Two Powerful Personal Development Principles To Help You Fulfill Your Goals

Over the first two articles in this series featuring uncomplicated strategies you should exploit to help out with your New year goals, we explored health and diet strategies respectively. In today’s article, we will consider some basic psychological rules you can bring into play to support even more in those two areas of your life, but in addition to assist in additional resolutions you might have decided upon.

The primary concept, which even by itself can cause an extraordinary improvement, is the principle of “failure doesn’t exist”. OK, this is a strange thought to make sense of, but think about it like this: let’s imagine your resolution was to not eat all sorts of fast food for 2008, and unexpectedly, at the end of a good afternoon with friends, ravenous, you discover that you’ve switched into autopilot and you’re already sat in the restaurant with a supersized meal. This absolutely does not signify that you’ve broken your new resolution, even if it’s only a few weeks into the year. It definitely DOES mean that you have been granted a chance to learn something about yourself. Perhaps you’ll have to be extra watchful when you’re out with friends in future. Perhaps it’s to notify your friends about your resolution and asking if they can back you up – or rag on you if you go into a McDonalds. Perhaps it’s to shun going out with those friends ever!

The other principle is that we never, ever do anything deficient. Or at least, every single activity we act out has – or had initially – a positive intention. I don’t believe that we start a fresh habit without a a sound goal – to enrich our life and often the lives of our loved ones in some way. The issue is that sometimes our lives transform, but we carry on doing that activity, and it subsequently develops into something we see as a problem. Or possibly we improve one element of our life, but inadvertantly harm another.

This is vital : you must come to terms with the fact that EVERY BEHAVIOUR you complete has a favorable objective. Taking up smoking turned you into a rebellious hero whilst at school. Eating too much made you feel better about yourself after that high-school heart-break. Drink helps you to relax in nerve-racking circumstances. These benefits were certainly there when you started the habit originally, even if they are no longer being delivered. But even if that particular state of affairs is no longer part of your life (clearly, you’re done with that high-school heart-break now you’re in your fifties?) the original advantage might be (a big piece of chocolate fudge cake even today makes you feel better).

So do not have a go at yourself if your old habits come creeping back – this only informs you that at the point you discontinued the prior habit, you also stopped yourself having that beneficial side-effect. The best thing to do is to sit still for a while, work out what the intent of the behaviour is, and seek additional strategies – multiple ways, to give you the largest degree of flexibility – to acquire that original advantage. Next, try stopping the earlier behaviour another time. If you find enough ways to give rise to that same benefit, you’ll almost instinctively discontinue carrying out the original behaviour, because you will no longer have a need do it.

While these principles might seem to be somewhat bizarre, you will notice that should you attempt to keep to them, life seems slightly simpler, a little bit more hassle-free. These two key principles help you continue with your new year resolutions, and to recoup in case you err. Try abiding by them over the next few weeks and notice how much simpler life can be.