14 Practical Ways To Develop Yourself And Stand Out Everywhere You Go ~ By Ayuk Kure
Your desire is to live an impactful life right? One that will leave traces of your footsteps on the surface of the earth huh?
Fabulous! I think we have something in common then.
Actually, I could tell you a million and one things you could do to help you achieve that but I wouldn’t guarantee their efficacy.
There is however one whose effectiveness I can guarantee. It’s self development.
Self development is the act of taking personal responsibility for your own learning and advancement through a process of appraisal, reflection, and taking action. The aim being to continually update skills, remain marketable in the workplace and to determine future career direction.
Self development is not only the spring board for personal excellence; it is also the fundamental basis on which global relevance leans. Hence, to become an envy of your world and remain in the hearts of men forever you must develop yourself and regularly perk up your skills.
In this post I will be sharing with you 13 incredible ways to develop yourself, improve your skills, better enjoy your week and stand out everywhere you go.
But before I do that, let me tell you in a lickety split some other things self development does for you:
- Self-development helps you focus on the things that are important to you, increase your mental capacity and connect you to positive people;
- Self-development gets you ahead of the competition and singles you out everywhere you go;
- A developed mind helps you ascend the success ladder with greater ease and speed;
- Self-development puts dinner on your table, puts more money in your pockets and takes you places you never imagined.
Now, here are 13 super- duper ways to develop yourself and improve your skills. I have tried some of them and they’ve been super effective.
#1.Munch books
You know how fast you crunch a piece of cake when you haven’t had anything to eat for days? That’s the same way you should munch books if you perceive a need to improve any area of your life. Suppose you perceive you are not good at speaking in public like Obama, you could go for books on public speaking to learn the strategies of speaking in public. The wisdom books offer could be invaluable and practical. From books you could learn a new skill, evolve new business ideas, change a bad attitude and even learn a new language.
The good thing about books is that they afford you the opportunity to learn from mentors you have never and would probably never meet.
Some books I have read that have vamped my financial acumen includes ‘Success Systems’ by Bishop David Oyedepo; ‘We Want You To Be Rich’ by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki; ‘Think Big’ by Donald Trump and Bill Zanker and so many others.
#2. Take Up a New Course
There are spread over the internet several online courses that could help you gain new insights at what you do. They offer step-by-step-guide; give clear analogies and practical illustrations to help you understand the subject matter. Some of these courses are on areas as diverse as project management, blogging, web designing, leadership etc. and most times you don’t have to pay a dime for them.
I just concluded one lately, the blog now challenge, which lasted a period of fifteen days. In that free online course I learnt new ways to maneuver my way into the hearts of my readers and stand out on the blogging terrain.
What course could you possibly enroll in this month that would help you gain new insight and level up the skills you already have? Go in search of one today (either on the internet or in your vicinity) and pep yourself up for a bright future. Note that workshops or seminars serve the same purpose as courses. So you may opt for that instead.
#3. Level Up Your Skills
What skills have you got? Can you sing, scribble poems, repair a gadget or design animations with Photoshop? Those skills can be leveled up and fine-tuned. Whatever skills you have acquired, they can always be improved upon; there is no perfection anywhere. Tweet this.
Level up your skills by seeking new things to do to improve on them. As a blogger for example, I’m constantly on the outlook for novel ways to write and impact my readers. Every day, I learn new words from the Dictionary, read articles by other bloggers, and speak with my writing mentors. That way I improve and keep up with contemporary trends.
What skills could you possibly level up? List them and device ways to improve on them.
#4.Keep a Journal
A journal is not meant for teenagers alone; it’s for purposeful people.
A journal gives you a sense of purpose and urges you to keep on improving yourself. It could contain your most important goals (Both long term and short term) and things you should be doing on a daily basis to reach them.
#5. Get a Mentor
Mentors are people with special kinds of attribute that we find ourselves attracted to and want to be like them. Unlike role models, they do not only spur us but they talk to us and give step by step guides on how to go about achieving what they themselves have achieved.
For some of my mentors whom I cannot meet physically, I get their materials (books or tapes) or log on their websites and have them instruct me through their writings.
So who inspires you?
Get in a walking-talking relationship with them and let them guide you to heights you never imagined.
#6.Dream Huge Dreams
A remarkable friend of mine once said, “To dream small is a sin!” Click to tweet that. When you dream big dreams they have their way of pushing you out of your comfort zone to seeking more out of life. And Your dreams don’t have to be reasonable; they just have to be huge enough that if a close friend heard it he would say, “You are a dreamer” Tweet that.
Dreaming big has helped me in many respects. My website for example is a product of thinking big. I hadn’t a penny, the period I conceived the idea. I just had a burning passion and my pen. I had no clue how to go about it all. I had never been a blogger and my writings hardly ever went beyond my Facebook page. I just dreamt big and perspired. And today I have one. You could have yours too if you dream big.
Before you scroll to the next tip, I’d like you to ponder hard on something seemingly impossible that you would like to achieve. Whatever it is you can achieve it with passionate pursuit. There is no impossibility anywhere!
#7.Learn A New Language
Learning a new language could be both rewarding and fun. It’s a whole new skill altogether and the process of acquainting yourself with a new language and culture is totally a mind-blowing experience. I have even often jokingly said, “When you learn a new language- say Spanish for example, you prompt God to take you to Spain!” Click to tweet.
Is there a language you’d like to learn? Google can help you. Go for it! You never know when you’ll need it.
#8.Pick Up A New Habit
New habits may include reading self improvement books and articles, writing an article at least twice a week etc. New habits could also include tips #4, #7, #8, #10 and #13.
#9.Set A Challenge For Yourself
Give yourself 10 days or 30 if you like to complete a particular task or goal you’ve always loved. Ensure you have sufficient time to strategize, plan, get into action, review and nail the goal.
#10.Mentor Someone
As much as it’s important to have a mentor, mentoring someone could be a great source of encouragement to keep advancing. When you mentor someone you become a role model. And trust me you wouldn’t want to let them down. So that propels you to keep improving.
Who is that guy or lady that has been coming to often for help in that course or work? Mentor them and use that to propel yourself to great heights.
#11.Learn From Your Acquaintances
You have friends right? Good. They are not just meant to chat with you on face book or any other social network for that matter. They can be a great tool for your advancement.
Locate your weak points and try to think of a friend who is strong in those areas. How can you learn from him or her and how can you adopt those skills they have?
From my friends I learnt desirable habits such as: patience (I was never a patient person. I could lose it anytime), confidence, hard work and creativity.
#12.Down Load YouTube Videos
YouTube has made self-development relatively easy. Just like books you can learn new things from a YouTube video. If you have a YouTube downloader you could download an awesome video right now that could change your life forever!
#13.Reduce Your chatting hours
How much time do you spend on social networks? Perhaps 3, 4 or even 5 hours! That’s arrant waste of precious time!
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying you shouldn’t connect or network. I am saying that spending such valuable amount of time on face book or any other chatting site adds nothing to you. It only wastes time. And leaves you drained (except you are chatting with your mummy!).
Reduce the time you spend chatting and utilize it on something more profiting. Preferably for acquiring new skills and gaining new insight at what you do.
#14. Resolve to do all it takes
I could write lists upon lists of ways you can develop and improve yourself but if you don’t resolve to change or improve all my efforts would be in futility and the time you spent reading would be a waste of precious time. If you don’t make conscious efforts to grow nobody can help you- not even your closest relatives! Only you can help yourself by resolving to do all it takes to develop and improve your skills.
So ponder on all I have said to you and commence acting today, not tomorrow.
See you on top. Thanks for stopping by.
Feel free to share with me your thoughts on the article. I’d really love to hear from you. The list is definitely not exhaustive. If you have other tips you’d like to add to the list, feel free to do in the comment box below.
Author:
KURE Ayuk: Writer, Blogger & CEO, iconsnaija.com and iconsnaija.blogspot.com He is an avid reader and a voracious writer. He lives in Ilorin with his books and pen. Catch Him on Facebook & Twitter.
