Why Personal Growth is So Important
Bretton Curtis - TOBS
Have you ever had the thought "I deserve better than this" in life? Do you desire more? Your desire could possibly be misplaced, thinking that you want or need all of these material objects when really it's a cry for help from your conscience. Like a hungry dog begging to be fed it never goes away, no matter what you try feeding it.
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world, Today I am wise and want to change myself. -Rumi
What if you just aren't feeding it the right stuff?
According to Literacy Inc a study shows that as many as 33% of high school graduates never read another book. That is a staggering number. The average screen time of teens today is around 8 hours of entertainment. It's no secret that we are consuming more and more entertainment and less education. Learning a new skill or becoming more knowledgeable about something can be exciting and challenging. Overcoming challenges can give us the confidence to move forward to start tackling our goals once we start believing in ourselves. Instead of entertaining yourself constantly with social media apps and streaming services, try picking up a book for just 15 minutes every day. It should be a non fiction, discipline or self help book. (Think Tony Robbins or Jocko Willink or David Goggins). It could be any book written by someone you admire that will help you get to the next level (or at least motivate you to start working).
Get reading
When you start reading these books, just shoot for 15 minutes minimum. You may start out thinking it's a long time but once you start you may get hooked and "fall in" to the book, losing track of time. Books help foster our imagination and create mode by forcing us to paint a mental picture of what we are reading. Much like fingerprints no two people will paint the exact same picture, it's just not possible! This is the drawback to watching entertainment, it doesn't really make us think much!
Take notes
When you are reading these books you may just have an "ah ha" moment, it's important to keep a journal with you to take notes so that you don't lose that thought later. When you leave a note, you can go back later and use it and apply it to a situation. You can also use a highlighter or pen to mark parts of the book that stand out to you or seem more impactful than the rest. You may have a friend come to you for advice and you can remember that part of the book that helped you and easily go back and find it when it happens.
Take your time
This stuff is going to all happen overnight, the longer you take to ruminate on something the better it will stick! Don't try to blow through a book just to say you read it, only to forget everything you learned because you went so fast! Just take small bites!
Teach someone else
We retain 80% of what we teach and 20% of what we read. If you learn something cool that might help someone else, tell someone about it! If they are happy and interested, keep telling them this stuff! They will help keep you motivated and hungry to learn more so you can keep impressing them with knowledge. If they don't really seem to care, don't bother trying it again. You can't feed someone that isn't hungry and they will only try to discourage you with their negativity. In order to stay in this learning, open state we need to stay away from negative or scheptical people. They probably aren't doing it on purpose but they can really derail someone just starting on their journey. You don't have to not be their friend or not care about them anymore, it's just not wise to be spending too much time around someone you are about to outgrow.
Keep going
Due to the Dunning- Kruger Effect (the more you know the more you realize what you don't know) when we first start out, we think we know it all. This is because we are unaware of all the things we don't know. The more we begin to learn and understand, the more we realize is out there that we haven't even scratched the surface of. This can be super discouraging and make someone want to quit, it's important to recognize we will never move forward if we quit every time we get discouraged! Continue on learning at your own pace for as long as you can, this will keep the mind and spirit young. And remember when you get where you're going, turn around and extend a hand to someone else trying to get up! It will help both of you more than you could imagine.