components of self-development you can't ignore

The four different components of self-development you always need are physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

If you never focus on practical work or get anything done, then you’ll be behind the power curve. However, if you only focus on work without improving yourself, then you’ll similarly wind up in an undesirable position.

This is likely a concept you’re familiar with:

“I want to work out, but I need to make more money first.”

OR

“Business is going well, but I’m overweight and unhappy.”

There are some people whose current problems would all be solved by money, and there are conversely incredibly wealthy people who would pay anything to look and feel a certain way if only money could be the solution.

On the spiritual side of things, there are those who consistently check almost all the boxes; they’re physically and mentally fit, charismatic, financially successful, and have great relationships…but there is something internal that troubles them, and their soul is currently compromised by something in their past that they have yet to heal from.

We're all striving to improve, and I can't say what this looks like for you. Where you're lacking may be different from others' circumstances, and you have to be honest with yourself.

Let’s be clear: true life balance is a myth. Tom Bilyeu, who apparently sold Quest Nutrition for $1Billion emphasizes that “you can do anything you want, just not everything.” To be great at anything demands narrow focus, single mindedness, and some obsession. With this in mind, we can conceive that life comes in seasons and your area of focus will naturally shift depending on what’s happening. During each season, however, you still need to attend to multiple dimensions of yourself to avoid accumulating new problems in the future.

Becoming great or hyper successful at anything is pointless if it’s at the cost of invaluable attributes. Therefore, a baseline level of attention to all areas of your life is imperative for success and/or happiness.

To reiterate, these are the four areas that are worth your daily attention:

1) Physical (fitness and health)

2) Mental (cognition and perspective)

3) Emotional (strength and wellbeing)

4) Spiritual (your virtues and relationship with God)

You face consequences when one or more of these goes neglected for an extended period, and such problems can even arise in the short-term.

To help put this in perspective, you do not sleep solely to avoid the long-term health consequences of sleep deprivation, you also do it because tomorrow’s productivity and overall enjoyment will suffer. Similarly, we should never egregiously neglect parts of ourselves that are integral to growth and positive experiences in the short-term.

I am not and have never been as healthy as I could be, but I’ve recognized that, when I keep all four of these categories in mind, I’m happier, more successful, and the people around me benefit also.

While these elements may seem too vague or generalized, they are distinct and easier to pinpoint than you think.

1. For the physical: work out and try to eat well, but also do the little things like getting sunlight in the morning and not abusing caffeine. Take care of your body because it’s what houses your mind and moves you through the world.

2. For the mental: read, write, practice math problems, and nurture a good mindset (not just optimistically, but intelligently — perspective changes everything). Exercise your mind through advanced forms of information consumption (learn new languages, read as opposed to only listening to audio books, etc.), but be sure the information you’re consuming is healthy and useful.

3. For the emotional: improve emotional fitness through how you talk to yourself and interact with others. A good day at work and the gym is pointless if you snap at someone because you lose emotional control. This doesn’t mean mindless, numbing discipline — all emotions are useful, but they need to be harnessed and utilized in the right ways, at the right times.

4. For the spiritual: nurture your moral compass. Most bad things aren’t done in sudden, monumental wrongdoings, but rather through a slow progression of small poor choices that compound and desensitize.

For full transparency, I’m dissatisfied with where I personally sit in all these categories; I’m still working on each of them in conjunction with projects.

The biggest project is and will always be oneself, because self-mastery carries over to everything else and benefits others. Fortunately, external projects often help us become better people. As Alex Hormozi says, “the work works on you more than you work on it.” (Meaning that the person you become by doing the work is more profitable than any outcomes your work produces).

Just don’t let any external work ever cause you to completely lose sight of what’s important.