There is a wealth of personal development material out there. What I have done here is taken some of the key lines from recent articles of various personal development writers, and added a short discussion to them. Multiple minds are better than one mind, and it is highly beneficial to get input from various sources. You can sometimes go for months not knowing a certain step in a process you are doing until you spend two minutes seeing how someone else is doing it. The following are the quotes from their articles, followed by my short commentary:
Before you decide on a new approach to your school, work or business, ask yourself whether you could continue it indefinitely. – Scott H. Young
Scott’s article here discussed assessing the limitations of decisions you make, so that you don’t take on items you can’t sustain over longer periods of time, preventing future disappointment and anguish. This relates to the concept of “spreading yourself too thin”.
Most of our decisions in life are based on whether or not we can give ourselves permission to tackle the big things. – Alex Shalman
In this article about thinking big, Alex was making the point that we directly limit ourselves as to whether we take on large assignments or small details. While the choice can seem difficult, the difference in results is staggering, which might as well make the choice look easy in hindsight. Taking on larger items is also more enjoyable to tell others about than taking on miniature efforts.
What I realized is that me trying to “go it alone” was one of the silliest things I could do. It’s like intentionally holding yourself back, in some weird attempt to defend your pride. – Jonathan Mead
Jonathan pointed this out in his article to let us know that “going it alone” isn’t worth all that it might seem to be. The only advantage of going it alone might be the ability to tell others that you did something on your own, but other than that, you would likely go through the process much more slowly than if you had assistance or advice provided along the way. It is not often that doing things that help keep your ego intact help you progress quickly, because egos tend to be fixed in place while tasks and changes require flexibility.
Instead of deriving a sense of feeling good about yourself by feeling smart and important through over complicating or over thinking things just relax. Derive those positive feelings about yourself by doing what you know deep down are the right things to do instead. – Henrik Edberg
Here, Henrik points out a humbling concept that even feels good to read, because it does well to tell you to put your ego on the sidelines. There are things you can feel smart or important about, but they will continue to be there, so instead focus on the other items that you are able to do good for. There’s no point in continually thinking about the reasons that make you smart or important in one aspect or another.
Focus only on the next turn and you will navigate your tasks and projects at top speeds. – Donald Latumahina
Donald’s article here was about how to be more productive, and here he points out that the key to it is to focus only on the next step in your procedure. As long as your mind is on the next step, you will accomplish it, and then continue to the next. If you want to bake a cake, focus on getting the ingredients, and then focus only on following the recipe steps one by one, and sooner than later, the cake will be baked.
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All interesting articles and a few blog discovers. Tweeted
Oscar: Thanks for that sir. I am glad to have discovered them at various times as well. We have quotes from people many centuries ago, but some new lines are showing up that have their own distinct value.
Also, I appreciate the tweeting.
It’s nice how you expanded upon the ideas of other personal development bloggers. Taking ideas and adding a personal flavor to it, that’s what writing is all about.
John: Thanks for that. Some times I like to point out what I see as the valuable points others make, and this gave me the chance to do that and the follow them up with my own points. It sure is what writing can be about.
I think Alex makes a strong point with his quote… that most often the reason we’re being held back is not because of external forces or pressures, but rather our own limiting factors already present within ourselves.
I’ve found this out the hard way, (as I’m sure a lot of you have) but once you realize that you’re free to tackle life as you see it, and that you don’t need special permission to do so, a whole new slew of doors opens up that you never thought even existed.
Travis: That realization sure does come at different times for different people. It seems like when it hits, much of the perception of the environment changes. The doors open up at that point, as you pointed out.
Thanks for your thoughts.