Personal Development Takes Action

The following article is from the new book, Getting Personal: A Guide to Personal Development by author and speaker, John Patrick Hickey.  To read more from John Patrick Hickey or to get his books, training and book him to speak to your church, business or group, visit our website at www.johnpatrickhickey.com.  

The interest in and desire for personal development is not at all a new interest or study. As far back as we have been able to trace history we have found people who desired to become better and to know more. Mankind would have never developed to the place we are today if not for the desire of personal development. Discovery and innovation is not the result of chance or evolution. It is the result of thinking, learning new skills and hard work on the part of individual people. So how can we define just what personal development is?

Personal development is the awareness of our divinely created identity: who were we created to be and what we were created to do.  No one is here on this planet by accident or just to fill some quota God had. Each of us is unique and gifted in our own way. The discovery of that uniqueness is the beginning of personal development.

Personal development helps us to develop talents and skills that will allow us to reach our full potential. This development creates in us the things needed to be employable, productive and to do our personal best. The ability to develop and maintain a healthy self-image, creative thinking and personal growth are all the result of personal development.

The key to remember is that personal development is a choice, not an unstoppable result of age or physical growth. Because of this fact, many people today, as throughout history, never reach their full (or even 5%) potential. The American writer and philosopher, Oliver Wendell Holmes put it this way: “Many people die with the music still inside them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.”

Think about this: how many times have you heard someone say (or you said yourself), “Someday, I’m going to do this or that.” “One day I will go after this or that and make it work.” Now, answer this: how many of those people (or maybe even yourself) have actually done what they wanted to do? I dare say very few. Why? Because they only have wishes; not goals and not desires, just wishes. Wishes are made of smoke and you cannot grab hold of them.

Here is a saying you will hear time and time again in this book, “NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT ACTION.” That is a true, factual, and unchangeable reality. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens without taking some action to make it so. How do we know what action to take? By choosing to learn and grow. In short, personal development. Each and every one of us must have the desire to grow and the willingness to take action if we are to become all we were created to be.

“When you are anxious to improve your circumstances but unwilling to improve yourself,” said author and Life Coach, Bob Proctor, “you will remain bound.” The power behind all personal development is not the “want to” but the actual doing. Again, nothing happens without action.

To discover how you can achieve the dream you have believed was impossible for too long, read Getting Personal: A Guide to Personal Development by John Patrick Hickey.  You can get a signed copy for yourself and get one for a friend, by going to http://www.johnpatrickhickey.com/it-is-good-to-set-goals-better-to-achieve-then/.  Now available on Kindle, Oops! Did I Really Post That? Online Etiquette in the Digital Age by John Patrick Hickey.

© 2016 John Patrick Hickey. No part of this may be reprinted or published without permission of the author.