Two Powerful Personal Development Concepts To Help You Reach Your Dreams
Over the leading two articles in the series looking at straightforward information you could apply to lend a hand with your 2008 goals, we examined fitness and diet strategies respectively. In today’s article, we will focus on a couple of fundamental psychological concepts you might practice to support you further within these two areas of your life, but also to help in other goals you may have decided upon.
The first concept, which even alone might bring about an extraordinary improvement, is the idea of “failure does not exist”. Fair enough, that’s a weird idea to fully comprehend, but think about it like this: let’s pretend your resolution was to not eat all types of fast food restaurants for the full twelve months, and suddenly, as part of a good day out with friends, desperate for something to eat, you find that you’ve switched into autopilot and you’re already settled at your table with a supersized meal. That does not suggest that you’ve smashed your resolution, even if it is only a handful of weeks into the new year. It categorically DOES indicate that you have been given an opportunity to discover something about yourself. Maybe you’ll have to be extra alert when you’re out with your friends in future. Maybe it’s to tell your friends all about your New Years Day resolution and asking if they can cheer you on – or embarass if you go near a McDonalds. Maybe it’s to avoid those friends ever again!
The second principle is that we never, ever do something wayward. Or at any rate, each activity we perform has – or had originally – a helpful objective. I don’t think that we begin a fresh habit without it having a damned good purpose – to enrich our life or the lives of our family or friends somehow. It’s just that sometimes our lives transform, but we keep on doing that behaviour, and it therefore develops into something no longer so beneficial. Or maybe we make better one element of our life, but unintentionally damage some other.
This is imperative – you should grasp that EVERY ACTION you complete has a valuable goal. Having a cigarette made you a Han Solo-like rogue in school. Eating snacks helped you get over that high-school heart-break. Alcohol helps you relax in nerve-racking settings. Those benefits were categorically there when the behaviour began, even if they’re no longer relevant. But even if the explicit state of affairs is no longer part of your life (for sure, you’re over that high-school heart-break now that you’re a responsible adult?) the original advantage might be (a massive wedge of chocolate fudge cake still makes you feel good).
So never put yourself down if your old habits re-appear – this merely indicates that at the point you stopped the preceding habit, you also put a stop to receiving that valuable gain. It’s best to sit quietly for a few minutes, try to understand what the benefit is, and investigate other strategies – multiple ways, to give the maximum adaptability – to have that original advantage. Next, try stopping the former habit once again. If you find enough tips to generate that benefit, you will almost involuntarily finish doing the former habit, given that you’ll no longer have to do it.
Although these principles might seem a touch outlandish, you’ll realize that should you strive to adhere to them, life seems a little bit more straightforward, a little bit more tranquil. Both of these key concepts support you to keep to your new years resolutions, and to improve in case you make a mistake. Try abiding by them over a month and become aware of how much more straightforward life might be.