Table of contents:
- Part one: engage in introspection
- Part Two: Choosing the Right Path
- Part Three: Acquiring a Positive Outlook
How to independently manage your life, from your personal life to your career? Each of us can build our own destiny!
A personal development coach is someone who helps you manage many aspects of your life, from career goals to finances and personal life. Although there are professional coaches who are paid for their ideas, each of us can write our own destiny. Read this article and you will find out how.
Steps
Part one: engage in introspection
1. Observe your behavior and thinking patterns. This will help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and determine which aspects of your life need improvement. Remember, before you can fix anything, you must first identify the problem (s).
Try to look at your life from an objective point of view, or, in other words, from the point of view of another person. This can take months, so be patient and keep reminding yourself to take a step back from time to time to reflect.
Pay attention to your reactions to stress, excitement, anger, and anxiety. Although everyone has experienced these emotions at least once, we all deal with them in different ways. Are you reacting to these emotions rationally, or are you allowing them to grow to enormous proportions? Pay attention to what triggers these emotions: school, work, your family, your spouse, and so on.
Do you often quarrel with friends and family members? Who usually provokes these fights?
How do you resolve differences? Do you compromise or always defend your position?
Are there certain people in your life who annoy you or make you feel insecure? Why it happens?
Have you ever neglected or ignored your loved ones? When was the last time you showed a friend or loved one that you care about him?
3. Recognize your fears and concerns about the future. So you will see your fears from the outside, separating the rational from the irrational. The point is to determine if the fear is rational (that is, it is a real danger), or is it related to personal experiences. Consider the following exercise:
Think about fear. For example: "I am afraid to go back to school because I do not consider myself a strong student." Now imagine that one of your good friends or family member told you that he feels this way. How would you react? What advice would you give? Would you tell the person to give it up, or would you say it's worth trying? Often we give advice better than we would have done ourselves because of a biased view of our own experiences.
Go back and re-read the old entries after some time has passed. Now that you are no longer in the heat of the moment, do you think you were reacting correctly to the situation? How could you handle her better? Keep this in mind for the future.
Part Two: Choosing the Right Path
1. Define your interests. The best way to live a fulfilling life is to spend your time doing what you really enjoy doing. Think what interests you: art, science, politics or the environment? Think about what kind of legacy you want to leave behind? How do you want to influence the world around you? These questions will help you find the right career path for you.
Learn to distinguish between interests and hobbies. Just because you enjoy playing guitar doesn't necessarily mean you should take up music as a career. If you eat, sleep and breathe guitar, then keep practicing and improving your skill and follow your dream.
Take classes or one-to-one lessons in subjects you are interested in, even if you have no previous experience with it. You never know when this elective will open the door for you to a whole new career that you might not even have thought of.
Don't be discouraged if you realize that you don't have the skill to do something. Remember that even knowing that you are not very good at this is a step in the right direction, it indicates to you what you are good at.
3. Follow your goals with commitment and responsibility. When you have already attuned your mind to a specific goal, follow it. Be prepared for obstacles and don't expect immediate results. Good things take time and hard work, but they'll be worth it in the long run when you reach your goals. Remember that at the end of your life, you’re more likely to regret what you didn’t than what you did.
Be skeptical when people ask you to lend them money, constantly expect you to pay for everything, or ask for a favor without reciprocating. This person probably wants to take advantage of you.
Talk about it if something bothers you. Maybe it's your employer, your spouse, or a family member, you should get into the habit of calmly letting people know when they cross the line. You may be surprised to learn that this person had no idea what was upsetting you.
Part Three: Acquiring a Positive Outlook
1. Learn to drown out negative thoughts. Some say, "You are what you eat." But even more so, you are what you think. Positive thinking has the ability to turn an ordinary or even unpleasant experience into a wonderful one. Positive thinking will be the foundation for a happier life, no matter what happens to you.
If you catch yourself thinking negatively, take a step back, identify the thought and label it as “negative”. Learning to separate negative thoughts can help you release your anxiety and worries.
You should never leave friends and family members that you consider “negative”. Instead, try to have a positive impact on the attitudes of these people, rather than succumb to their negativity.
Break off any physically or emotionally abusive relationship immediately. No matter how forgiving person you are, there is no forgiveness for domestic violence.
3. Be grateful. Many of us identify ourselves in terms of what we want to do or what we want to have. In other words, we define ourselves in terms of what we don't have. This, in essence, suggests that we are somewhat inferior. Take time each day to be grateful for what you already have, whether physical objects or not.
Return to positive memories. Although it seems impossible to forget shameful or sad memories, many of us return to the wonderful things that happened in our lives. Think about the best days of the past month or year. Think back to special parties, holidays and vacations.
Appreciate the wonderful people in your life. If you're depressed because you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, dwelling on that missing element will only make you even more unhappy. Be grateful for all the wonderful friends and family you have in your life.
Photo: flickr.com/astragony
