Best Personal Development Resources
As a Personal Development Strategist, I get DMs on the weekly asking for book recommendations. Of course, these are just my recommendations, but I am happy to give people some inspiration on some books that changed my personal development journey and my life, for the better.
When you should work with a coach
Working with a coach is not only an investment of your time and energy, but also your finances, which sometimes can make it hard to pull the trigger on doing it. Even though it is my true belief that everyone needs a coach or be involved in some type of personal development program, it sometimes does not seem feasible. There are certain circumstances and mindsets where I believe that a coach can help you up level in a big way, and I’m going to share them with you!
3 Best Books of 2020
As a Personal Development Strategist, people I do not even know are reaching out to me for book recommendations. I actually love it! As an avid book listener and reader, I always have lots to share (so feel free to reach out!), but I thought I would round up the best three books I read in 2020!
3 Ways to Make a Habit Stick
We all have the best of intentions when it comes to building habits for our lives. On Sunday night, we sit in front of our journals or computers and say, “this week, I will _____”, and it can be a number of things. Perhaps it is to eat healthy or go for a run every single day, or maybe it is to learn for 30 minutes a day.
Building habits is highly personal, but there are a number of ways you can help make them stick in your life.
Habit Tracking is Crucial to Your Personal Development Goals.
In my personal experience and time with my clients, there is one technique that spells out our success in a very clear way. Habit tracking.
Habit tracking is a method of tracking individual habits towards your success. These can be small, such as flossing, or as large as running a 5km three times a week. It is entirely customizable and dependent on your own goals.
How to use personal assessment for good, not evil
It seems silly, right? Someone using a personal development assessment for “evil,” but as someone who has facilitated over one hundred MBTI and TKI assessments, I have seen many ways that the tools can be used for negative personal or professional reasons.
How to: Try New Things
Like everyone else, I recently have taken up bread making as a past time. I got some sourdough starter from a trusted friend and got started! I threw all the ingredients in my mixer, let it rise overnight, and followed the instructions explicitly with hopes of having delicious bread.
Growing Past My Uncomfortable Relationship with Money
The topic of money is cringe-worthy, especially for women. We are taught from an early age that we should not talk about it, ask about it, or even seek it.
It is rude, or is it?
Need PD as a Manager? Brené Brown is your girl.
I am a long-time Brené Brown advocate and supporter. As a female manager, I have given her books as gifts more times than I can count. I have given this Daring Greatly to stone-cold, seemingly emotionless folks and I have given The Gifts of Imperfection to folks who love to read self-help and are inundated with messages of development.
You should stop listening to that podcast.
I used to fill every spare moment I had with development. I am not joking. I would walk to the bathroom and plug my earphones in to catch 5 minutes of a podcast that might serve me long term. Have I learned a ton of things over the last five years? Yes.
Have all of them been helpful to my emotional well being and self-esteem? Certainly not.
The Art of the Virtual Coffee
One of my favourite ways to get to know someone is to have an informal coffee chat. I love to take someone out for a coffee (at their favourite place!) and pick their brain about something they love talking about. Seems easy? Sure, but there is an art to making it a long-lasting connection.
Is there such a thing as bad PD?
We, as a society, love to learn. We thrive on it. Many of us are constantly reading Medium pieces, listening to impactful podcasts and spending our spare hours reading books for our personal development.
I am no different. As a personal development coach, I am consistently looking for new ways to better myself, find new ways for clients to connect with themselves or engage with literature that is helpful to reflect on. It is not uncommon for me (and many others) to have a few podcasts on the go, an audiobook ready for a morning workout or a countertop of half-read books. I have spent years connecting with anything that I could relate to my personal development. Until recently, I have thought it was best practice to consume anything PD related, as long as you looked at it with a critical eye. My opinion on this has changed, and here is why.
5 conflict management tips for working next to a loved one
We are in unchartered territory, folks! Individuals who thought they would never work at home are now trying to figure out how to fit their profession into their living room. Me included — working in a student facing function at a University, I never thought I’d be working off of my side-hustle MacBook. Not only this, I never thought I’d have my husband working next to me with less space than a cubicle.
When working with anyone that closely (even your favourite person on earth), there is bound to be some conflict and misaligned expectations. And misaligned expectations are usually the core of conflict… so it is kind of just a cycle…