When I was much younger, my definition of personal success and development had nothing to do with Naira, or dollars, it had everything to do with A’s because they said good grades meant good jobs. I read and read, cramming all I could and burning the proverbial candle light. I did get the A’s but as I grew older, I realized there were some missing pieces in the life puzzle. 2020 made it more obvious when a pandemic scattered some of the existing pieces and left us asking questions. Right now, we have webinars, conferences and talks predicting the future and majoring on self-development, in an attempt to help us fix it all up.

What then is self-development?

As far as vocabulary goes, self-development defines itself, the development of self. Consequentially, this search for self-development is guided by rules that must be followed to the letter. Once any of these are broken, the journey is sabotaged and the developing self becomes trapped in a rather comfortable haven of inaction and ineffectiveness.

Self-development is self-driven
Due to the fact that there are now cadres of people called mentors, leadership experts and motivational speakers (I am not sure which of these I fall into yet), the responsibility of self-development is assumed to be in their speeches and never ending analogies (Yes, your butterfly must keep flying till it kills the lion).

The truth, however is that the responsibility of self-development is solely on the person that seeks to develop. Of course, you need people who help you along the way, but the steering wheel is just in one person’s control, irrespective of the number of people in the car. You are in charge of whether or not you become better at what you do, or just remain on the level of good, just good. You are in charge of this growth, and no one else will do it for you. If you are waiting for someone to pick you, kindly pick yourself up and get moving.

There is no over development
When we set goals and strive to achieve them, it may seem like there is a limit, where one is fully developed. Quite frankly, there is no over development.
Development never gets over the bar and becomes dangerous. Until time stops ticking and the sun resigns, there would continually be better ways to do things. Development continues from generation to generation and peaks of achievement will continue to heighten. If you feel like after some amount of time, you could press the brakes on your development plan, you may just be looking for the path of deathly mediocrity. Each day, you have to keep improving, getting better and doing better.

Self development is focused.
Many times when I read books and hear talks about development, the one question I ask myself is this, “What exactly am I developing myself in?” As a writer, I would certainly not do what Lionel Messi says when he explains that he practices over a 100 shots per day.
Self-development is specific to each and every person.

It requires that anyone on the journey goes on the particular path they choose. This means that if you are a web developer, develop yourself on the web. If you are a music producer, keep producing good music. It requires that you are focused and treading your own path. This helps when other LinkedIn profiles and Instagram accounts seem to question your development progress. Stick to your game, know that you are on the right track and win.

The self-development code demands essentially one thing, your choice. All you have to do is make the right choice, which is deciding to the best possible you can be. And the fun fact is that you keep uncovering that best possible self.

You want to get to the Peak?

It’s in you! (Yes, this is from Peak milk)
Yours in purposeful living,
Elushade Oluwatumininu.
Contact tumsielushade@gmail.com