Jim Rohn, one of my heroes, said many years ago, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” This relates to personal development. It means reading books that expand our minds, attending seminars that help us grow, and working with mentors and coaches who help us push us through our limitations. While Jim Rohn is no longer with us, his legacy lives on. I hope the same is true for us.

How many of us go through our days just getting by, doing what we have always done? How few of us even think of our legacy? We will all have one, it just may not be the one we wanted to leave, if we even thought about this at all. Well, we may have thought about it, but are not doing enough to make our legacy what we want it to be.

It is soon to be the end of another year, and many of us have probably not been working on ourselves harder than we have on our jobs and other priorities. But it isn’t too late to start. We have a quarter of the year, three months, to make significant progress. But where and how to start?

One option is to consider whether our habits are those of which we are proud. Our habits have everything to do with our behavior in general. It does no good to read books, attend seminars, and/or work with coaches or mentors if we fail to do the work on ourselves, to put what we read about and hear about into action.

One example. One of my habits relates to my sugar addiction. Yes, it is an addiction. I can call it whatever I want, but when I keep eating sugary foods even when I know I am meeting an emotional need, not a physical one, it is an addiction. Consequently, I have regained ten pounds of the fifty-seven pounds I lost. I am not happy or proud of this and plan to get back in control of this, and now. Yes, even though we are about to enter the time of the year when sugary foods abound.

Another of my habits is not walking consistently. Walking is my exercise of choice. Although I know my emotional health and physical health depend on me walking consistently, one of my habits is to get distracted by other “priorities” and fail to be consistent with those habits that I know are most important. This has something to do with my ten-pound weight gain.

Enough about my habits. How about yours? Do your habits help you live the life you are proudest of? If “yes,” good for you! Just keep up the good work. But be aware. Boredom can set in, other priorities can take hold, or you can just forget to stay consistent, and before you know it, you can develop unhealthy habits, those that do not serve you well.

Join me in the commitment to work harder on ourselves than we do on our jobs or anything else. We have three months left in 2023 to make significant progress. Then we can start off a new year happy with who we are.