How important do you think it is to carve out time for personal growth and creative idea generation?
Recently, we interviewed internationally renowned author Matthew Reilly for another one of our programs, The Bottom Line, and I couldn’t help but ask myself this question.
Reilly talks passionately about his path to success and his sources of inspiration for continuing to create best-selling books where “not a word is wasted”. He also mentions the importance of exposing yourself to enough ideas in order to generate inspiration and success, and that this takes time.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like time is against me and I couldn’t possibly find a spare minute to work on more than what is immediately necessary. That said, the power of self-development comes from recognising you could do more and finding ways to make it happen. So, here are my three tips for carving our more time for personal growth:
- Use your commute to work as an opportunity to learn. If you travel by public transport the options are almost limitless, from networking via a phone call to reading a book dedicated to your career or personal development. If you drive, it is a little harder but still not impossible to make use of the time by listening to thought provoking podcasts, audio books or again networking by phone.
- In the age of smart phones there’s regular opportunity to make use of ‘gifted time’ – those moments where you are waiting for a meeting to begin, an appointment or an unexpected delay. By having an e-book on your phone via an app like Kindle or simply making use of your endless capacity to connect to the internet you can mentally train yourself to make the most of this time and work towards your personal growth goals.
- Make time to action the things that inspire and motivate you. Schedule a date with yourself, every week. It could be as small as carving out 30 minutes of time that you guard with your life. Approach it with the same velocity and tenacity that you would any other deadline or work requirement. Let’s be honest, with most things we already know what we need to do, or at least where to start. Want to be fit? Start with jogging before work and stop eating fast food. Want to learn to speak Mandarin? Enrol in a language class. It is important to open yourself to ideas, but it is just as important to carve out time and implement your learnings in order to achieve true personal growth.
Join the conversation with Vanessa on Twitter @ceovanessa
Vanessa’s mission is to positively impact people by increasing their knowledge base and decision making ability around finance and business principles. She is the creator of No More Practice and founder of the parent company, evolution media group.
