How to Make Self-Improvement Work for You Part 2

Some people equate self-development with books and ideas when it is not. Self-help is always about applying those ideas and getting results.

If you find yourself with a wad of books, tons of receipts from seminars, and a couple cd cases of audio programs yet continue to be stuck in areas you’ve been dreaming of progressing on, consider that you might be going about self-development the wrong way.

Realizations

Ever notice how something you read can change your entire perspective on some things?

That’s what profound ideas and concepts do. They engage you emotionally and allow you to see things in a different way. You finish it feeling like something has shifted.

Having your reality shattered, however, is not what self-development is about. If you decide to just let it sink in and leave it at that, within a couple of weeks, the same mountain-moving concept will not seem to even matter anymore.

I’ve come across many things that have bowled me over, destroying many previous conceptions yet, because everything around me stayed the same, it was incredibly easy to fall back into old habits and behavior. Without applied effort, realizations never changed me for good.

Just as an idea can change your perspective in a second, it can also be discarded in the same amount of time. It’s not self-development. It’s an inspiring thought that, unless acted upon, loses any real value.

How to Really Change

The second idea I adhere to when applying a self-development program for myself is a result of those many realizations that never quite stuck:

Work on specifics not concepts.

Personal development consists of activities, not learning materials. Once an idea stirs your spirits, you must break it down into activities that will move you towards the ideals that the concept has set forth.

For example, you are currently sold on the idea that you want to make your working hours more efficient. How do you do it?

First set a bar for what efficient is. Make it specific and measurable. Maybe it means “Finish or delegate all work by 4pm in the afternoon” or “Increase customer conversion rate by 5%.”

Second, define sets of behavior that will make it so. For me, it will consist of the following:

1. Get to work early (30 minutes before working hours)
2. Finish all the 5-minute items within the first hour on the job
3. Do a 15-minute staff meeting to go over work assignments after the first hour
4. If I get stuck more than 15 minutes on one problem, leave for a while and go back in an hour
5. Use email over phone calls

Third, figure out the ways to achieve each activity. Is it something you can do just by keeping it in mind or do you need additional help for it?

Get to work early (30 minutes before working hours)
- Wake up at 6am : not used to waking up this early, need help
- Do chores at night (iron shirts, prepare documents, pack lunch) : can do

Finish all the 5-minute items within the first hour on the job
- Skim over emails : can do
- Keep a list of 5-minute items on queue: not sure how to implement, need tool

Do a 15-minute staff meeting to go over work assignments after the first hour
- Send IMs 10-minutes before : can do

If I get stuck more than 15 minutes on one problem, leave for a while, and go back in an hour
- Keep a To-Do list : can do

Use email over phone calls
- Use answering machine and schedule call backs or email immediately for a response: can do

Doing it this way, you get a clear picture of activities you need to do in order to get your results. If all you did was go in with an inspired idea of wanting to be more efficient, you’ll end up wasting time deciding what to do every minute.

Using the above list, it’s also clear you only need two new pieces of information: (1) How you can wake up early and (2) How you can manage a list short tasks. You can now look up specifics on how to do the above and, when you find ones that you “can do”, you add them as your tasks.

So to recap:

1. Set a specific and measurable bar for you to reach for
2. Define specific things that will get you there
3. Define whether each item is an actionable task for you right now or something that needs further breakdown. For each non-actionable item, go back to 2.