Written by: Vivien Roggero, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Freedom is an essential component of personal development. The Freedom to explore, innovate, and create are drivers of individual growth and the creation of a healthy and prosperous us. With it, we can indeed be ourselves, which is essential for happiness, joy, and success.
We all want to reach happiness, joy, a particular form of success and Freedom in our life. But achieving those requires us to understand what they are for us as they are unique and different. We can identify what they are for us and our path to reach them through self-awareness.
In this article, let me explore the connection between Freedom and personal development and what it means to be free.
What is commonly known as personal development?
Personal development is your transition in life through your growth. It has five main areas of development: physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. It is all about owning yourself, improving your skills, learning new ones, refining what you have been told before, and developing strength & talents. It would be best if you had everything to go through the different stages of your life and reach an authentic life of happiness, joy, success & Freedom.
Interestingly, personal development refers to your highest & most harmonious development powers, which is about fully developing your abilities. Personal development is a conscious effort, and it is something that we need to own consciously. But to do that, first, we need to understand what it is for us.
Let's put this in the open right now. One of the first things we are looking for is Freedom: we all want to be free. And it is instrumental to personal development.
But Freedom is not doing whatever we want, whenever we want. Freedom is a conscious choice of consistently doing things that make us free.
Freedom is not living on the edge of the cliff, it is about walking the right path.
What are the fundamentals needed for effective personal development?
Personal development is a significant factor in your overall well-being and improvement. It does not take much to kick-start your personal development journey.
Here are some fundamentals steps of personal development:
You need to have a clear vision across all aspects of life.
Live consciously and have self-awareness.
Being comfortable in being authentic yourself.
Deliberate learning for your growth.
Gradual and small changes in your habits & life.
Those growth fundamentals are also crucial to understanding and building your Freedom. And the sooner you start with them, the sooner you'll see growth in yourself & your life.
Also, you have to remember Freedom means you're the ruler of your inner kingdom. Without it, personal development is limited.
What does it mean to be free?
Being free means the ability to choose; Freedom is about making choices that empower us and bring us growth. It means no one can hold you back, no one can own you, and you're not confined by the limits others put on you.
For me, it means I'm limitless, and I'm free to be myself.
When you have Freedom, you're the maker of your own life. Everything you do or that happens to you is because of your own decisions. Freedom lets you do what you want, live an honourable life, build relationships, and live your authentic life by your rules. That's the worth of being free.
Freedom at the core of your personal development:
Like personal development, Freedom has areas, and the high-level ones are the same. You can be free physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. And all those five major areas can then be drilled deeper into smaller areas, such as family, friendship, society, work, etc.
So how can you grow your Freedom without being overwhelmed?
First, you must understand that Freedom is a composition of smaller Freedoms area in your life. That you reach by focusing on what makes you feel free.
Still overwhelming, I guess.
While I was looking at the complexity of understanding my own personal Freedom and applying that knowledge to create a life of Freedom, Wealth, Joy, and Success, it became clear to me that I and everyone could benefit from a roadmap. That's why I created the One Freedom™ framework. The One Freedom™ framework guides people to understand what Freedom is for them and how they build their lives around it. It is a tool for consciously choosing what we need in our lives to fulfil our Freedom and how to remove what is detrimental to it.
The One Freedom™ framework is built around five core principles summarised in the acronym R.E.A.D.Y.: Release, Explore, Audit, Decide, Why?
I chose the word R.E.A.D.Y because this framework is about getting you ready to create your True life.
The release is about releasing your baggage about what you think Freedom is.
Explore is all focused on exploring what Freedom could be for you.
Audit is about auditing your current life and comparing it to your actual life.
Decide, that is when things get real, and you start deciding what to implement and when.
Lastly, "Why?" is the universal question. Why do you need Freedom? Why is this your action plan? Those are the questions that you need to answer so you can ensure you will have an anchor when you are facing challenges.
So how do you start your journey in personal development?
If we are speaking of personal development in the global sense, then one of the first things you need to work on is awareness. First and foremost, you need to understand yourself, know your achievements & successes, things you need to work on, bad habits, goals or desires, and everything that affects you. In a nutshell, you need to understand the world around you and how you react to that world.
Journaling
In my view, one of the best ways to work on it is by journaling. Journaling is a powerful tool that lets you put your feelings and emotions on paper, allowing you to go deep inside yourself and understand yourself better. From there, you will know where you want to go.
I would suggest getting some goals on paper. If you have those goals, you know where you want to go. Now you can draw the road from where you are to where you want to be. But goals need to be specific and realistic. They must be big enough that they excite you. But it is great to break them into smaller chunks and track your progress accordingly. If goals are too big, you will not be able to reach them, and you will be exhausted and demotivated.
Overcome Your Fears
Another way to start this life-changing journey is to overcome your fears. If you fear taking risks and trying new things, counter them by doing the things you might be uncomfortable doing to grow and learn. The experiences you get will build your confidence and improve your decision-making skills.
Learn new skills
Furthermore, expand your knowledge and learn some new skills. Set a goal of reading one article a day, one book a month, or learning a new language. This step will stimulate your mind.
Meditate
Additionally, start meditating to focus on your goals and self-progress healthily and calmly.
Get a Life Coach
Last but not least, get a life coach to accelerate your development journey. If you're still confused and need help identifying the ways, a professional life coach will guide you and help you to get started on this life-changing journey to being happy and free.
Reminder: Good habits take time to build
The personal development process is a lifelong process. You've to keep moving consistently and take action daily. To grow to those goals, you will need to create new habits. These new habits will be built day by day. They will not be like an on/off switch; you turn them on one day and, boom, have all the proper new habits. That's not how habits work. So if you want to build habits, you must remember the following.
You must know which habit you want to change, which you want to add, and which you wish to remove. Removing a habit by itself is nearly impossible. Because we are used to having those habits for a long time already. As we are used to those habits deeply ingrained into us, we first need to replace them. Please find a new habit, put it there to replace the other one, and fade the old one away. If you have extreme confidence in yourself and your ability to change, delete it immediately. But with some years of experience in that field, I can tell you that most people who do that will get the habit back. A good example is people who try to quit smoking.
Now, we all know habits take time to develop. You won't be able to say, "yesterday I created a new habit. It is done". It takes several months to root properly into our subconscious and body so that it becomes effortless. It would be best if you stayed committed with the determination toward self-growth and your true life.
That's also a part of The One Freedom™ framework to teach you how to change habits and use the compound effect of those changes daily. (Spoiler, this is fantastically done through habit stacking. You need to queue and stack routines to make those valuable changes compound effortlessly.)
Conclusion
The road to your true life and Freedom is unique for each of us. But living your true life, a life of Freedom, Joy, Wealth, and Success, is worth it. Therefore, it's time to make a decision and start the first step.
Remember that Freedom means you're the ruler of your own life. Until you realize that, you can never be free. Freedom is vital for a happy, healthy life as it empowers you to make the right choices, follow your path, strive for a much better life, live life without fear, and have power over yourself.
Everyone has a uniquely personal path; your responsibility is to follow it. It is up to you to decide everything in your life because you have the Freedom of choice!
Ready to build your true life of Freedom, Joy, Wealth, and Success? Jumpstart your new life today. Out with the old and in with being empowered!
Are you interested in discovering YOUR unique FREEDOM to create your true life? Click here to apply for your FREE Freedom Call.
Want to learn more about the power of a Freedom-centric life?
Vivien Roggero, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Vivien Roggero is a certified Executive & Empowerment Coach and Entrepreneur. After 15 years of professional journey, expanding from Sales to IT Executive in some world-class startups’, losing his father to COVID, and going through a high-conflict divorce, he decided to dedicate his life to empowering people so they can live a fulfilling life. Those experiences also inspired him to create the One Freedom™ Framework, freedom and purpose-centric approach to life that helps his clients to accelerate their life design process and sculpt growth. His focus is to help clients who feel stuck in their professional or personal journeys or find struggles to re-navigate life after major life-changing events.
