Deciding to better yourself is a great goal to set. Personal development – the art of making more out of yourself – can be an enriching, highly rewarding process. It does not require an all-encompassing master plan, either. You can kick off a personal development routine (or improve your existing one) with a few simple ideas like these:

One way to accelerate your personal development progress is to keep a journal devoted to the subject. This need not be a lengthy, soul-searching document. Even simply jotting down the goals you set will help you keep them in mind. Adding more information about the steps you are taking towards those goals will make your efforts more organized.

Speak to those who inspire you. See what kind of mantras that they follow to increase their own personal strengths and to work on their own personal weaknesses. Try to use their techniques as guidelines and follow them by example. Tap into other people’s strength to help increase your own.

Test your beliefs. It is not enough to have a set of beliefs to live by. Test them, research them, question them. Look for the real truth. Practice your beliefs by doing them in the course of your every-day life. Wisdom and truth is obtained by taking action and living your beliefs.

Seek transparency when you’re looking for information to guide you on your path to self-development. Any advice you follow should have good intentions with clear origins. This protects you from eloquent, yet nefarious people out to make a dollar on others’ struggles. Protect your heart when you’re looking to tackle very intimate issues.

Try working in multiple positives. Do your best to keep a positive attitude while you work or work out. You’d be surprised at how much you can accomplish by either changing your surroundings or thinking about a task differently. Try working outside, or possibly thinking of your tasks as a game and try to win at them. Try listening to something that can increase your intelligence while you work out.

Identify your current strengths before you try to change your perceived weaknesses. A key component of personal development is having a true understanding of your whole self. Unfortunately, personal development often focuses only on weaknesses. Often, improving an already developed strength may be more helpful to achieving your long-term goals.

A big key to solving your depression issues is to consciously reroute your way of thinking. Through cognitive behavioral therapy you can help you recognize when you begin to think down a depressive path and teach you ways to be more positive in your thinking. By thinking before you think, you can allow yourself more freedom from negative thoughts.

While the path to your personal development goals might be long, it need not be arduous. Keeping your eyes peeled for new personal development ideas is always a good idea. You may run into more handy tips like the ones in this article that can get you to your goals faster – or at least keep the journey to them from getting dull.