Every year we should strive to become a better version of ourselves. People are always seeking ways to improve themselves and there’s nothing more useful than a great self-help book. Most self-help books give you pointers that are too mundane or simplistic. I’ve read a few of them and I have run into one book in particular that has impressed me out of all of them. The book Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina happens to be a great self-help book. I was impressed by this book because it stands out compared to your ordinary self-help book. The reasons it stood out to me is because it actually has information that could be applied effectively, it is also integrates mind, body and spirit in one and because it’s extremely thorough …show more content…
I like to refresh my memory on the concepts this book has to offer. Every time I go back and read it again, it always offers new information that I have seemed to look over, so I’m constantly applying that new information that I catch. This is a great book because it actually offers helpful information that you are able to use in your daily life. It provides daily exercises that you are able to do throughout the day to remind yourself to stay on track. “One of the best ways to bring more truth into your life is to conduct a quick self-assessment. Assign a numerical rating to each area of your life using a simple 1-10 scale” (pp.20-21). The assessment list it provides things such as money & finances, career, habits, daily routines, health, social life and spiritual development. This activity makes you go into introspection and really look at how your ratings and see what area of your life is needing improvement and what areas is your life you are already doing well …show more content…
They’ll talk about only finances or only career life or only health. Personal Development for Smart People is made in a way where it integrates all those areas and more to be able to use them synonymously. The book goes deeper and asks the question; what does it mean for us to grow as conscious human beings, and how do we intelligently guide that process? Some self-help experts encourage you to change; others say you should accept yourself as you are. If you try to incorporate all these different ideas into your life, you’ll end up with a fragmented, incongruent mess. This book resolves these incongruences that are found in other self-help books. This book satisfies both head and heart. It appears logically correct in order to satisfy the left brain and it feels intuitively correct in order to engage in the right brain. In this book Steve Pavlina fins a common pattern behind all successful growth efforts, to identify a compete set of core principles that would be universally applicable. “Finding the hidden order behind all conscious human development is extremely difficult because the solution has to be fairly general and abstract, but it must also have abundant practical applications” (pp.
“There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs,” was said by motivational speaker and American author Zig Ziglar. This relates to Carol S. Dweck’s article “Brainology” and Sherman Alexie’s essay “Superman and Me.” Ziglar, Dweck, and Alexie all feel that it isn’t easy for someone to become successful. It takes hard work, perseverance, and the want to learn and grow. In Dweck’s article, she stated that someone with a growth mindset would become more successful and knowledgeable than someone with a fixed mindset, which was demonstrated by Alexie in his essay, and by a personal experience of my own.
I really enjoyed this book. Alot of the passages made me really appreciate and reflect on those that are in my life, loved ones, or even a stranger that holds a door open for me. There is much love and gratitude to be dwelled on in life and I believe that if more people read Dr. Byock’s The Four Things That Matter Most, it would help so many people. Even if you think all of your relationships are already perfect, there is always room to grow. I definitely will think of my words and actions before I speak, and add the four things more to my life.
After reading the personality part of this chapter it makes me think about my personality and how I work. “The first step toward understanding yourself will be to look closely at your personality”(37). For me this helped me stand back and understand myself and why I do some of the things I do. I think you should know yourself to be able to help others. I think that organizing is big in the salon. Even if you don’t have the same organizing skills as others you work with that okay because they both can work together in the end. “You can better manage your response to stress”(65). This part of this book really helped me with some of my stress. In a salon too not just life. You will have a lot of stress with having a life and a crazy busy salon you need to know how to handle them. This book really helps with stress management for
My favorite question that Carol Dweck ask in this book is “If you are somebody when you are successful who are you when you are not successful?” Those moments of failures show a person’s true appeal. The growth mindset means that an individual will give more effort in solving problems in life.
Self-development has great importance in society because it allows to an individual to further and improve aspects of themselves in order to obtain a better understanding of themself and adapt better in the world that we live in. With this, one can find and make the necessary changes in order to improve aspects of their lives bringing them closer to success and their goal. The self-development of an individual, through the analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s life, shows its major impact in the furtherance of one’s life.
Frager, R., & Fadiman, J. (2006). Personality and Personal Growth . Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall .
There are many interesting quotes and advice given in this book; five statements stood out that I felt are worthwhile.
At first, I was not sure how I would identify with this book. It was a self-help book about how to live a wholehearted life. Brene Brown wrote the book The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to be and Embrace Who You Are. She is very insightful and uses quotes and data to back up her research and reasoning. I cannot count how many times I wanted to share what she had written with many people I know that could use the information or feel this way or that about what she was talking about at that moment on that one page. Sometimes I found the answer to a question I did not know I had or just an insight into something that I have been struggling with. Every human has some imperfection that they wish they could get freed
I learned that I thought, that I had more Self-awareness (chapter two) then I actually do. I always thought that my self-awareness was good until I realized what it really was. Self- awareness makes you ask the question who am I? allowing you to view yourself as a unique person and to reflect on your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. I realized that I had a lot of learning to do. For example; when I was in high school, I thought that the reason I didn't do well was because of the hard ships that I was going through but in reality it was because I wasn't aware that my ability to work hard and study was slacking. I had to learn how to work ahead and plan a schedule of some sort in order to stay organized. I learned that my Self-esteem (chapter two) which is the overall values, good or bad, that we assign for ourselves. is very low. This surprises many people, I have always been told that I am a good optimistic person, but unfortunately all I saw was my flaws and problems making me have very little self-esteem. However, through this year and my classes I gained two things that improved my self-esteem very much. Those two things include leadership and confidence, for example; I am the student leader and advisor for my alternative high school, I gave a speech to our congressmen and the press to share information about my alternative high school and I help students achieve small things like
Self-help books today is a multi-billion dollar industry because they are able to attract readers who seek to self-improve with the promise of delivering recipe's to success and self improvement and this has kept readers reading in vain. Self-help books attract vulnerable people by appealing to their weaknesses, using significant titles like "How to think like a Millionaire, with subtitles, The Success Secrets of Ten millionaires asking Do you really want to be a millionaire? Wealth is not relied upon luck; this remarkable book has captured the essence that has led to success. Now you have the opportunity of achieving your own dreams." (Poissant) We are talkin...
I will start by explaining the methods that make it easier for me to know my characters and skills. The first method is self-knowledge (McBride, 2010). Self-knowledge is “knowledge or understanding of one 's own capabilities, character, feelings, or motivations” (Merriam Webster, 2015). I believe the foundational element in achieving my personal and professional success is being knowledgeable about myself. Self-development starts with self-understanding. When the individuals recognize their own personality, social and emotional intelligence, strengths and abilities, it makes easy to improve their performance, address the gaps in their competencies and build around their strengths (Fallon, Begun & Riley, 2013). Self-knowledge is the way that assists me in scrutinizing my behaviors and attitudes and being more recognizable about my strengths and weaknesses traits.
...ts of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-concept. Every individual will depend on attributes from each of these to develop themselves not only from the past but also for their future of who exactly the person wishes to be. Having a love and respect of oneself will help in this journey of self-discovery.
I realised that self-awareness is important in achieving self-improvement. The more an individual understands themselves, the better he or she is at adapting life changes that is according to their needs. The more self-aware we are, it improves the level of confidence we have on oneselves. This can be achieved through greater exposure, thus widens one’s experiences and will be more likely be more accepting of others. Self-awareness will also benefit us to be more accurate in accessing
Dr. Steve Maraboli once said, “Love yourself enough to create an environment in your life that is positive to nourish your personal growth. A vibrant surrounding and self commit to making choices that will help your greatest expression of your unique beauty and purpose of your personal growth.” Growing up can be a challenge the older you get the harder life is you just have to push through it, here's my story on my personal growth. This essay will examine my personal self development in relation to self-awareness and listening skills. Personal development refers to a set of activities that one can engage in for the purpose of enhancing self knowledge and identity. When we look at the generations of our grandparents and
Personal Development is a lifelong process that involves the assessment of current skills and talents and the enhancement of oneself based on that assessment which then leads to the realization of goals and an improved quality of life. To be able to assess yourself, you need to be able to reflect on your past which helps you to understand the attitudes you have developed and the foundation that you will be building your life on. Also, you have to reflect on your present to see if there’s room for improvement and reflect on your future so that you can achieve your aspirations.