3 Essential Mindset Shifts for Self Development

What is self development?

 According to Oxford, it is: "The process by which a person's character or abilities are gradually developed."

To add, self development is taking steps to better yourself, learn new skills, and overcome bad habits.

Yes, you must take this into your own hands. Self development is for everyone.

Growing up, we rely on the school system to educate us. For most of us that is at least from K-12, and if you attend post secondary, another 1-4+ years.

How do we measure our learning when we no longer teachers, grades, or a class syllabus?

How do we know if we are on the "right" track? And why does it feel like we are not good enough? 

If you are reading this newsletter, you have some interest in self development. Thank you!

Let's do a quick self-assessment. Which do you best identify with in your life right now?

A) Improving

B) Stagnant

C) Worsening

Be honest with yourself. Has your life been improving, stagnant, or worsening?

Go with your gut, don't over think it.

Now that you have your answer, fret not. Regardless of what you answered, there is always room for self improvement!

Improvement starts with your mindset. The belief that you can be better!

Here are 3 mental shifts to focus on:

1. Belief in yourself.

Learning is gradual. It takes time to develop skills, relationships, strength, and knowledge. There is no rush.

We cannot rely on others to put belief into us. Think of self belief as fuel in your car. It is your responsibility to fill it up when it is running now.

Here are some indications if it is running low:

• Feeling like we are not capable of change
• Doubting ourselves and our abilities
• Procrastinating and avoiding our daily tasks
• Slipping into bad habits

To fuel up, go do something that will challenge you. Show yourself that you can do it. If you haven't gone on a walk by yourself, go for a walk. If you haven't done a push up in a while, go do ONE push up. We fuel our self belief by DOING something beyond your limit.

2. Treat life like practice. It's OK to fail.

We all make mistakes. In fact, I welcome mistakes. This is where we learn best. In one way, we can measure our growth by the quality of your failures.

When I first started my business, I had little to no sale skills. I needed to learn how to find clients or I wouldn't have any income.

I was scared of rejection. I didn't want to disappoint myself or make others feel uncomfortable. My nerves and anxiety definitely showed up in conversations.

Everything changed when I started to treat each new interaction as as practice. This mindset gave me the opportunity to learn how to improve my communication skills, relationship building, and patience. It took the weight off my shoulders. AND I felt much more natural. I would learn from each mistake and improve from there.

I don't know anyone who learned how to ride a bike without falling few times. It's part of the process.

3. Positive framing

Humans will have 4x the number of negative thoughts compared to positive thoughts. If you notice that you may have negative thought loops, you are not alone.

It is our responsibility to keep inventory of where our minds go. There is no simple tally to take note of here.

However, with patience and mindfulness, we can begin to notice that our negative thoughts do not serve us (on the most part). We can begin to improve this ratio by practicing positivity and gratitude in our lives.

With positive framing we can see the good in the world, others, and ourselves. Our actions will reflect positive intention instead of fear and anxiety. When you notice negative thoughts, allow yourself to let go of them.

"I acknowledge these thoughts, and I will let them go."

Conclusion

I've practiced these shifts over the last several years. Our behaviors stem from our perceptions of our environment and our interactions. Start with training your mind and your actions will follow. If you don't believe you can improve, you likely will not.

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Thank you for subscribing and reading. I truly appreciate your interest and curiosity in self-improvement and learning. It means a lot to me!

I am always open to new ideas, collaboration, feedback (compliments and constructive). You can email me at casey@caseychung.com.

Want to chat about a career change, passion project, or just connect? You can find a time in my schedule here.