Personal Growth is about following through in your life, showing up for yourself and making decisions based on an awareness of your emotional health and not just feelings. So how do you develop a life like this if perhaps personal development is new to you, or you have never seen it modeled. Fortunately, even big growth all starts with SMALL changes. Choose from these 15 simple personal development goals for beginners. Begin creating an emotionally vibrant home for yourself and your family today!
15 Simple Personal Development Goals for Beginners
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Pick just a few. Though these are all small personal growth goals don’t try to take them all on at the same time! Remember, personal growth is about building healthy habits into your life. Personal development does not have to be about a complete over haul at one time:)
Make Your Bed
Adapt simple tidying habits. There is nothing worse than feeling like your home is a complete disaster. Small daily tidying habits help us by keeping our personal space tidy and cared for and reminds us to also look after ourselves!
Making your bed is a good habit to start with because it only takes about 5 minutes and makes your bedroom look 50% BETTER! You could also consider cleaning your kitchen sink in the evening or following the rule, never leave a room empty-handed.
Listen to a Podcast
Podcasts are a great way to start challenging yourself to grow. What is a topic you are interested in learning? Growth brings more growth. So if you start to learn more about gardening or cooking or cleaning it will encourage and challenge you to grow in other areas of your life.
I have been loving The Crystal Paine Show as the podcast always covers topics to brighten your day and gives you something on which to ponder.
Start a Morning Routine
Wake up 15 minutes early and create for yourself a morning routine.
How would you love to start your day? Do you want to read, do some morning stretches or just have some quiet conversation with your spouse? Make mornings more rewarding and energizing with a morning routine.
Follow up on 2 Phone Calls or Emails a Week
Don’t allow your life to completely overwhelm you. Take charge of your life by following up and following through.
If this is new for you and you tend to just “forget” so you don’t have to worry, start with following through with just a few phone calls or emails a week.
Yes, it can be stressful to have to face that big medical bill or the problem at your kid’s school. But believe me you are spending more time and energy avoiding life. And you will feel so much better afterward:)
Turn Your Phone off 15 Minutes Before Bed
Allow your mind time to have a break and begin to unwind. Turn your phone off 15-30 minutes BEFORE it is time for bed.
Instead of scrolling through Facebook until lights out, keep a few magazines, books or a gratitude journal by your bed as way to rest your mind and began to wind down for the night.
Read a Personal Growth Book
Books and audio books are such a great way to grow. For anyone new to personal growth or new to reading books on personal growth, I often suggest the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. This book is such a fundamental book on the power of setting healthy boundaries. And since the authors also tell plenty of stories, Boundaries is easy to read.
Want to grow as a parent? Dr Kevin Lehman is a funny but practical writer of books on parenting. His book, Have a New Kid by Friday is a bestseller and for good reason! Pick up any of his books and you will be delighted, encouraged and strengthened as a mom!
Create a Budget
Nothing says personal growth like creating a budget! No really! When you decide to take control of where your money is going you make a fundamental shift in your life.
Now taking control of your money can be more of a BIG step. So start with a small step. Hop on Everydollar.com and create a budget for the upcoming month. I LOVE, LOVE everydollar.com!
I am not a numbers girl, and I personally feel drained by working with budgets and numbers. Microsoft Money, Quicken and Mint….I tried them all! Those budgeting tools seemed to be for people who love spreadsheets and details….which I do NOT!
With Every Dollar though it truly is super simple. You can literally create your first monthly budget in minutes. And the best part…it is FREE!
Another small step would be to read Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover. It is the book that started it all. Read about Dave Ramsey’s story from millionaire to bankruptcy, and what he did differently the second time!
Start a Family Routine
Your family needs connection points. Yes, you probably know what your kids were up to today. But do you know how they felt about what happened or what they are thinking through?
Want more parenting teen tips and reminders? Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!
Create a few family routines that become habits for your family. Have dinner together, start a movie night once a week, or make use of the drive time to or from school or sports to slow down and talk.
Read here for 10 Healthy Habits to Strengthen Your Family Bond
Take a Mini-Challenge
Tip your toe into the waters of personal growth with a free mini personal growth challenge. Challenges can be so much fun because they encourage you to be intentional and give your focus to a certain topic for a week or less.
Grab The Reluctant Cowgirl’s FREE mini personal growth course, “5 Days to More Vibrant Life,” where I share my #1 tip for personal growth! I would LOVE for YOU to take advantage of this course I put together with YOU in mind! So click away on the pic:)
Buy Yourself a Journal and Start Writing
Buy a journal and jot down a few thoughts each week. You can write about what you are thankful for, a few memories from the past week or the funny or silly things your kids said.
Remember, it is your journal so you can make it whatever you want. Keep it some place handy like your night stand or in your purse.
This One Line a Day is a perfect journal for newbies or busy moms! The journal is small so it easily fits in your purse. One Line a Day has just a few lines for the day so you don’t feel overwhelmed or like you need to write a ton. Treat yourself to this journal or buy as a gift to a busy mom who needs a little self-care!
Create an Evening Routine
What helps you have a good evening? What truly relaxes you and gets you ready for tomorrow?
Try to create an evening routine that is part prep for the next day and part restoration and time to relax. You may want to write out your to-do list for the next day, crossing off the things you accomplished today. Or you may want to clean the kitchen up so that it is ready to go for the next day.
Plus, save a little time to reflect on the day and enjoy something your love.
Start Using the Word “No”
Declutter your life and make room for personal growth by saying no. If you don’t have any time to even turn around you may need to say no a bit more.
Remember every time you say no to something you don’t feel led to do, you are saying yes to something else!
Develop a Personal Growth Plan for One Area
Ready to dive into personal growth? Pick one area in your life that you desire to grow.
Would you love someone to walk you through the steps? Great! I guide you through the steps here on how to choose one area you desire to grow and then how to create a personal growth plan. Also, grab your pretty printables with questions on which to reflect and journal.
Click to Gain Access to Your
Personal Growth Plan Printables
Connect in With Your Family
Reach out to one another throughout the day. Make this your own, whether you want to use sticky notes, texts, emails or FaceTime, just check in with those you love.
Let your kids and spouse know you are thinking about them. Sometimes it works best for me to do this in the morning before I get too consumed by my to do list:)
Pray or Meditate for 5-10 Minutes
As a reader of the Bible, I know that prayer is a pivotal element to life. But so often I will read my Bible and then just jump into my day.
Praying really helps me to give those things to God that I know I have little to no control over. And what a sweet relief that is when you acknowledge that it is not in your strength to “fix” certain situations. I know that even just 5-10 minutes of prayer makes a huge difference in my day.
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Are you new to personal growth? Which personal development goals sounds doable to you? Take the first step and share below which small goal you are going to tackle first!
If you love personal growth, which goals from above do you already do often? Comment below!:) I always love to hear from you all.
Well now, you’ve totally burst my bubble! I thought making my bed made our bedroom 100% better;) Seriously, these are awesome tips to remember. Boundaries is one of my all-time favorite books and I refer to it all the time. I agree with you about creating a budget, although I’ve used Quicken for years and it definitely works for me, but I’m a numbers type of person. Thanks for always encouraging us to challenge ourselves!
Oh, I am totally with you on the fact that making the bed makes the room 100% better!:) I was just trying to remain calm! Ha!
These simple changes can help change your whole life! The best thing is the more of these habits you incorporate, the more time and energy you have. As always, great advice, Miranda!
You are so right Kim that choosing healthy habits does give you back in time and energy!
Those are some great tips! I feel like I sometimes loose myself in all the personal growth stuff, and this post really makes it easy to focus back on where personal growth can actually begin. I am currently trying to get up early in the morning and create a morning routine… also, turning off my phone 15 minutes early would be great for me. Working on it! Thank you! 🙂 Love, Claudia
I agree Claudia that sometimes we can make personal growth too complicated. I love your 3 simple goals you are working on right now by getting up a little earlier, creating an enjoyable routine and turning off your phone 15 minutes earlier! You will see many wonderful results in your life from your 3 choices.