Maintaining your Personal Development High

We have all been there. After reading a fantastic personal development book, or attending a motivational seminar, you are ready to take over the world. New goals are written and more promises are made to yourself. Your life becomes anew.
A few months later you barely remember what you learned, your life reverts to what it was before your drastic changes, and you are off seeking that new message which will, once again, turn your life around.

For me, this is the most frustrating part of self development. We can never get enough of it, yet we sometimes barely see lasting results. How do we change this?
I believe the answer comes from how we view the personal development process. When we first begin to make changes in our lives we get excited about the results, not the process. Because of our misdirected focus, we cease to remain consistent in our daily actions and, of course our results quickly fade.

Think of your personal change as a process as necessary as bathing. This morning as you get ready for the day, you take a shower. The results of the shower, a clean fresh smelling body, stays with you most of the day. Throughout the day you go on about your daily tasks and, by the end of the day, the freshness fades and you find yourself in need of another shower.

Showering is a daily activity for all of us. We understand and accept that concept. We do not get frustrated because the results of yesterday's shower is no longer obvious. We do not become depressed and blame ourselves because we, once again, need another shower. On the contrary we simply jump in the shower, day after day, so that we can enjoy the results of our daily efforts.

The results of our personal development occurs because of our daily actions. We are fooling ourselves if we expect lasting changes from sporadic or non-existent efforts.
We need to truly grasp the idea that it is our daily efforts which produces the "lasting" change in our lives. Once we understand and accept this concept, we can then maintain that "shower fresh" feeling of personal growth every day.