Purposeful Growth

Three positive psychology exercises validated by research studies will fuel your personal development and growth.Maximize your personal development results and get the most benefit from your personal growth efforts by incorporating these

findings from the latest research in Positive Psychology. Exercises that lead to greater happiness and life satisfaction–the good life–can help you make the most of the time and energy you devote to personal development.

Positive Psychology Studies

Positive psychology researchers study the ingredients of the good life–happiness, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Their goal is to find those activities and ways of thinking that characterize happy people. Can each of us be happier by choosing how we think and what we do? The answer, happily, is yes.

Positive Psychology Exercises

There is no lack of self help advice available at dozens of Internet sites (including this one), in hundreds of books, and through workshops presented by many present-day gurus. Though most of the advice is sound, some is based on personal anecdote and experience and may not be effective for most people. The following three personal growth exercises are validated by scientific research.

• Discover life purpose

There is a strong correlation between one’s happiness and their sense of purpose or meaning in life. These exercises are designed to help you find your own personal sense of purpose and meaning. Any one of these may be sufficient, so if the first one you pick doesn’t work well for you, try another.

1. Recall instances of great satisfaction and happiness. What were you doing? What were the circumstances? What is the underlying theme, if any?
2. Recall times when you’ve been occupied with an activity and lost all track of time. Perhaps you worked through normal meal or sleep times without realizing it. What were you doing? What talents were you using?
3. Start with a blank sheet of paper or computer screen. At the top, write My Purpose in Life is… Start writing whatever comes to your mind. When you write something that evokes great emotion, perhaps even tears of joy, you’ve touched on a life purpose that is meaningful and important to you.

• Focus on personal growth

Personal growth and development is correlated with greater happiness. As with life purpose, try any or all of the following exercises to identify aspects of personal growth most important to you.

1. Make a list of your accomplishments over the past twelve months. Reflect on how these accomplishments have contributed to your personal growth. Can you see an underlying theme of personal development directions that is most satisfying?
2. Make a list of the opposite, those accomplishments that were drudgery and left you with little or no satisfaction other than that of completion.

• Use your unique strengths

Researchers find there is a strong correlation between happiness and using one’s strengths in daily activities. Use one or more of these techniques to clarify your top strengths:

1. Make a list of those things you do really well. Combine and narrow the list until you have only five or six of your top strengths. These are qualities that you have used in moments of greatest pride and satisfaction.
2. Ask people who are close to you what qualities they most admire about you.
3. Fill out the VIA questionnaire here which provides an assessment of your top five strengths. Compare these results with the above methods and look for consistent areas. Discard any that you disagree with.

Devoting time and energy to these three growth exercises, Life Purpose, Personal Growth, and Using Unique Strengths, will enrich your life and bring a sense of greater satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness.

Related Articles:

Positive Psychology &Happiness

5 Positive Psychology Exercises

More related articles are under Positive Psychology Tips and Tools in the index.

This article first appeared in the Personal Development Topic at Suite101.com.

Is Your Work/Life Balance Way Out of Kilter?

Maintaining a balance between job and family is getting more and more difficult these days. If you’re struggling to keep up at work and at home, feeling guilty that you’re shortchanging both, and resentful that you can’t even think of spending time on you, the Balanced Life self-study E-course can help.

The Issues of Work/Life Balance

How did we get here? The combination of widespread corporate downsizing and a culture of acquiring/consuming has left millions of people struggling to keep up. Trying to do it all, have it all, and be it all.

Marketing messages show smiling, happy people with big homes, big cars, active families, and busy jobs somehow doing it all. When we try to copy this lifestyle we find out it’s no fun, nearly impossible to pull off, highly frustrating, and deeply depressing. Looking for help, we buy the newest technology - smart phone, web browser, text messenger - only to find that seems to compound the problem.

But the problem of life imbalance can be solved. The Balanced Life E-course shows you how to identify the unique building blocks of your balanced life. Ten weekly self study classes include personalized exercises to help you integrate the basic concepts of life balance into your unique life circumstances.

What is the Balanced Life E-course?

After writing several articles about life balance, including a free self-assessment tool which is very popular, I developed a prototype self study course to help people get their lives back in balance. More than a dozen people from all walks of life joined in as volunteer testers as we went through an intensive beta test of the course.

Feedback on the course from the test group was excellent and their helpful, insightful comments, questions, and suggestions have been incorporated in the final product.

The Balanced Life E-course is a ten week, self study course delivered weekly by email. Recognizing that fundamental problems must be solved with fundamentals, the course helps you first understand the basic structure for a balanced life, then teaches you how to integrate strong fundamentals and five important life skills into your own life.

Filled with exercises, examples, and even home-work assignments, The Life Balance E-course can help you find the fulfilling life you seek.

The target price for the course is $49, but I’ve reduced that by 50% to $25 during this brief introductory phase. As a gift to readers of Purposeful Growth, I’m offering the exact same course to you with a further 20% discount. For now, during this introductory phase, The Balanced Life E-course is just $20 when you sign up through this special promotional web page. If you can’t see or click on the link, or prefer not to click through on embedded links, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.balanced-life.biz/Referral.htm.

Remember, to get The Balanced Life E-course for $20 you must register through this special page.

As someone focused on purposeful personal growth, I know life balance is important to you. No one enjoys being overwhelmed, over-worked, and under-appreciated. You can take back control of your life and enjoy life’s wonders and satisfactions with The Life Balance E-course.