Hey lady!
Before we start, I don’t want personal growth to be another stick to beat yourself with.
I don’t want to make you feel like it is something you “should” be doing but maybe aren’t, therefore you’re failing.
Nope.
What I do want to do, is talk about why spending time on personal growth has been important to me. Why I’m an advocate.
And to help you find ways to work it into your busy life in a way that is realistic for you…
…IF it is something you’re interested in, you will enjoy.
Got it?
Great!
First things first,
What do we even really mean by personal growth?
Well, to me, personal growth is any way that I feel like I am expanding. Expanding my knowledge, expanding spiritually.
Just hopefully not expanding my waistline, lol.
So it doesn’t have to mean self help books with cringey titles (and in fact, while we’re on that point, so-called self-help books are WAY more cool than that now… check out You Are A Badass as an example).
Yes, it could be about working on yourself in some way. But that also includes just general learning. Learning something that interests you, whatever that may be.
It also includes CLARITY.
What do I mean by this? Well, in a nutshell: realising stuff. Stuff about yourself, about the things that are maybe holding you back, about that pesky negative self talk, about the stuff that makes you squirm.
It means noticing those things and instead of ignoring them or running away from them (been there, for sure!) looking them squarely in the eyes and saying “I see you”.
It means noticing them and then trying to do something about them.
So all of this combined, is what I mean when I refer to personal growth.
Not doing it all at once – exhausting! – but for me, I just have a general, loose intention to be noticing and making the most of, opportunities to grow.
To grow as a business owner, mother, woman, just as a human being in general.
What’s so great about personal growth though?
The great thing about it, regardless of whether you are learning marketing strategy or kundalini yoga; whether you are working on your relationships or working on your limiting beliefs; it will ALL (I really mean ALL), help your business.
Quite a bold claim, right?
But hear me out.
Spending time on something – anything – that gives you a feeling of growth, makes you happier.
When you’re happy, your business is happy.
Because you show up as the best version of you, you have more to give, you are more open to innovation and creativity.
All that good stuff.
When you aren’t learning, aren’t growing, you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying stuck, staying the same.
And I believe that as humans we are made to learn, to grow, to continuously evolve.
So doing something that makes us feel like we are growing, gives us a sense of momentum, which can propel us towards our vision of success.
Not to mention that you might learn some things that directly relate to and positively impact your business.
Fair enough, but how do I find time for that?
Ahhh time. We are busy Mama’s after all, doing the whole family + biz juggle right.
So I’m going to give you some practical tips to slotting some personal development time into your life, if you feel like it’s something you want to do.
And really though, the key is there: wanting.
If you WANT to find time for personal development, you will.
But you also have to believe you are WORTHY of spending that time on yourself. And perhaps even investing, depending on the kind of development you’re after.
As I mentioned in this post, I see personal development as an aspect of self-care. As a way of looking after yourself, as setting yourself up for success.
Spending time on self-care is a really great way of signalling to yourself that you are worthy. Worthy of time, of investment. This will only increase your self-believe and set you up for success.
Anyway, back to time though.
Don’t have enough time?
Want to find more time?
Perhaps you need to work on your Time Mindset. It’s totally a thing, btw.
Want to find out more? Head over to my FB Group – Self Made Mothers – and join if you haven’t already. Once you’re a member, watch this video on exactly that topic. I think you’re going to love it.
Hacks to make it happen
Ok, maybe you’re sold on why personal growth is important.
It’s something you want to do.
You’ve addressed your Time Mindset.
Now let’s talk about some practical tips – hacks even – to really make it happen.
1. Find what works for YOU
First things first, think about how YOU like to digest content.
For example, since I’ve had my daughter, I am rubbish at reading physical books. I used to be a voracious reader and now, I just get distracted or fall asleep.
So for me, audio books are my friend. They were a total game-changer for me when I discovered them.
Maybe you’re more of a visual learner, in which case hit up YouTube as your source of personal growth inspiration. Or find someone you admire/inspires you and watch their FB lives.
The point is, go after the type of content you find most engagement to give yourself the best chance of sticking with it.
2. Double up
I’ve shared this hack before, but it is a WINNER for the busy Mama.
It is also an excellent way of cultivating a new habit.
Basically you tie your new habit (in this case, personal growth) to an existing habit.
Here are some ideas:
- Read on a commute
- Listen to a podcast/audiobook while watching your child at some activity (I do this while my daughter has her swimming lesson)
- Listen to a podcast/audiobook in the car / at the gym / while doing housework / walking to pick up your kid(s) from school
- Watch a YouTube video/FB live training while in the bath (I do this! Just keep your tech well away from the water obv)
You get the idea.
3. Schedule it in
You know that saying, “if it isn’t in your calendar, it isn’t in your life”?
It’s true, right?
So if you’re struggling to find time for personal growth literally block some time out in your diary.
This is especially effective for the type of personal growth that doesn’t come in a small digestible chunk of content that can be married to another habit as above.
For example, if you’ve been struggling with something and need to seek some more tailored help or support, schedule it in. Stop putting it off. You will feel so much lighter when you tackle that thing, whatever it may be.
For me this looked like enrolling myself on a Stress Management course when I was still working in the corporate world. Or more recently has meant, working with an RTT therapist to get to the bottom of the subconscious link to the headaches that were plaguing me. Or my weekly sessions with my coach.
All different ways that I am committed to working on myself, to learning, growing and well, just making life better and easier for myself.
Think about what you’ve perhaps been putting off, and schedule it in.
Your future self will thank you for it, I promise.
4. Shortcut
Following on from this last point, we can grow much quicker often with the support of someone else.
That could mean a supportive loved one, friend, mentor or more professional help like a therapist, coach etc.
I was reminded of just how valuable such support can be a couple of weeks ago. I was struggling with something in my business, with it just feeling kind of hard. And as you know, I’m all about business being easy.
After a session with my coach I felt an INCREDIBLE sense of clarity about what was making me feel off.
It was a huge realisation for me. It meant that I was supported in both seeing what the REAL issue was (which could well have taken me YEARS to realise on my own), but also giving myself the permission to just outright STOP the thing that had been zapping my energy in my business.
That single coaching call saved me SO MUCH time, stress, money even. Of course I recognise this in the work I do with my clients, but being on the receiving end really brought it home to me that THIS is the shortcut I am paying for.
I would have been spinning my wheels in my business, trudging on and possibly even eventually feeling disillusioned with the whole thing, had I not this support on hand.
I’m telling you this because, as I’ve said before: you can’t coach yourself.
You can’t support yourself.
We all need people around us, supporting us in our personal growth, so that we can support our business in its growth.
Well, that pretty much sums it up for today my love.
You can TOTALLY count reading this as a check in the Personal Development box for today.
Pat on the back!
I hope I have inspired you to think about being more intentional about factoring personal development into your life for the many benefits it will bring you.
And I hope that you are feeling more empowered to know that you are worth the investment (time and/or money) involved in making it happen.
As usual, I would LOVE to know one way that you are going to be introducing a personal development habit into your life. Head over to Self Made Mothers and let me know.
Would you like some support in your business? Would it feel great to have someone supporting you on your path to success? To have someone helping you find the way to achieve YOUR vision of success on YOUR terms?
I am here for you, lovely!
Schedule in a FREE Discovery Call with me and we can chat about how you might be feeling stuck, unable to hit consistent income months or feeling at a loss as to how to make your vision of success reality. I’ll listen, I’ll ask you some questions and we can chat about how I might be able to support you.
