Episode 3: Three Hacks to Jumpstart your Personal Growth Journey

Today, I am going to share with you three things that you can do today to jumpstart your own personal growth journey. 

You know me, I get positively giddy when concrete action steps are involved! So let’s get to it! 

As promised, let’s get into exactly what you can do today to start planning your own personal growth. Because, mama? You need a PLAN! You can’t just HOPE that one day you will wake up in your dream life, with perfect relationships, a perfect body and a perfect family. These things don’t happen by accident. We need to take ACTION that leads to these results.

So with no further adieu, here are 3 things you can do RIGHT NOW to jumpstart your personal growth journey: 

Action Step #1: MAPBook

The first action step to jumpstart your personal growth journey is to create an organizational system to help you track your growth and get organized. Your first step is to get a notebook. Not a Moleskin notebook, not a pretty notebook that you’re afraid to write in. Read my lips: NO LEATHER. No fancy pens, no trips to Target. Nope, nope, nope! I want you to get a 99 cent composition notebook (you can choose college-ruled or wide-ruled, I’m not that much of a control freak) and set up your MAPBook. 

What’s a MAPBook you ask? It is your “Make A Plan Book” where you will organize all the things as you start your journey. 

I’m going to really be diving into the MAPBook and how to set it up in Episode 4. If you can’t wait though, here is a link for you to download your free set-up guide. You will immediately receive a PDF in your inbox that walks you through setting up your notebook system in 60 minutes or less.

Having a place to organize your thoughts is NOT optional – trust me on this! This step will make or break you and it will be SO cool to look back on in a few years to see where it all began. I still have all of my notebooks and it is so fun to be able to look back on the different seasons of life and reflect on the crazy amount of growth that’s happened in three years. 

Click here to download your free notebook system set-up guide.

Action Step #2: Personal Growth Triangle

OK, so the next step that you can take to jumpstart your personal growth journey is to figure out where you stand on the personal growth triangle.

What the heck is a personal growth triangle? I’ll tell you what, don’t Google it, because I’m pretty sure this is a Sharon Leger original. When I first began coaching, I noticed that my clients were falling into different levels on their journeys. If I tried to inspire them with an advanced strategy, they were overwhelmed, because they didn’t have the basics down.

The Personal Growth Triangle: Level 1

I quickly learned to back it up and start with the basics, or the first level of the triangle: daily habits, basic budgeting and general time management. Once those foundational skills were developed, they were ready for the next level of growth. 

The Personal Growth Triangle: Level 2

The second level of the triangle is more complex. This is where my clients were ready for education, inspiration, accountability and support. They were creating more intense systems and were getting super consistent with their habits. 

The Personal Growth Triangle: Level 3

Finally, the third level of the triangle is where I consider myself today. This is where the basics have been established, tons of education and inspiration has occurred and someone is ready or is actively making major changes to their lives in order to align with their new growth values. If you’re curious to learn more about my story, be sure to check out Episode 2 where I lay out all of the details. 

So, where are YOU on the triangle? I just created a brand new tool that I am so excited to share with you – the personal growth triangle 5 minute assessment. You can download your free copy to find out where you fall in the next five minutes!

This tool is a quick, 5-minute assessment that will help you decide where you are on the triangle – level 1, 2 or 3. I have started organizing my YouTube videos using the triangle as well, so once you know what level you are on, you can decide which videos might be a best fit for you right now, in this season. I definitely recommend checking out the assessment today!

Action Step #3: Dream Life Vision

And finally, the last action step to help you jumpstart your personal growth journey: create a representation of what your dream life vision looks like. If you’re anything like me, your dream life today looks very different than the one you envisioned ten years ago. 

So let’s take a second to break that down. What is today’s date? Got it? Perfect. Now, count 3 years from now. What’s that date? Write that date on the top of a page in your MAPBook.

The Dream Life Vision Exercise

Three years from now, where do you want to be? Where do you want to live? What job do you want to be doing? What are your kids up to? How much money do you have? What is your schedule like? How do you spend your weekends? Set a timer for 30 minutes and don’t stop writing until it goes off, pushing yourself to dream all the dreams. Don’t worry about making this pretty.  You can write a list, you can write a snapshot of your life in narrative form, you can draw a freaking picture if you want to. Whatever it takes to get your dream life unearthed out of your brain and on paper. 

If you’ve gotten this far, KUDOS, this can be an intimidating exercise. If you feel yourself asking “BUT HOW, SHARON, HOW am I going to get this dream life when all I do is wipe butts and go to work and cry after Zoom meetings?” Mama, don’t WORRY about that right now. Trust me, we’ll get to that. But until you know where you want to go, we can’t make a plan to get there. 

Finally, once you’ve finished this exercise, be sure to flag this page in your MAP Book. This way, you can easily refer back to it, add to it and make changes as it evolves. This is definitely not an exercise you do once and forget about. 

Let’s Make a Plan to Jumpstart Your Personal Growth Journey!

To wrap up, here are a few next steps for you: 

1. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify so you don’t miss the next episode: How a 99 Cent Notebook Saved my Life. We’re going to dive deep into the MAPBook and how to get started with this system today. Don’t forget to check out your free notebook system set-up guide, if you want to get a head start on next week’s episode. 
2. If you haven’t already, hop on over to my Facebook group or follow me on Instagram – let’s be friends!
3. And finally, if you’re looking to dive into some of the content that I mentioned, be sure to do the 5-minute personal growth triangle assessment. 

Thank you so much for being here, mama! Get back to doing your thing, rocking your world and remember – keep growing! Little eyes are watching. 

Watch on YouTube

Did You Love This Episode?

If so, be sure to share it with a friend – this helps busy moms like you to find me!

And finally, you can also check out these related episodes that I think you’ll be obsessed with:

Preparing For Your Personal Growth Journey

3 Signs You Are Ready To Start Your Personal Growth

How to Find Time for Personal Growth as a Busy Mom

How a 99¢ Notebook Saved My Life