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Setting realistic expectations for personal growth May 12, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal growth, Goal Setting and Realization.
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One of the troubling and irritating tendencies we see with some personal growth writers and self-improvement philosophers is the idea that the only restrictions on our personal development potential are the limits that we impose on ourselves.

This theory is fine as long as it is meant to encourage us to set ambitious goals, to seek ideals, to do everything in our power to maximize our improvement efforts.

But the idea that there are absolutely no limits is flawed.

To tell people that anything is possible as long we set our hearts on it, work hard, and have faith, is to essentially be promoting an alternate universe of non-reality.

If taken to heart the “no limits” theory could damage our self-esteem and jeopardize our entire personal growth program.

We can have strong self-esteem and confidence in our ability to overcome obstacles, but if our goals are not realistic we are opening ourselves up to discouragement and eventual failure with our program.

Realistic goals + hard work = success and encouragement to do more

Unrealistic goals + hard work = failure and discouragement of further effort

The take-away

It’s not always that something is absolutely impossible.

It’s just that it might not be possible for us in our particular circumstances.

To be able to recognize the difference is an important part of progress in our personal growth efforts.

Personal growth planning: Genuine Progress Indicator April 29, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Planning.
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In our ongoing work on our personal growth and development programs we need to be mindful of the dangers of making strong progress in one area of our improvement program only to have our success in that segment of our plan have a negative effect on other components.

For example, if we are trying to achieve a goal of financial betterment, and as part of that we take on three extra part-time jobs for increased income, we could negatively affect another goal, such as spending more quality time with our family.

This goal versus costs dichotomy has become apparent to governmental financial and fiscal planners in their efforts to reconcile apparent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) figures with costs relating to other factors associated with increased GDP.

To figure out impacts, economists devised the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI).

An example would be comparing real economic growth in manufacturing in a country versus the associated environmental and energy-production and/or transportation infrastructure costs.
Positives in one area have to be calibrated in relation to the negatives in another associated area, in order to get a true picture of genuine progress.

Similarly in our self-improvement efforts, we need  have our own personalized version of a genuine progress indicator.

We can do this by making sure we are aware of the impacts of achieving success in one area compared with possible losses in another.

An example could be: augmenting our personal  educational goal to acquire new skills by taking and paying for numerous seminars and courses, and comparing the costs of this with the negative financial effects produced in another area of our program, such as building up our savings in order to have a financial safety valve for emergencies.

As with most aspects of developing an effective personal growth program, this dichotomy requires using moderation in achieving any particular goal component within our overall personal growth efforts.