5 Ideas For Identifying Areas for Your Personal Growth and Development

Ultimately, you are the best person to drive your personal growth and development. While the perspective of others is sometimes helpful, there is a part of you – some would argue it’s the soul – that knows exactly how you need to transform. The trick is to stop believing the answer is out there somewhere, instead of inside yourself. To tap into your inner knowing about areas for growth, spend some quiet time alone, journaling or simply reflecting. Below are five suggestions for identifying areas in your life that could benefit from your personal growth.

1. Ask trusted friends and family how they perceive you and what’s going on in your life to see what comes up. If you don’t have someone who can or will do this for you, consider scheduling an appointment with a therapist or life coach.

2. Write down your everyday thoughts, behaviors, and emotions -- are they generally positive or negative? If positive, can they be improved? If negative, what specifically needs addressing? Sort the items by areas of your life to spot the area(s) of greatest need or potential for transformation.

3. Break down your life into important areas such as you as a person, home, work, relationships, and connection to your community. Spend some quiet time reflecting on them as areas for transformation.

4. List your favorite books or movies. Because stories are about personal transformation, chances are you’ll find a reason why your favorite story resonates with you.

5. For the areas listed below, rate your level of satisfaction, from 1 to 5. Then, write down a second number in each area to represent where you would like your rating to be. For each area, describe what your life will be like after reaching the desired rating. Consider what would make the difference between your life now and your desired future. What kind of person do you want to be to transform that area? What new beliefs and/or behaviors would a person like that exhibit?

• Yourself

• Your past, present or future

• Home and family life

• Relationships

• Work/career

• Health and wellbeing

• Finances

• Lifestyle

• Social and cultural

• Environment/surroundings

Once you identify potential ways to improve how you’re showing up, focus on your improvement. If you generate multiple ideas for what to work on, it might be wise to narrow it down to one – maybe a "linchpin" area that would positively impact other things on your list. And don’t worry. If you procrastinate, the same issues will keep showing up as a reminder until you decide to make a change or until you suffer more of a consequence than you bargained for. Yes, karma can indeed be a bitch.