Feb 22 2008
Making Personal Development Fun
When you hear the words “goal setting” do you think, “Now that sounds like a good time”? How about strengthening your self-discipline–sound entertaining? Increasing your productivity? No? I agree. I think the biggest problem with personal development is that it’s absolutely no fun.
The basic principles of personal development are pretty simple, but most people (myself included) don’t successfully apply them. Why? Well, let’s look at self-discipline as an example. How would you go about strengthening your self-discipline? You’d start by doing something that you kind of don’t want to do (like get up an hour earlier). Once you’d successfully done that for a while, you’d take it up a notch and create a bigger challenge for yourself. You’d continue increasing the challenge until you reached the point where you had the self-discipline to do pretty much anything you set your mind to do. We’d all love to get there, but the process sounds so arduous and… well, un-fun.
So how can we fix this? How can we make personal development enjoyable? I’ve got a few ideas:
- Learn about YOU. If you’re anything at all like me, you love personality quizzes and career tests. There’s just something so rewarding about taking the Myers-Briggs and finding out that you’re an INFJ (any other INFJs out there?) and that’s why you’re such a freakin’ perfectionist. The insights you gain from these fun quizzes and tests could point you in a new direction if you’re struggling to find your purpose. Don’t spend too much time on them, but they’re definitely a fun addition to your personal development arsenal.
- Get a buddy. Find a friend who has a similar goal and work together. For example, two of my wonderful, fabulous online friends share my goal of being a writer. One of them suggested that we start a joint project that will allow us to write in a fun and supportive environment. I won’t want to let them down, so I’ll be sure to do my share of the writing. I’ll also get encouragement and critique and momentum from doing this. How could finding a buddy help you work toward your goals?
- Reward yourself. Let’s go back to the self-discipline example. My goal is to wake up at 5:00am, which requires self-discipline. I could set a reward for myself that, for every week that I successfully wake up at 5:00am, I get to spend a lazy, guilt-free two hours curled up with a book. Maybe if I make it the whole month, I get a new pair of shoes. Find a reward that motivates you and go for it!
- Don’t take yourself so seriously. Yes, personal development is important. Achieving your goals is important. Finding your purpose is important. But you know what else is also really important? Being kind to yourself. Laughing. Enjoying life. Finding the humor in your mistakes. Living in the moment.
Now, go forth and do something FUN this weekend!
Update: Day 16 is done. I didn’t wind up getting up at 5:00 am because I was up waaay past 11, but I did get up at 6 and get an hour of writing in.
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I can only agree ( specially with that part about personality quizzes and career tests:-)). And you know what? I do not hear this for the first time. My maths teacher told us the same. Only the reward was for learning and the reward were smarties
A particular thing that springs to mind is to remind yourself how good it feels on the occasions when you’ve done all that which you wanted to get done and have now settled down to relax or have fun.
It’s great to enjoy things without thinking of anything you ought to be doing - and that makes the stuff you want to get done, but don’t feel too inclined to do, more bearable - even fun.