#personaldevelopment – Page 2

Utilize The Power Of Consistency

According to research, it takes twenty-one days to form a habit. Knowing that habits translate into character and character cannot be effaced given that it is the main fabric upon which you are formed, you must give careful thoughts to the things you do on a consistent basis.

Consistency breeds productivity, and creativity as well as mastery. These can only be attained through self-discipline, determination, and your sheer will to build something that lasts.

Consistency is the achievement of a level of performance that does not change considerably in quality over time. It is required if and only if your formula is a winning one and thus improvements are recommended but not massive changes.

Be it in work-out, exercise, business, relationships, research, academics, or what have you, consistency applies in every sphere of your life if you desire excellence and success.

In this article, I will attempt to highlight the benefits of consistency and recommend clues to help you to focus on the things that you need to harness this character-building tool.

As a writer, an influencer, a Machine Learning Enthusiast, and an Engineer I know that I must balance things up to be truly happy. There were times when I was caught up in doing ML projects that I failed to write for days. The result? My creative spark and productivity with respect to writing staled, so when I resumed writing, it seemed like using a blunt sickle to harvest. It felt rusty and like I was starting this trade afresh. Recently, I started a workable daily routine which I shared in this article Building Effective Daily Routine. I use the tools “Time-Boxing” to allocate time to all my daily activities, this helps me to be accountable and consistent.

Here are some of the benefits of consistency and how you can tap into them.

Consistency Makes Getting Things Done Easier. If you are not in the habit of doing something, it will be difficult for you to do it. This also applies to writing, exercising, sharing your faith, meeting peoples needs, praying and reading the Bible, personal hygiene and the list goes on. Consistency is the recipe that trains your mind to adapt to the activities you repeatedly do hence, both your conscious and subconscious are in sync with what you must do. The result? Easier to begin, continue, and enjoy the bitter-sweet experiences on offer.
Every Situation Presents A Fresh Perspective. When you change your perspective, you invariably change your perception. Hold on a second, what is the difference between these two words? A perspective is a point of view (the lenses through which you look at things) which is affected by your level of education, upbringing, religion, political affiliation, and experiences of life. Perception, on the other hand, is the interpretation you give to things through your awareness. It is the way you understand and gain insights. Consistency helps you to do different things with the same principles while you seek improvements. These minor upgrades are only attained when you challenge the status quo and seek a new perspective.
Leads To High Productivity. This is simple. You don’t do it, you don’t get the results. You do little, you get little. Your output is a function of your input. So if you are not getting your desired outcome, ask yourself: have I given my best on a CONSISTENT basis to make sure that this thing works for me? The truth is that the more consistent you are at doing something, the better your chances of success. You must trust the process and persistently do what you must do to produce the results you want.
Consistency Guarantees Excellence. This point ties well with point number two. You are by nature striving for perfection, there is no stopping the human mind until it stops thinking. What then is the best way to attain excellence in any endeavor of life if not by consistently sticking to or improving a winning formula? The moment you stop to improve you head backwards. In life, there is no such thing as stagnation, you either progress or regress. Aristotle remarked “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Are you not getting the results you want? Is your life regressing? Are your relationships not working? Do you feel unmotivated and uninspired? Are you tired of life? Are things not making sense to you? Do you feel defeated after a major setback? Is self-doubt crawling into you?

The answers to these questions and many more are found within you. Maybe it is time for a fresh start, review your methods and add some improvements. I encourage you to take your mind and focus back, create a winning formula, and then nail it with CONSISTENCY.

Stay Happy

Bibobra

Building Effective Daily Routine

Recently, I began to be more deliberate with my daily routine. I decided to draw a line between the things I want to do in life and meeting the expectations of others. This is to enable me to close the gap between what I want to do and what I am doing. I have given careful thought on how to balance the world’s demands and my ambitions. These lead me to develop some clues that have served me very well, and I have decided to share them with you. Hopefully, these clues help you to be productive as you continue on your path to personal development.

Plan your day the night before.
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I worry less about tomorrow. Hence, I never planned for its tasks in advance per say. I did this in the mornings. Of course, nothing is wrong with this approach, but it made kick starting my day a lot slower because the time I spent planning in the morning could have been used to swing into action straight up. This technique helps to prepare my mind for the tasks, ahead of time, so I go to bed happy for the day’s accomplishments, and in excitement for the things God will enable me to accomplish the next day. This has helped me to be more organized, and to anticipate any challenges I might have in the course of my routine, and prepare solutions well in advance.
Creative Work First, Reactionary Work Last.
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I got this tip from a book am currently reading. Instead of waking up to your phone checking the number of comments and likes on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blog post, emails and every other reactionary activity, you reserve these for later, and instead focus on starting your day with prayer/reading your Bible, Meditation, workout, breakfast, work, write/study, and do some projects that interests you. This clue depends on the individual, I am a morning person, so I like to do all my creative work in the morning. You should find the best time for yourself and build your routine around it.
Switch Off Your Phone During Creative Work.
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Alright, this is a difficult one. In an era where everything revolves around our cell phones and electronic gadgets, it is difficult to have these switched off for hours. You need to ask yourself what is at stake here because if you know WHY YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING, it will be easier to pay the price now and forego the immediate gratification because then you know that the outcome outweighs the momentary pain or self-denial. You might argue that you can still concentrate with your phone on while working, but trust me, I have been there before, the temptation to just check that one beep or vibration distracts you more than you realize.
Time-Boxing.
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This is a technique I learned from Agile training. Assign time to your daily tasks. Each task ends once its time is up regardless of whether you finish it or not. Realistically, you must consider every little detail when choosing the time required for each task, and then do everything within your power to achieve the set goal. So try timeboxing your writing, music making, social media, emails, movies, visiting friends, studying and every other thing and watch your productivity skyrocket.
Train Yourself To Get Things Done.
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You know that feeling of not wanting to get something done even though you know that it is important. As highlighted in clue number 3 above, you must convince yourself WHY you must do what must be done to achieve your desired results. This will in turn train your brain and mind to get things done regardless of how you feel. Productive and successful people train themselves not to give into moods but teach their minds to know it has to get down to work.

Stay Happy

Bibobra

The Story Of The Two Wolves: How To Manage Your Mind

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all”

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, fear, hatred, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, happiness, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed“.

Obviously the one you feed will become your reality. The choice is yours, either you find ways to manage your mind so that you can live your life more in accordance with what your own judgment says is best for you or continue to act in ways that are unacceptable to yourself without the power to exercise self-control.

Thanks for reading!

Bibobra.

Never Stop Moving Forward

The bigger your dreams the more colossal the challenges. Life will throw hits at you in direct proportion to what you are aiming to get out of it, the measure of success you are able to garner from life therefore, is a function of the chunk of challenges and obstacles you are able to conquer. Take the hits now and celebrate later or……

You may seem static at the moment but don’t stop believing, don’t stop pushing, don’t lose faith, and don’t give up. For it is with patience, perseverance, and trust that the biggest goals are attained.

Do you have a concrete process in place? Trust the process!

Have you earmarked your journey? Keep Moving!

Do you have doubters around you? Trust your guts!

Are you afraid? Trust God!

Are you tempted to quit? Remember why you started!

Are things not going in the right direction? Well ask yourself this…”have I done all that I can do to make this work for me?

Remember to review your strategy and effect necessary changes but NEVER STOP MOVING FORWARD.

Thanks For Reading!

Bibobra

A Tale of Three Kings: Insights to Inspire Personal Growth in You

In my previous article… A Tale of Three Kings: Two Lessons to Inspire Growth in You, I highlighted two major lessons that inspired me. This is the last in this series and I hope that as you read and apply these lessons to your life you would grow and mature in your character and relationships.

Before you read further I would encourage you to read the first article and if you can afford it, buy the book. It will challenge your thought process and change your life in a good way.

Here are some of the key things I took away from the concluding part of the book:

David refused to cause harm to King Saul or even cause division in the kingdom. It is very easy for us to take the route of vengeance especially if we are innocent and the person in question is caught in our trap. When David and his men saw King Saul sleeping, his men saw the opportunity as a sign from God. We are quick to make assertions such as…”I have been patient with him/her and even been running away to avoid any kind of trouble but now God has delivered my enemy into my hands…thank you God, now is my turn to serve him/her the bitter pills.” David had the chance to end King Saul’s life but he chose to allow God to do it His own way, he said if God has anointed me king over Israel then at the right time He will enthrone me, I will not hasten the process. You too can imitate this noble act of David. Resist the temptation to be exactly like your adversary, refuse to be influenced negatively by those who chose to repay you evil for the good you did for them.
How can you remain faithful between the promise and the payoff? One funny thing about David’s life was that he was very peaceful and relatively happy before Samuel the prophet anointed him king. With the anointing came envy from King Saul and that was followed by torments, trials, and troubles seeking to kill him. What did God do? Nothing! what did David do? Nothing! David believed and trusted God one hundred percent that he would be enthroned at the appointed time even if he had to spend the entire waiting period in caves and running away. My take away from this point is that, you did not asked to be born, hence, you are here for a purpose and if you believe this, then continue to do the best you can and believe that at the right time you will be enthroned. Destiny can be delayed but it cannot be denied. Maintain a positive attitude while you wait to reap the fruits of your labor.
Are you willing to live through pain, or do you avoid it? This is an important question because it says a lot about your character. In my previous article 10 Character Building Quotes I highlighted some of the quotes I thought would help you to build your character, you should check it out. One of my favorite in that list is number 6: “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” – Seneca. David persevered through trials and difficult times. And it was times and difficulties like these that prepared him for the tasks ahead and as it is highlighted in the book, he had to draw from these experiences to handle Absalom’s rebellion. If you are going to achieve something great then expect great trials and difficulties in proportion to the size of your greatness, embrace them, learn from them, grow and mature.
What needs to happen to make you change your good character? At his old age, David’s son Absalom rebelled against him and divided the kingdom. He spoke about his father’s inadequacies, the injustices in the kingdom and how he would make a better king. David was once again caught up in the middle of a battle but this time, with his own son. His men saw this as an insurrection and Just as they advised him in his youth to kill King Saul, he was given the same counsel. The line was drawn between his character and to hold on to power. He had the choice to become Saul and kill Absalom and cling to power or choose his character… “raise no hand” and allow God to decide the matter as he did in the past. David’s character was impeccable, he considered the throne to be God’s, not his own to have, to take, to protect, nor to keep. He explicitly asserted his desire for God’s will more than His blessings. When Absalom declared himself king, David did nothing…typical of David. He relinquished everything and left the palace but as always God came through and proved Himself mightily to the whole of Israel. If you wish to know how this epic story ended read the book of first and second Samuel.

So what needs to happen to make you change your good character?

How would you respond if similar things were to happen to you?

What needs to happen to put your own inner Saul to death?

Do you agree with David’s commitment to “raise no hand,” or do you find this course too passive?

When can you know when God wants you to take action and when he wants you to accept action taken against you?

Thank you for reading!

Bibobra