I often get the sense that when someone decides to embark on a path to personal growth, they think it’s going to be a walk in the park. You know the kind I mean … all nicely laid out paths, clear and obstacle free. No trees to climb over or rocks to scramble around. Granted, if you can maintain a “walk in the park” attitude while you’re ripping your life apart and remaking it, more power to ya! You are definitely more mentally strong than I am.

For myself, (and I suspect for a lot of people) the process of growing and changing comes with more trials and obstacles than we bargained for. The cool thing I’ve found, though, is that it’s in dealing with these obstacles that you experience the most growth. And how you deal with them really does go a long way to determining how successful you will be in making the changes that you want to make.

Obstacle number one to be dealt with is usually your own mind. The imagination can be a powerful thing when it comes to change. Your mind can either be your worst enemy or your best friend. Allowing the negative side to dominate and fill your conscious mind with thoughts of doubt and failure will have you creating obstacles and reasons to fail.

Along with the negative voices in your own mind, the negative voices of other people around you are also an obstacle to your success on the personal growth trail. The lack of support from friends and family members who are supposed to be supporting you in your dreams and goals can be a real downer. And ditching them is often easier said than done.

Another thing that needs to be ditched is the attachment to past failures. Negative events and memories from your past can become insurmountable obstacles to your future success if you let them. Learning to let go will be a great adventure in growth, but it is so worth it to release all that baggage and really let yourself be free.

So just how do you overcome these obstacles? And yes, they can all be overcome. That’s half the journey!

There are so many ways to get past these, and what works for me may not work for you. You can read books, listen to tapes, to to seminars, and try all the do-it-yourself personal development methods out there. You can also hire a life coach, or go to a therapist if that way suits you better.

Whatever tools you decide to use to overcome your obstacles, the first two steps I would suggest you take are to learn to develop a positive mindset for yourself, and to surround yourself with supportive people who share your goals and aspirations. Visualizing your own success will go a long way to making it a reality, and having a support network around you will give you the kick in the butt you’ll need to stay motivated when the going gets a little rough.

What do you do to help get you past the obstacles in your personal growth?

(How original, right?)

Okay, so it’s not a very original way to plunge back into the stream of daily blogging… but it’s true. Spring is a time for growth, and you can feel it in the air. It fairly shimmers with energy, the sun is a little warmer, the days a little brighter, and there’s a sense of optimism and hope that you don’t notice so much during the winter. I was out walking along the river on Friday and people smiled a little more, and were a little quicker to say hello than they were during the winter months.

The optimism and hope that come with spring also bring with them a chance for new beginnings. Just like the plants and trees grow new leaves and flowers in the spring, we can use this time to create new growth and change for ourselves.

Spring cleaning is a perfect example of that. In a physical sense it’s all about clearing out the old to make room for the new. And if you’re anything like me, most years spring cleaning is nothing more than a chore to be gotten through as quickly as possible.

But spring cleaning this year is taking on a whole new meaning for me as I find ways to use it to help me clear my mind and focus on the next steps in my own personal growth.

Here’s what I mean…

If you really focus on the task, on what you’ve collected, and what you’re getting rid of, and WHY, you’ll be amazed at how much mental clutter you clear along with the physical junk. I did this on the weekend, and the energy shift in my apartment was so noticeable that I was actually sick for two days.

Out of about eight boxes of stored up papers, books, and other stuff I tossed everything but a dozen antique cookbooks (I’ve got plans for these), a few old books that belonged to my dad, and some photos and writings from my university days. With each piece of the past that went into the recycling bin, my vision of what I want my future to look like became just a little more clear.

Over the course of my weekend cleaning spree, I opened up enough mental room to set some clear goals for the next three months, as well as to map out a writing plan that will enable me to achieve them. You’ll be the beneficiary of that plan, and I”ll tell you more about it tomorrow.

I started this post a week ago, but it obviously wasn’t the time to share it because the words just wouldn’t flow. That happens sometimes when I’m too emotionally invested in the content that I’m trying to produce, or when I’m trying to write something that would really make me look like a fool. (Much thanks to @denyseduhaime for pointing that one out.) So after letting it percolate for a few days here’s the revised version sans emotion and the bits that would make me look silly. Please do leave me a comment after you’ve read it. I’d really appreciate the feedback.

As you no doubt know (and are probably sick of hearing) if you’ve been hangin’ out here for any length of time, one of my major goals this year is to come out of my self-inflicted hibernation of the past several years and learn how to live again. I’m on a quest to find myself, to stretch beyond my boundaries, and truly let myself be myself.

I’d tried before this year, but never had much luck really coming out of my shell. I blamed it all on the fact that I’m a walking poster for introverts, and a few other things but never did I really admit that I had made a choice to shut myself off from the world. The walls started coming down a bit when I attended Ross Goldberg’s virtual seminar just before Christmas. That’s when I rediscovered Twitter as a tool for communicating. Prior to that I’d used it a bit for talking with friends, but never got into using it for meeting new people or talking about anything really important.

Here’s the thing… Ever since I started hangin’ out with Shileen Nixon and the Wonder Woman Challenge gang, I’ve been spending a lot more time on Twitter. I’m slowly becoming more confident in my ability to talk to people and to jump into a conversation here and there instead of being the traditional wallflower that I’ve always been. It’s all part of reaching my goal of figuring out who I am at this stage of my life and just where this fork in the road is gonna take me.

The self-improvement experts say that if you want to improve upon your self, then you should surround yourself with people who can do whatever it is that you want to do better than you can do it. (Say that one ten times fast!) I never quite figured out how to do that because I’m normally way too shy to talk to people. However, it occurred to me that for the past few weeks I have been doing exactly that — mostly without even trying. And I have to say that although I’m standin’ so far out of my comfort zone right now that I’m literally shakin’ in my boots, I’m also having a great time doing it.

I have met so many awesome people on Twitter in the last few weeks and every single one has helped me to move a little further away from the wall. It really hit me one morning as I was reading tweets and feeling all the amazing energy flowing around and through me, just how far out of my comfort zone I’ve come in the last month. There are moments when the energy is high and I feel really confident in communicating with people, and then there are moments of total panic where I feel so freakin’ inadequate and just want to crawl into a cave and hide for a few days. Those days are becoming more rare, however, as the wonderful friends I’ve made on Twitter just won’t let me hide any longer. When I really feel like going back into hibernation they commiserate, encourage, and challenge me to take one more step into the the unknown beyond my comfort zone. And I am so very thankful for them for doing it.

Anyways, the point I’m tryin’ to make here is that the Twitter community is amazing, and that using Twitter as a tool in your personal growth journey is one of the best things you can do. There are so many wonderful people out there, and if you open yourself up and allow them to find you, then the people who are supposed to be in your life at any given minute will surely find a way to be there. The amazing new connections I have made have helped me to move beyond my comfort zone and get ready to take the next step — to stop staring at the closed doors and start wondering just what lies beyond the new doors that are opening for me.

If you need proof, three months ago I would never have been able to write a post like the one I did last night. I may have thought it, but actually expressing feelings of love and gratitude out loud would have sent me racing for the nearest cave.

For whatever reason, human nature seems to always want to make things a lot harder than they have to be.

So in the interests of simplifying things just a little bit, here are my favorite four common sense rules to live by.

1. Keep your word.

2. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

3. Don’t procrastinate.

4. Make a plan and follow it.

I’m sure I could, and probably will, write more in depth articles on all of these at some point. But for tonight, brevity rules!

What’s your favorite life rule (in 10 words or less)?

It sounds cliché, but the path to personal growth really does begin with a single step. What many people don’t realize is that the first step isn’t an actual physical step. It’s the mental preparation that you do before you start a new personal development journey that determines how successful you are in making the changes you desire.

Having an optimistic mindset means letting go of any baggage from your past that could be holding you back. I realize that it’s hard to let go of some things — heck, even I’m still hanging on to things from the past that would be better put to rest — but the whole purpose of this journey you’re about to embark on is to grow. And it’s harsh to say, but some things really are better off left in the dust as you move forward.

With that being said, I want to give you three tips today that you can put to use on your path.

1. Be kind to yourself.

Everyone makes mistakes, but only a fool lets those mistakes stop him/her from trying again. Don’t be afraid to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. (Yes, I swiped that line from the old song ‘Pick Yourself Up’.) Whatever you do, don’t beat yourself up over what went wrong. Be kind and encouraging to yourself as you make a fresh start.

2. Retool your plan.

No matter how hard we try for the perfect plan, it just ain’t gonna happen. Life gets in the way and sometimes the goals we set for ourselves just aren’t reasonable. Many a plan has failed because its creator over-estimated what they could accomplish at the time. Don’t be afraid to sim;plify to get your desired results. Try setting three goals instead of thirty, and you’ll find it’s easier to achieve them because it’s easier to focus on them. When you complete one, add another to the list and before you know it, all thirty of the goals on your original list will be met and you’ll be creating another new set things to accomplish.

3. Take Action Now!

It’s important to get moving once you make the decision to move. The last thing you want to do is procrastinate at taking the first step. The more you wait and watch the days go by, the harder it gets to start and the more depressed you begin to feel. Don’t worry if your first few actions don’t work quite the way you intended. You’ll know before long if you’ve made a totally wrong move. And if that happens, you simply start over at step one — that would be dusting yourself off, in case you forgot already — and repeat the process. After all, your plans aren’t set in stone — or at least they shouldn’t be — and you might just have stumbled upon an awesome opportunity that you never would have if you hadn’t taken action.

So there you have it, an easy three step plan for starting down the path to personal growth. I look forward to sharing a few steps with you and hearing about your journey. (Hint: that means don’t be shy — leave a comment!)