STORY:
EverythingCounts!

Personal development counts - advice for a new Millennium

Personal Development Counts!

By Gary Ryan Blair
Special to Everything2000

There will never be a day that will not require dedication, discipline, good judgement, energy, and the feeling that you can improve. Each day offers an opportunity for improvement. Each moment an advance or retreat in the pursuit of your goals.

Personal development is a lifelong pursuit because life is a work in progress. You never totally arrive; there's always some polishing to do, knowledge to gain, and love to deepen. Self-development ends only when we run out of time. You are, and will always be, a self in evolution.

Who can't improve a little as a parent, child, spouse, friend, citizen, or employee? No one is perfect; no one walks the straight and narrow line all the time. The absence of perfection leaves the door open for improvement.

Dreams die under a burden of excuses. Excuses, blame, negativity, self-pity impede personal development. Making excuses is a character deficiency, nothing more than a public relations snow job. Castrate excuses. Give blame no breathing room. Cut off the oxygen to negativity and self-pity.

Let there be no doubt: as long as you continue to blame others instead of assuming your responsibilities, you will make no meaningful and enduring change for the better. What kind of people are we, if we don't have the character to own up to our own shortcomings and responsibilities? To have and enjoy certain liberties requires us to hold each other and ourselves accountable for our actions.

Here's a truth you can lean on: You are responsible for your own personal development. It's a solo act. It is contemplative thought and behavior modification. Self-improvement begins at home, inside our minds. Don't allow your attitude to be your handicap. Make it your strength.

Expect skepticism. Personal development is a kind of "damned if you do… damned if you don't" situation. If you don't improve people will say that you should. When you do change, they are disbelieving. Improve anyway!

Habits-good and bad alike-are lifelong companions and hold court, acting as both judge and jury, over personal development. Your challenge is to withstand the effects of your own bad habits. Bad habits are like landmines strewn through the landscape of your life. Eventually you will become a casualty to your own bad habits. The only problem with good habits is that they're so easy to give up!

Spend your life learning how to live. Living is a performance art that requires you to do the hard work if you're going to do it well. We write, produce, and act out our own drama. Life is fired at us point-blank; we must constantly decide what to do with it.

Life is an ongoing journey, with lots of beginnings and continuations. We never get to a point when all knowledge is attained and understood, when our bodies function flawlessly, when we completely honor our values, and achieve every goal.

We get better when we do better. And we do better when we know better. Personal development is the way that we purposely make everything count!

Credit Line: Gary Ryan Blair, "The GoalsGuy", is the author of the best selling book What Are Your Goals? He writes and speaks extensively on the subject of goal-setting. His "EverythingCounts" series will appear on Everything2000.com each Monday through January 2000.For more information visit www.GoalsGuy.com or call 1-877-GoalsGuy.

DATE: 09/20/99

For more E2000 stories, click here:
news | events | Y2K | today's news

Marketplace
Books
Collectibles
Celebration Supplies
General Merchandise
Travel Packages