Any individuals giving careful consideration to embarking on a self development program of any kind need first to have a critical look at themselves. It is essential to know oneself well in order to ascertain what area or areas need improvement. It is all too easy to feel that life isn‟t going well and feel that things need to be improved but unless it is known exactly where there are areas of weakness it is difficult for things to be improved.
Changing
Whilst it might be a slow and sometimes painful and exhausting exercise it is necessary to examine many facets of one‟s life. Consideration will need to be given to all or some of the following; personal happiness, one‟s health and state of physical and mental wellbeing, personal wealth, work performance and career path, relationships one has with others and personal aspirations.
A person‟s physical and mental good health is fundamental to their performance in all aspects of life. It will be necessary to analyze one‟s physical health to decide whether there are areas that need focus to heal and be improved upon.
This may be something simple like taking a hearing or vision test. Diet and cardio vascular fitness are other areas that need to be considered.
A good look at one‟s own mental health might be able to determine if an individual is affected by stress or anxiety and determine whether or not they are areas of life that need to be worked on.
We are all engaged in relationships of some kind or other. Giving time to reflect on those that we have will allow us to ascertain whether they are positive or not. Consideration would then need to be given to whether relationships need to be terminated, developed or improved.
Most individuals, unless retired, have to spend a considerable proportion of their life in employment. Time analyzing job performance and satisfaction is crucial to self reflection. Closely linked with career and work is personal wealth and this is another area that needs very careful consideration.