5 Personality Development Tips and Tricks

In the first article in this series, you looked at what personality development is. If you didn’t, go ahead and do that now by clicking right here.

Which brings you firmly to the how:

How do you develop your personality?
How does it look in practice?
How long does it take?

All questions you’re about to have answered. But, before you read on, give yourself a big pat on the back. Because to make it this far shows that you’re willing to grow and change yourself which makes you stand out from the other 99% of the world. So, good for you!

Personality development tips for a better you

In this article you’re going to learn personality development tips and tricks in the shortest time possible. And, how to add little habits to your day, that mount up to a big change. Remember, this all takes hard work and persistence. But, just like everything in life, it’s worth it in the end.

1. Visualization

In the last article I asked you to take a mental picture of yourself with all your new traits. To see yourself succeeding with this new personality.

Now, you’re going to carry it on. For 21 days.

The 21-Day Challenge is something I first heard about from the PluginID blog. It’s a great way to set yourself up for success with this. Because, once you can see yourself doing it – it’s much easier to achieve.

This challenge comes in four steps:

Visualize a time where you acted how you want to be now
Picture yourself in a new scenario, being how you want to be
Remember you are going to die
Think of a problem or issue that is holding you back

You’re going to feel strong emotions with this – anger, distress, sadness – but this is essential to the process. In this fire is where your new personality is forged.

2. Dress in a style that makes you feel confident

Who cares about being fashionable?

Unless you define yourself by wearing the highest fashion, it really doesn’t matter. It’s more important that you wear clothes that make you feel confident.

Got a leather jacket that makes you feel hot? Wear it.
Got new shoes that melt away your problems? Wear them.
Bought a new shirt you love, but your friends hate? Still, wear it.

Because all that matters is how you feel in your clothes; not how you look.

If the clothes that you’re wearing make you think you’re a million dollars, you’ll project that. You’ll have more confidence and self esteem to show for it.It’s better to feel amazing in a $5 t-shirt, than feel out of place in a $500 suit.

3. Be confident – Don’t look down

Have you ever been walking down the street, or in a mall, and made eye contact with someone – what’s the first thing you do? You probably look down, right? Or quickly look away from them.

Well, that’s not unusual. But it’s a sign of low confidence. It’s a submissive act to the person you’re looking at, and it says a lot about your personality. So this is a great place to spend some time making a change.

This is something I struggled with for a long time, too. But the moment you start focusing on not looking down, your confidence soars.

The best way to practice this comes from Timothy Ferris, and it’s really simple to do. I call it the Eye Gazing Challenge. Just follow these simple steps next time you’re in public:

Make eye contact with the people you pass
Hold their gaze for long enough to see (and remember) their eye color
Keep your facial expression neutral
Their gaze will usually break first – but if they don’t like it, just say, “Sorry! You look a lot like someone I went to high school with.”

In a short amount of time, you’ll find your eye contact skills – and confidence – get stronger and stronger.

4. Listen, Don’t wait your turn

When you talk you are only repeating what you know; but when you listen, you may learn something new. ~ Dalai Lama (Tweet this)

If you think of a conversation, you probably think of it as turn based:

I speak
You speak
I speak
You speak

But, in actual fact, there’s a lot of cutting across and not letting the other person finish. Because, in the modern age, you spend a lot of time waiting to speak.

When someone else is talking, you get impatient or decide that you have something better to say. It may sound harsh, but it’s true.

However, listening is associated with:

Honesty
Trustworthiness
Respect
Positivity

Traits you’re, in one way or another, trying to portray. So it’s important that you learn how to listen and switch your mind off from yourself and focus on their words.

A simple guide for this? Try and:

Make eye contact (if it’s uncomfortable, flick between the earlobe and the tip of the nose)
Focus on each word they say
Look at their body language, and how they speak

And forget what you’re going to say. That will come naturally when it’s your turn to speak.

5. Be yourself

This might be a little cliché. But, there’s a lot of merit to it.

Whilst the main goal here is to develop your personality in the way that you want – and away from what you’ve been taught to believe about yourself – it’s also important that you accept yourself.

There are going to be parts of you that don’t change. Because, they don’t need to. Little habits and nuances that come together and make you who you are.

You have to accept that they’re okay too.

Take the parts of yourself that you do like – your opinions, your views and your values – and cherish them. Take hold of them and make them your own. That’s when your really become the new you.

Wrapping it up…

It’s easy to overwhelm yourself by adopting too many different strategies. So, all the personality development tips and tricks here work together – without giving you too much to do.

The more you do, the harder it gets – that’s overwhelm. It’s better to focus on the smaller, more actionable pieces of the puzzle, which have a big impact.

Which personality development tips and tricks are you going to use?

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