditating. Ideally, you don’t want to fall asleep while meditating.

5. Choose a Safe Place – When you meditate, you want to be in a safe place that helps you not worry about your surroundings. You don’t want flies attacking you or sounds to be interfering with your concentration. You want the temperature to be comfortable, and to ensure that you remain undisturbed during the process.

6. Get Comfortable – It’s important that you feel comfortable. If you have health issues, you can sit in a chair or on a pillow. You can even sit on a yoga ball while you meditate. The important thing is that you feel comfortable and aren’t experiencing a lot of discomfort and pain.

7. Make the Time – It’s important to set a regular time for meditation. That way your mind and body become accustomed to the fact that you’re going to meditate at that time. When you do something at the same time each day, in the same way, it forms a habit that you’ll need to include in your life.

8. Watch Your Posture – Keeping the right posture during meditation is a good way to ensure you can breathe well, not cause yourself pain, and maintain your energy. You can take on any number of poses, but the one that is best for you is the one that is most comfortable and doesn’t make any part of your body hurt or go numb from cutting off circulation.

9. Learn Proper Breathing Technique – One of the most important aspects of meditating in a way that helps is to learn to breathe properly. The most helpful method is to breathe normally the way you always breathe. But, some people tend to have shallow breaths. Ensure that you breathe in to raise your diaphragm so that you’re getting plenty of oxygen.

Once you set your life up for regular meditation, you’ll find that you get into the zone faster and more easily as time goes by. You will eventually even be able to take five minutes to yourself while waiting in line at the post office, and you will feel refreshed instead of frustrated throughout your day as you become accustomed to using meditation to help you. I really do hope that these Simple Meditation Techniques will help you.

Five Simple Ways To Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

How’s your Emotional Intelligence? Are you working to improve it? Many people are taught to stuff their feelings away. Then they become adults and they’ve lost out on how to recognise their own feelings, much less those of others. If you want to improve your emotional intelligence, try these tips.

Five Emotional Intelligence Tips That Work!

1. Notice How You Feel

The first way to improve your emotional intelligence is to simply notice how you feel at any given point in the day. Name your feelings even if you do so in your own head without voicing them. The more names you can put to your feelings, the easier it will be to start to acknowledge them to yourself and others.

2. Be Mindful of Your Behaviour

Do you find yourself being snappy, happy, or sad without knowing why? When you act in a certain way, it’s important to understand why. This way you can find out what motivates you, what makes you frustrated, and what works and does not work for you emotionally.

3. Question Your Opinions

Sometimes we surround ourselves with only like-minded individuals, and we read, watch, and participate only in ideas, news, and events that further our own preconceived ideas about life. The only way to understand why you believe what you believe is to truly examine it, along with the facts that you think you know.

4. Be Responsible for Your Own Feelings

People like to say that you can only feel the way you feel. That may be true, but you are still responsible for your feelings, why you have those feelings, and how you act regarding those feelings. Sometimes even hurt feelings are really just because you are misunderstanding someone else, and you’re responsible for ensuring that you really understand what is happening so that you know if you really have a right to be hurt or not.

5. Take Time Out Each Day to Be Grateful

Getting in touch with your feelings can sometimes bring up a lot of negative stuff. To help stay grounded, take time out each day to be thankful and grateful. A great way to accomplish this is to keep a gratitude journal that you write in each evening.

That way you can get in touch with positive feelings every night before you go to sleep. Or another simple and similar technique is to make a note of three positive things that have happened to you that day – then you will have something to look back on when you are feeling less positive.