Developing a Better You

Tag: Lisa McMann (Page 1 of 2)

The Long Road of Personal Development

It was like finding buried treasure. 

Reorganizing a spare room recently led to the unearthing of old photos and memorabilia from key moments in our family’s life. My daughter Kennedy’s scribbled declaration that she wanted to be an actor at age seven. My son Kilian’s drawing of the Pokemon Charizard. The promo poster from my wife Lisa’s first book signing. The spooky story I wrote in 7th grade. 

It reminded me how far each of us had come. Kennedy had a successful four-year run as Nancy Drew on the CW network and just finished filming the pilot episode for The Good Lawyer, a proposed spin off of ABC’s The Good Doctor. Kilian is a professional illustrator and graphic designer with his own company. Lisa is a New York Times bestselling author of 29 books and counting. My own spooky middle grade debut series Monsterious hits the shelves May 9, 2023. 

Highlighting the successes we are enjoying in our careers can be deceiving. It can give the impression that we had our childhood dreams, and then we achieved them. What’s missing is the journey down long, winding roads filled with potholes, barricades, washed-out bridges, and steep inclines. Failure, exhaustion, crushing defeats, confusion, hard work, and self doubt were, and still are, familiar companions to each of us. 

True personal development is a similar journey. We have a dream, an image of who we want to become, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. We start down the path like so many before us, and quickly learn that real change does not come cheap. Focus, sweat, grit, and perseverance are the price. That’s why so many turn back, choosing the easier though ultimately unfulfilling road of abandoned dreams.

But a worthy goal is worth the struggle. All the effort, disappointment, fear, and frustration shrink to insignificance when we reach the mountaintop and bask in the sun of our realized dream.

My wife Lisa’s latest series
My son Kilian’s design firm

What are your personal development goals? Who would you love to become? Paint a compelling picture of what you want to achieve. Map out clear, practical steps. Invite a trusted companion to encourage you and hold you accountable. Take the first step. When you fall, get up and start again. If you do, you’ll know the fulfillment of real change and the joy of a life worth living as you take another giant leap toward Becoming Yourself.

And Now for Something Completely Different…

Let me be honest right up front.

For this post, I am not sharing a personal development lesson I’ve learned. Instead, I’m going to invite you to check out another aspect of my writing, one that is completely different than this blog.

In a recent post, I shared that a life-long dream came true when I got my first book deal for a spooky monster mystery series for young (and young at heart) readers called Monsterious. Now that I’m actually going to be published, I need an author website.

I am in no way a designer or a web-site builder. That said, I built my own author site and went live with it last week.

If you have a moment, it would mean the world to me if you’d visit my site mattmcmann.com and let me know what you think. You’ll find info about Monsterious, weird things I’ve done, my horrible first spooky story, and learn about my artistic family (daughter Kennedy McMann is an actor who plays Nancy Drew on the CW network show Nancy Drew, son Kilian McMann is a freelance illustrator / graphic designer, and wife Lisa McMann is New York Times and USA Today bestselling author).

As a final plug to tempt you, you can also read an original spooky short story available only on my site and subscribe to my author newsletter.

If that all sounds horribly boring to you, feel free to ignore! Check back next week for another personal development post. Either way, thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for joining me on the journey to Becoming Yourself.

Need More Joy and Motivation? Celebrate Your Milestones

It brought tears to my eyes.

I recently watched my wife Lisa McMann, a New York Times bestselling author of twenty-six books, appear at a virtual launch party to celebrate the publication of the fourteenth and final book in her fantasy series The Unwanteds. The event was a wonderful way for Lisa to say goodbye to the characters and world she created and had lived in for so long. It was fitting that the focus was not only on the work that she’d done, but on the positive impact her efforts have had on so many.

Both verbally and in the chat, fans shared what the series has meant to them over the last decade. Some spoke of being reluctant readers until falling in love with the books. Others shared how they deeply identified with the characters, whose success in fighting through their fictional problems gave the readers the courage to overcome real-life struggles. Some who were only kids when they started reading the series are now in college or married. Yet still they return, excited to read the final chapters of this beloved world that’s meant so much to them and brought them so much joy.

This experience reminded me of the importance of celebrating milestones. For those of us focused on personal development, it’s easy to always be striving toward the next goal, the next change, the next growth edge. But just as important is taking time to acknowledge and celebrate what we accomplish along the way. It gives us a helpful reminder of why we work so hard to become the best version of ourselves, and provides fresh motivation to climb the next hill.

What does that kind of celebration look like? It could be as grand as a trip to Paris or as simple as a few minutes of quiet reflection over a glass of wine. Different milestones call for different celebrations, based on how significant the accomplishment is to you and what you enjoy, regardless of what others may think is fitting.

For our 25th wedding anniversary, Lisa and I spent two weeks in Europe. It was a grand celebration for a grand milestone. When I completed my first novel, Lisa made us reservations at my favorite restaurant. When they asked if we were celebrating a special occasion, she told them I’d completed my book. When we arrived, I found printed across the top of the daily menu, “Congratulations Matt on your book!” I framed it in simple celebration of a personal milestone.

Have you reached any personal development milestones lately? Maybe you completed a thirty-day yoga class or jogged two miles or cut out soda. Maybe you finished a self-help book or completed a series of therapy sessions or repaired a broken relationship. Maybe you finished an online course or launched a new career or started a regular prayer time. Whatever the milestone, big or small, take time to celebrate your accomplishment. If you do, you’ll experience joy and find motivation for your journey, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.

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