Why have another personal development blog?
Why this blog? I’m starting this blog because I believe a lot of people are looking for resources to support their personal development process. Developing “the person” seems to be the most in-thing you can do for yourself right now. Do you ever wonder why so many millions of self-help books, cds and seminars are being sold? And how about all those coaching hours being sold, who’s buying those? People like you and me are searching for ways to improve ourselves. We want to be “effective” and to be “high-performers”. We want to be “achievers” and “top notch”. We’re all looking for the “secret” and some of us are trying to “uncover the past”.
The name of this blog is It’s Just Your Life because I believe each of us has the ability to be something great in our lifetime. And, I believe that most people on this earth want and hope they can do something more than they are doing right now at this moment in life. I believe that most people die feeling they could have done more with their life. I also believe it’s just one life while you’re here, so you better get moving if you want to do something with it.
I also believe we can lead a “normal” life and still be great. I am convinced it is not necessary to overwork yourself to do something meaningful. I feel sure people can be high-performers without being sick or burned out later in life. Like I said, it’s your life: yours and only yours. You get to do whatever you want with it, however you want.
Providing people a place for some more resources for helping themselves stay balanced, healthy, positive — and still be high-achievers — is exactly what I want to accomplish here. Let’s start with one of the best books I ever read for giving people a strong inner foundation: Self Matters by Phillip McGraw Ph.D. Although it’s already a few years old, it is one of the best books I can recommend. If you want to get the full effect of the book, my tip is: do it slowly and do every single exercise. Expect to spend a few weeks with the book and expect to spend some time (20-45 minutes) on each exercise. Find yourself a quiet place, bring your coffee or tea and pen and paper and give yourself this time.
Trying to actually make a self-help book work for you is sometimes difficult. That’s why I say you have to take the time and you have to really DO the exercises (not just read through them). Reading is a passive activity and changing behavior is active. It’s hard to translate something passive into active. That’s why I became a coach, to help people put passive theory into active living.
I love my job. It adds value to others and is worth my time and energy investment. I’m looking forward to the interaction with other people on the topic of personal development, in whatever way that means to you.