600 Personal Development Exercises
do one a day - every day!
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GOAL SETTING My good friend, David Hyner says ‘SMART’ goals don’t work. You know, 'Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, with a Target'. You see, there’s nothing here to get us excited. David says 'what we all really need are Big, Fat, Hairy goals!' We need goals that make us smile, fire up our energy, and blast us forward with a renewed sense of purpose. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Go on! Write down some Big, Fat, Hairy goals - for the rest of you life, your work, your passion, your relationships, your wellbeing - and everything that is important to you. 2. Do these make you smile, fire up your energy and blast you forward with a renewed sense of purpose? Great!!  Day 522 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises CIRCUS TENT The clown, the juggler and the ringmaster, are taking down the Circus tent in the big field. All of the pieces are laid out, like the contents of flat pack furniture, on the grass. By mid-morning everyone has gone. All that is left are impressions on the grass. Signs of a magic once here. It’s the planned dismantling of what we are, in a way that enables us to begin again, in another field. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What are all of your pieces when they are laid out on the grass? Make a list. 2. How will you put them together, so that you can begin again?  Day 501 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises FLYING LESSON If I can let go of all that I am trying to do, I can achieve all that I really should. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What are you desperately holding onto? 2. What are you trying to make happen? 3. What would happen if you let go of these desires?  Day 478 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises THE JOURNEY OF REMINISCING It is only when we look back, years later, that we really see where we were at that time. It is only now, in this moment, that we can understand what happened back then. And we wonder, what if.....? PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What do you need to look back at? 2. What do you now understand that you didn't back then? Day 448 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
PREDICTIVE TEXT You cannot even begin to imagine, what will happen over the next 10 years. Look at where you were 10 years ago, what you were doing, and what your work was. So be open to all possibilities. Expect the unexpected. Embrace all with gratitude. This time will be truly amazing! You cannot even begin to predict, the blessings that await you, over the next 10 years. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Write your thank-you's for all that has happened over the last ten years. 2. Write down all that you would like to see happen in the next ten years - in every area of your life. Day 204 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
AFFIRMATIONS Every day I say my affirmations. I call them my daily reminders as they help me to focus on all that is important to me and all I want to see happen in my life. My daily reminders cover every aspect of my life and everything I could ever hope for. Work, opportunities, health, income, family, personality, relationships and spirituality. They are written in the present or past tense. I have, I am, I own, I earn, I live…. I say my daily reminders every morning and every night. I can see every outcome in detail. and watch as the results unfold. For I am fulfilling my personal purpose in all that I do today. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Write out your daily statements in the present or past tense - I am, I have, I own, I earn. I live ... 2. Include everything that matters to you. Day 185 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT I am always looking ahead thinking, what next? Today’s plan? Next week’s activities? Trying to schedule everything in. But what I don’t do is to look at the year ahead, think about the next three years, or indeed the next ten years. I need to lift my thinking to be more strategic and not just task focused. For life isn’t just about weeding. The future is there to be imagined And then created. Seeds need to be planted for the flowers I want to grow. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What's your personal strategy for the next year, the next three years, and the next ten years? 2. Write each of these down. Day 169 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
SUITCASE So much of our focus and time today will be about the here and now. Much of our focus will be on ourselves and what we need to do, or what we have to achieve. We have the wrong perspective though, for our focus and time today should be on what comes next. Our focus should be about what we have to sort out and do to get ready. We need to work out what we are putting in our suitcase. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Where are you going? 2. What are you putting in your suitcase? Day 159 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
RE-CYCLING The priority each day is to re-claim our unique raw material and re-cycle. It is from here that we can re-think all that we are, re-create all that we do and re-focus on all that we will become. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Every day is a fresh start. Our old self is re-cycled to be made new again. What are you going to be today? 2. And how will you re-create yourself tomorrow? Day 135 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
COLOURING BY NUMBERS When I was a child I had a book called colouring by numbers. The outlines of everything were all there on the picture. I just had to colour in the spaces. Areas with ‘one’ were blue and those with ‘two’ were yellow and so on. The picture came alive in front of me. The outcome was complete and perfect! Imagine if you could have the outline of your life as a picture ready to be filled in now. It would mean that we wouldn’t live on the basis of process or journey thinking about what happens next year or what our next job will be. It’ll all be there in the outline. We just need to follow the numbers in any order we want. Nothing will be left out. All will be complete and perfect. Draw your outline! PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What would you include in your picture? 2. Is it about events, people, success, happiness - and what’s the background? 3. Who else is in the picture? Day 128 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
TEA BAGS When you sit and look into your cup of tea what do you see when it is finished? Years ago, fortune tellers would predict our future by looking at the pattern of the leaves resting at the bottom of the cup. Tea bags now mean that we throw away our tea leaves before we drink our tea, leaving no clues, no predictions. So, as you gently dispose of your tea bag today, take a moment to imagine your future and how your story will unfold. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Can you imagine how your life might unfold in terms of work, relationships and all that is important to you? 2. What is the one surprise or unexpected event? 3. Write out the perfect story for your future. Day 87 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW Your time is running out. Another year has gone. Your life is passing by. It is here now. The moment to grasp all that is meant to be. The whole purpose and meaning of your life. Your time is running out. Another year has gone. Your life is passing by. It is here now. The moment to grasp all that is meant to be PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. This is the key moment in your life. What will you grasp? 2. What will you achieve by this time next year – at your next annual performance review? Day 86 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
MINIMUM WAGE As we emerge cautiously into a different world, what will we bring to this new normal? What have we learned that will now make life better for us, our family and for others? How will we relate to all others without regard for status, income or position? For we have learned that those who were paid nothing or so little have become our champions. They have turned our thinking upside down and empowered us with compassion to change everything. So, as we emerge cautiously into a different world, what will we bring to this new normal? PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Kindness and compassion don't often get onto job descriptions. Where do they sit in your role? 2. How have you changed over recent weeks? What have you learned? 3. What will you bring to the 'new normal'? Day 56 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
REWIND Let us not go back to how it was. Let us not go back to our old way. For our future is forwards not backwards. Let us not repeat it all again for we will never be the same again. New ways of working, new ways of communicating, new ways of living, new ways of thinking, and a different way of being are now part of each of us. When we step out through the door we can plan a different future. And then, when we look back we will see that this was the moment when we changed. The moment we changed everything. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. How have you changed over the last 42 days? 2. What is different about the way you work, the way you communicate, the way you live and the way you think about everything? 3. What is your different future? Day 42 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
STOCKTAKE My display until date is Thursday My best before date is Friday My use by date is Saturday My recycling date is Sunday When should I take stock? PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What are you including in your next personal Stocktake? 2. What are you counting and measuring? 3. How often do you need to Stocktake? Day 29 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
LEAP YEAR The core personal development question is ‘what am I really capable of?’ And the answer is not just about business or work or money. It’s about who we are and looking beyond our perceived limitations. It’s about growing into our capacity even if we cannot perceive it fully. This is the search for something we never thought we would look at even though deep down we know we have the potential. This is the leapfrog. It’s not linear or cumulative or predictable. It’s about us leaving our lily pad and just going. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What are you really capable of? 2. What have you never thought you could do? 3. What does your new lily pad look like? Day 23 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
EASTER SUNDAY The front door will open soon and we shall walk out with gratitude and joy. Off for a coffee. To meet up with friends, to be together and laugh again. The front door will open soon and we shall walk out with gratitude and joy. Remembering all. To a different life, a better way and our new beginning. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. When Covid-19 has passed what will be your gratitude and joy? 2. What will be your new beginning? Day 20 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
LOCKDOWN Peter May wrote a book in 2005 called Lockdown. It was rejected by publishers for being ‘extremely unrealistic and unreasonable’. For fifteen years his story about a virus transforming all our lives could not be imagined. And then, a week ago Lockdown was finally published. So how do we imagine the next fifteen years for our lives, for our family, for starving children, for our planet, for society and for peace? For Lockdown is more than a book or a state of social isolation. Lockdown is our freedom to create the ‘extremely unrealistic and unreasonable’. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What's the 'extremely unrealistic and unreasonable' future that you would like to see unfold? 2. Write down your story... please! Day 14 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
ASSET MANAGEMENT Imagine if your new work coincided completely with what you really wanted to do. Imagine if you could use your gifts and skills to achieve all that really mattered to you. Imagine if you could design your future rather than wait to see what happens. Imagine if you used all that you are and all that you have learned in new ways. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What do you really want to do? 2. What are your assets - your skills, experience, knowledge and interests? 3. How can you use these in different and new ways? Day 1 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
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