YPIowa Conference: The Importance of Self-Development

Ashley Hoaglin

YPIowa Conference: The Importance of Self-Development

 

Most people are always taught how to do certain tasks in life. For example, when a person starts a new job, the trainer goes through and teaches the correct way to perform each task.  How many people focus on reminding a person to develop as a person, though? In my experience, I have been in many situations where I am told, “This is how to do this.” These situations never end up satisfying me completely. I do not normally feel as if I am performing at my best level in these situations. It is not just about the task, though. Personal development, as it was stressed to us last Friday, is an ongoing process. You do not reach full potential in a minute. There is always something personal each and everyone can be working on. 

Even though all of these points are things I have heard before, I had never really thought about the idea that personal development is something I need to work on weekly. I know there is always room for improvement, but the idea of setting time apart every week to work on it was foreign to me. The more I think about and contemplate the idea, the more it makes perfect sense. There are certain things I do each week that are for me. The reason I consider them “for me” is because they help me grow as a person. They do not help me do my homework better necessarily. They do not help me get my homework done quicker on the weekends, but they do bring me a certain level of satisfaction or contentment. Taking that extra time each week to focus on your own personal development allows for greater performance in many areas of your life and not just one. 
 
Beyond the basics of not taking personal development for granted, the YPIowa Conference taught me many other things.  We were able to go and see the beautiful city of Sioux City. I had the opportunity to learn about the city and what was being done to improve it as a whole. I was able to visit the Orpheum Theater, view its incredible interior, and hear what the city did to help restore the theater into one of the top 10 in the country. We heard about their plans to improve certain areas of the city, to add parks, to keep adding art, and to make it more interesting in general to draw more of a crowd. The city is doing an incredible amount of work to make the city a worthwhile place to come, visit, live, raise a family, and many other of the important aspects of having a life and a family. Beyond the city tour, I was able to hear another incredible speaker, Matt Mattson.
 
Matt spoke on ways to become a better networker, but I think his ideas applied more in life than just in networking. The idea of being a sincere person when you first meet someone can go a long way no matter who you are meeting. The talks about different types of conversation made me question what I talk about with other people when I meet them and people I already know. Conversations can leave a lasting impact on a person, or they can be another one in the sea of lost conversations.
 
All of the things I heard and learned about that day have left me thinking about things in my own life. The ideas all play an important part in my daily life. Each of these thoughts has left me thinking and planning for ways to truly apply them in areas in my life that need them. It was a reminder that no matter how busy I am, it is important for me to remember me. I greatly appreciated everything I learned or was reminded of at the YPIowa conference.

 

Oct 10, 2011 4:11 PM |Add a comment
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