The Principal's Handbook

How to Be More Consistent With Your Professional Growth

Welcome to today's episode where we're going to be diving into the [00:01:00] significance of personal development and explore strategies to carve out more time for your own growth, because this journey isn't just about advancing your career, but it's about enriching every facet of your life.

Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.

From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, I'm Barb Flowers. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
Welcome back. This is episode number 14. And today we're talking about how to be more consistent in your personal [00:02:00] growth. We all want to grow personally, but it can be hard and it can be time consuming. So today I'm going to help you understand the importance of personal development in your personal growth and how you can be more consistent with it.

I want to start by talking about the importance of personal growth as a type of professional growth, being engaged. in personal development is so important for leaders. It's a common phrase that we hear that leaders are readers and that's so true. But I think many times we think about this as it pertains to learning about technical and job related skills.
However, leaders should also be readers of personal development. So if you're wondering the difference between personal and professional development, I'm going to explain it here. Personal development, it encompasses a broad spectrum of things. So it's things like improving your communication skills, building your confidence, managing stress, fostering meaningful relationships, and pursuing your hobbies and what your passions are.
And the aim of personal development is to have [00:03:00] overall life satisfaction, happiness, fulfillment, and Addressing individual desires, what your values are, what your personal goals are. So that's what personal development is. Professional development focuses on your job related skills and knowledge and career advancement, leadership skills, your project management, industry specific expertise, staying updated on relevant trends.

So we always have new trends in education, so staying up to date on that. And it's primarily driven by your career goals and aspirations. And it's you seeking to enhance job performance and advance in your career and stay competitive in the professional arena. So both areas are very important, but just think about personal development.
We don't talk about very often. And if you think about that, that's so important in our jobs, you know, to have better communication skills, build our self confidence, manage stress, having meaningful relationships. We need all of that to be good leaders. So I think too often we Only focus [00:04:00] on the professional development, and we leave out working on our own personal development that can enhance every area in our life.
It's also daunting to think about how you find time for personal development when you have so many things to keep up with your own professional development. In education, there are so many things as leaders that we're always trying to keep up on. I know for me in my role, it's always thinking about PLCs.
RTI, you know, reading initiatives, math in elementary grade. So all these different things in content areas and then just overall culture, leadership. But we also need to be focusing on our personal development, which helps our overall personal growth. So what if you looked at personal development as crucial for your professional development?

If you think about it that way, you can't develop professionally unless you're developing personally. So why do more principals not engage in personal development? Well, we know that many principals feel overwhelmed and fatigued by your daily [00:05:00] responsibilities already. There's so many things going on, so much to do.

Also, principals are focused on professional development when they have time. There's, I know I am a member of ASCD, which I love and I get a book every month, but It can be daunting when I get those books to see all the different topics of areas that I need to stay up to date on and to even try to read those books.

So, you know, it's hard to fit that in, let alone getting in personal development. Also a lack of personal routines. where they take time to focus on personal development are not happening. So there's not those routines in place that will help you focus on your own personal development. And also it's not talked about much in the education realm.

Personal development is huge when you're talking business, um, health and fitness, other industries, CEOs are talking about how they're constantly engaged in personal development in education. We're not talking about that. And I think because we're overwhelmed with all the Professional development we need to do.

The core [00:06:00] issue lies in that having well defined routines for that personal growth without structured habits and finding even just a few minutes each day for our personal development and growth. It becomes a monumental task. You have to set aside that time. And then what happens if people do attempt to do personal development, they often start by setting overly ambitious goals.

goals, such as reading a certain number of books per year or consuming a huge amount of podcast content monthly. So I have done this before where I've said, I'm going to read a book a week. So that's four books a month. And I think. That'd be great if I could meet that goal, but I have never met that goal.
That is a lot of books to read. It doesn't work for me. And when I don't meet that goal, I just give up and don't want to do reading anymore for my own personal or even professional growth. So today I want to share four strategies for maintaining consistency in your personal development journey. So we're going to dive into those four strategies.

So strategy number one is realistic [00:07:00] goal setting. So set achievable goals that align with your energy levels. If you're working full time, be honest about what you can realistically accomplish in a week when it comes to your own personal growth and development. So you could try to read a certain number of books per month or year.

, like I said, I tried reading a book a week because I heard that's what a lot of CEOs do that are successful and it doesn't work for me. You know, I have little kids. I also podcasts. There's so many things that I do that I can't read a book. a week. That's not practical for me. So I focus on just reading a few pages a day and listening to a couple podcasts per week.

I try to set that number to a number that I know I can consistently reach, because if not, I just give up. My second strategy is to join a community. So engage with like minded individuals. in an online book study or personal development groups. This provides you with accountability and fosters an environment where you can share ideas [00:08:00] and learn together.

I have done personal development book studies online and I have found this super helpful. I've also been part of Masterminds where we read a book together and discuss it and that was really helpful because it holds me accountable for reading it but I'm also getting to engage in conversations with other leaders.
That, you know, it helps me to see their perspectives and gain other insights from them of what they learned from the book and also just their experiences. So having a community, also being part of a community of people who want to continue. to grow and learn is really important because you become the people you hang out with and the people you engage with.

And so if you're constantly engaging with a community of leaders who aren't wanting to grow, or you're engaging with people who don't do any personal growth or any professional development and they're not constantly seeking for that growth, then you're not going to be growing either. So Finding a community of like minded people can be really helpful for that.[00:09:00]

Strategy three is work with a life coach. Consider working with a life coach who can give you personalized guidance in your per, in your personal development and growth. Coaches are amazing. They not only hold you accountable, but they Uncover subconscious thoughts and they enable you to achieve goals and become the person that you really want to be.

So when they're asking you questions and having you reflect on different areas of your life, that's when these thoughts come up and things that you didn't even know you were thinking and they can really help you uncover that. That it's hard to do for yourself. Because you have so many blind spots, life coaches also help you decide the person you want to become, and then take steps to achieve that.

When you start working and engaging with a life coach, you learn to look at your life from a growth mindset where anything is possible. You learn to change your thinking, which can change everything for you. And I'm telling you all of this from my own experiences. When I was struggling with burnout as a principal and my confidence was low, I started [00:10:00] working with a life coach.

And it has been life changing. I still work with her and it opened up my mind in a way that I never would have had the opportunity if I was only engaging in professional development. But now engaging in this personal development and being part of this life coaching community and talking to a life coach is amazing because she's constantly challenging my thinking, constantly putting me in a growth mindset, which is what we teach kids to do.

And. And teaching me to challenge myself and set goals for myself. And she holds me accountable to those goals. So life coaching, it really does work. And if you want to focus on your personal development, life coaching is a great way to do that because it's a personalized approach for you. And strategy number four is establish meaningful habits.

So create routines that allow for a few minutes of personal development each day. So a morning routine where you just read a few pages, this is what I do. I like to read about 10 pages each morning right when I first wake up. I sit and I drink my morning [00:11:00] pre workout drink and I just read my personal development.

And then I aim for 10 pages. Sometimes I'm so engaged in the book that I keep going and you could aim for more pages and do 15 or gradually increase it if you find it manageable. Um, but listen to podcasts too that have to do with personal growth. Not just professional growth. So I listened to a lot of podcasts that aren't about necessarily just trends in education, but growing myself personally, listen to audio books about that topic, you know, make a routine of when you want to engage in growth.

So I try to listen to a couple of podcasts a month. I'm engaged in different communities. But I have a lot of habits and routines. My morning before I go to work as a principal is that I get up and I'm focused on my personal development. I'm reading, I meditate, I work out. So I am focused on me and being the best version of myself so that before I go to work and pour into everybody else, I'm pouring into myself.
So just remember that engaging in personal [00:12:00] development, it's not just about acquiring knowledge. It's not just learning and learning. It's a fundamental. self improvement and success in all areas of your life. The more you invest in yourself, the greater your confidence is in your work leading to increased overall happiness.

And I learned this again, when I invested in myself with a mastermind and I invested in myself with life coaching, I realized that investing in my personal development was the best money I could spend. So 10 to 15 minutes a day for personal , Growth can significantly impact your journey, and it can help you create the life you want.

By consistently investing in your own personal growth and development, you empower yourself to shape and create the life that you really want for yourself and that you can envision. So I really encourage you to focus on personal development. If you want to take the next steps in your own personal growth and development, I encourage you to reach out to me for a free consultation.

I am a life coach. I love helping educators [00:13:00] learn to change their thinking and achieve their goals and create the life that they want. They envision the life they want. So I would love the opportunity to work with you. You can reach out to me on Instagram at Barb flowers coaching. Also, if you found this episode helpful and you liked the show, please share the episode with a friend.

Then other people can find the podcast and this can help them as well. So thanks for tuning into the podcast and I will see everyone next week.