What is "personal growth"?

What do we mean by "personal growth" anyway? This term gets tossed around quite a lot, but just what is it exactly? And why the heck should I spend time on this personal growth thing instead of just doing whatever I want, or whatever I have been doing (eating a bag of chips for dinner, cursing at small children and making little voodoo dolls of my coworkers)?

Personal growth involves:

• understanding the mind, emotions and behaviour of both yourself and others
• steady improvement and continual learning
• taking action to minimize negativity, and to become more grounded and happier
• learning how to overcome fear and develop deep confidence

If you cultivate an open-minded curiosity and fully engage the challenge of growth, it can turn into a passion and an adventure in learning and experiential knowledge. It can help to confidently navigate confusion, emotional storms, and ongoing fears.

If you take the time to diligently work on yourself, you can become more emotionally stable and more rooted in your ability to respond and make decisions.  "Problems" might disappear from your life and be replaced by "challenges".

Sometimes, you'll wonder why you made such a big deal about something in the first place.

A Clear Comparison

Look at the table below, comparing "The Status Quo" to "The Action-Taker".

If you see yourself as having several of the qualities in the Status Quo column, don't get discouraged. This chart is simply a tool to non-judgmentally discover where you're at and help you see who you can become. If you identify with some of the "Status Quo" qualities, believe that change is possible for yourself.

Making personal growth fun, interesting, engaging and enjoyable is key. Start taking a series of small actions towards bigger goals, and begin to see yourself flourish in a relatively short period of time.  Bring personal growth into your life in ways that feel easy and enjoyable to you.

Now put down that voodoo doll and bag of chips. We've got some work to do.