Transformational Leadership Blog

Every Wednesday, we will feature a four or five-part series on personal development and/or leadership.

By the time I turned 25, I started asking myself about my directions and the things I want to get out of life. It was an interesting conversation with myself. I also involved the people I care about and who care for me, too.

More than just the destination though, I realize that I am on a journey! It’s a journey toward personal development. Just like you I wonder about the meaning of my life. I want to discover my directions, how to change for the better and how I can help make the world a better place.

I believe that there is so much more to life than simply going through the motions of working, going home, resting, and then working again the next day.

Life is very short. I mean, we only got around 70 years to live out our lives. Sometimes, you get to live till a hundred. But if you ask me, I’d rather live 50 fulfilling and well-lived years than living a frustrating, half-fulfilling and unremarkable 100 years. Our lives are simply much more meaningful than sitting on our chairs—at home or in a cubicle in an office and waiting for the grave.

By the time of this writing, I’m a twenty seven year-old young man who still has much to learn, much to accomplish and much to discover. Time flies by so fast. But what have I got to show for the years I’ve lived through? We cannot rely on destiny to give us what we want in life.

Yeah, you can be lucky. Perhaps, one day while walking on the streets, you pick up a bag full of several thousand dollars. Or you keep on betting on the lottery. If you have the looks and the personality, you might just meet an extremely gorgeous and rich man or woman, get married and be filthy rich! Or you might just wake up one day and find out you are the child of a king who just died and left you all his fortunes!

Fat luck! These events may happen. You’re an extremely lucky person if any of these ‘accidents’ happen. But if you’re like me, then you know that you have to rely on your guts, on your skills, and on your hands and feet to achieve your dreams and make things happen. There’s such a thing as an occasional “free lunch.” Yet our lives (and our taste buds) would be extremely boring if all we ever do is rely on free lunch.

I felt the challenge. I knew deep inside that I was made for something greater. I wanted to achieve my dreams and live a fulfilling life. I realized I need to start my journey of personal development.

I kept putting this off because you see, I seem to have a college degree on Procrastination. I know I’m not the only one with this degree. But it’s just another reason why I need a personal development journey. This is my invitation for you to join me in this journey.

As an emerging young leader, I know that the way forward is to keep learning and putting these lessons to work in my daily life and in the organization and group I’m connected with.

As a leader, you have to ignite yourself first before you can ignite others to be passionate, too.

Have you figured out what you want in life and how to achieve it?

Ignite Yourself! That’s my call right now.

As we go through this series of blogposts, you’ll come to read about (1) the causes of mediocrity and how you can deal with it; (2) how to unleash your fire and define your vision; (3) conduct a personal evaluation using SWOT analysis and (4) prepare your own Personal Development Plan.

image credit: john curley via Flickr

Related posts:

1. Your Personal Development Plan
2. Why You Should Set Yourself on Fire
3. How to Do a Personal Inventory
4. How to Prepare Your Personal Strategic Plan
5. Unleash the Fire: Define Your Vision