Personal Growth

The One Habit of Successful Leaders

And how you can use it to kickstart the journey to a better you.

With the whole world still in lockdown mode, and so much free time on my hands thanks to the absence of the need for commuting and travel, I’ve finally decided to sit my ass down and figure out how to go about this whole “personal growth” thing.

Granted, I’ve been stagnant for the past three years whilst I was in a relationship. Two relationships, in fact, during which I completely neglected my own self-growth in favor of spending more time with my partner.

Complete and utter waste of time, to be honest.

When you’ve been through shitty relationships, you realize that the only person who will ever be there for you is yourself.

With that in mind, you are the only person who ever truly deserves your undivided attention and love.

Because how can you leave yourself when things get rough? How can you wake up one day and look at yourself in the mirror and say, “You know what? Fuck this shit, I’m out.”

You are not going to abandon yourself in the middle of the night without explanation.

You are not going to ghost yourself.

You are not going to leave yourself hanging and waiting for an explanation that will never come.

So, there I was, diving headfirst into the Internet, and I was amazed at the amount of stuff you can learn from the comforts of home, lounging in front of your computer in PJ’s and no underpants.

It makes me wonder why I bother paying 5-figures for tuition fees when everything I need is either free or 1/10 of the cost.

I mean, Elon Musk did say that he doesn’t care whether you have a degree or not. What matters is what you can do and how you can contribute to the company.

But anyway, a topic for another time.

I came across a free masterclass by the founder of Mindvalley, Vishen. It was a one-hour lesson that opened my eyes to the root of this mystical thing called personal growth.

He interviewed experts from around the world and found something that they all had in common: every day, they dedicated one hour for personal growth.

So, I thought, if these busy as hell professional corporate people can make time in their day to develop themselves, I sure can too. At present, I’ve only got a thesis to write and finals to prepare for, so why not?

Here are a couple of personal growth stuff that I’ve been checking out for the better part of a month now, and so far, I’m enjoying it.

Udemy

Udemy has a ton of courses developed by experienced people. They may not be experts, but I’m pretty sure they’re better than me, and that’s good enough for now.

They’ve got a large variety of courses ranging from content writing and business essentials to web development, programming and social media marketing.

The best thing about Udemy is that they often have massive discounts — like a minimum of 70% sort of discount!

For example, last I checked, one of their bestselling programs — the Complete Python Bootcamp — is now $17.99 when it was originally $194.99.

If the courses that you’re interested in are not on sale now, wait for a bit, because it happens pretty frequently.

And once you’ve bought the course, you’ll have lifetime access including all future updates. How sweet is that?

Skillshare

Skillshare is similar to Udemy but they operate on a subscription-based model. Think Netflix’s personal growth cousin.

The price for a premium annual membership is $99 which I think is quite reasonable given the variety of courses that’s available. If you can’t find any that you like on Udemy, then I think Skillshare is a great alternative.

If you were to pay monthly, it’s $19. So, if you’re still unsure about whether you’re willing to make that $99 investment, you can try it out for a month or two first, and then decide.

The best part about Skillshare right now is that you can redeem your first two months for free.

You’ll have to key in your credit card information and select the type of membership you’re going for after the end of the free period (either paid or monthly), but don’t worry, you can always cancel the membership a day or two before you’re supposed to pay up to avoid the automatic billing.

Medium

Ever since I found Medium two months ago, I’ve been obsessively adding article after article to my reading list.

It now stands at 630+.

To be honest, with the amount of content that’s being published every day on this platform, I doubt that number will ever return to zero.

I go to Medium whenever I need to unwind from all the writing and chaos of the day, or whenever I’m just bored out of my mind by inane YouTube videos.

When I started out, I went with the trial, but after that period I told myself that I needed a subscription. It’s only $5 per month, which is a steal considering the endless supply of content.

And I’m not willing to pay for Netflix and Spotify, so for me to fork out money for Medium is saying something — regardless of how affordable it is.

Brilliant

Now, Brilliant is an interesting site chock-full of science-centric subjects like calculus, algebra, programming, astronomy, physics, mechanics — you name it.

What makes Brilliant stand out is that all courses are created by researchers and professionals who hail from MIT, Caltech, Duke, and the two tech giants Microsoft and Google. If that’s not incentive enough to give it a go, then I don’t know what is.

Further, they’re constantly updating their arsenal of programs for subscribers. It’s a little pricey at $16 per month, or $76 when billed annually (more savings).

There’s also a free trial that you can use to see whether it suits you.

Podcasts

The whole podcast scene has been booming in the past five years. Everyone and their mother have listened, started, or planned on starting one.

I was pretty late to the scene, but I jumped right onto the bandwagon after discovering that Spotify can be used for something more useful other than replaying my favorite songs.

Now I have about 20+ podcasts saved to my library and oh, how glorious it is! There’s just something so much more relaxing when listening to someone speak in your ear in place of watching videos of the very same topic.

Here are some podcasts delving into personal growth (other than The Tim Ferriss Show) that you can check out:

1. The Mindvalley Podcast with Vishen Lakhiani

2. Superhumans At Work by Mindvalley

3. RISE by Rachel Hollis (bestselling author of Girl, Wash Your Face)

4. The Tao of Self-Confidence

5. WorkLife with Adam Grant

6. TED Talks Daily

7. The Anxious Achiever with Morra Aarons-Mele by Harvard Business Review

For those struggling with mental health, I wholeheartedly recommend The Anxious Achiever.

As someone deep in the throes of anxiety myself, I’ve found it helpful to listen to people who have the same condition (oftentimes worse) as me who have managed to not only function but thrive in their professional and personal lives.

Books

Now, books have always been my go-to whenever I’m bored.

But thing is, I’ve never been bothered to check out the self-help section of a bookstore my entire life. I was always skeptical of these gurus who claim they’re leading solid, happy lives while juggling 1,001 things and two crying babies on the side.

But then there’s always a first time for everything, right?

My current read is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. Everyone knows him — the guy who gives relationship advice with a mouth that’s dirtier than a sailor’s.

I have to admit that his cussing can get a little irritating at times, but as a whole, I really do enjoy the book. It’s given me a new perspective on life — it sucks, basically. And there’s nothing you can do about it except deal with it however you can.

But to be frank, I haven’t had much time to read actual books ever since I’ve been on Medium. It’s just one article after another and I often find myself binging Medium articles like how my K-pop fanatic of a cousin binges EXO concerts.

But anyway, I’m always on the lookout for new book recommendations, so here’s a list of books that I’m looking to read soon that you may find useful:

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear

2. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

3. Essentialism by Greg McKeown

4. The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts

The more resources I find, the more I’m sucked into this world where learning never stops.

And indeed, it never does.

Back in school, we were taught to study and pass exams and everything will sort itself out. But that’s not the case, especially not in this ever-changing world.

I remember a professor of mine saying that he thought he knew everything when he was in high school, but then the deeper he got into academia, the more he realized that he knew nothing at all.

We think that only certain people are destined for greatness, but when we analyze the minds of these successful people, the root of their success is personal growth.

By adopting a lifestyle centered on growth, you open doorways for yourself that otherwise would remain close.

So, keep learning and developing yourself, because only you have the power to change your mindset into a growth-oriented mindset. Success and everything that comes with it will naturally fall into place.