by New Year’s resolutions, learning new skills, becoming a better person. If you’re the type who strives to become the best version of themselves then you may well set personal development goals.
But regardless of the goal, how on earth do you measure personal growth? Is it even important? And how can it be done without adding yet another item to your to-do list (because who wants that)?
Why should you measure personal growth?
Think about a goal you have and answer me this: how do you know when you’ve achieved that goal?
You likely know the answer to that question and it’s probably really simple. So that in itself is measuring your personal growth. The measurement is that it’s done.
But that’s just the simple version. If we measure as we go along, and better yet, measure the right things. Not only will we enjoy the process more, but we’ll feel a sense of fulfilment throughout, and not just right at the end.
How to measure personal growth
You likely already have a list of tasks that you need to complete to get to your desired outcome (and if you don’t, get on it!). You could create spreadsheets, checklists, charts etc but all of that just tracks your progress.
What we actually want to measure here is your personal growth. There’s more to this than just achieving stuff. You want to have a sense of fulfilment, self-appreciation, self-belief, feel stronger in the mind and seriously feel like you have grown as a person.
The purpose of doing all these tasks and achieving all these goals is to give you a sense of fulfilment in the first place, right? So quite frankly, tracking your personal growth is one of the most important and rewarding things you can do.
Here’s my favourite way to measure personal growth:
This is the simplest technique I’ve found so far and it requires very little effort. All you need to do is set a reminder on your calendar to regularly check in with yourself. This could be once a week, once a month, or whenever you feel like you want some time to think.
Then just sit for 5-10 minutes and write down some reflections. Answer these questions:
- Are the goals I’m pursuing leading me in the right direction?
- Am I feeling fulfilled pursuing these goals?
- What areas in life have I grown because I’m pursuing these goals?
- Do I appreciate myself and the progress I’ve made?
- Is there anything I can do to make this process more enjoyable?
- How do I feel right now?
That’s it, these simple reflections take hardly any time to complete and will give you a more in-depth look at how you’re progressing. Because without understanding how your goal getting is serving you, you’re just doing for the sake of doing it.
