Can you ever be done with personal development

Can you ever be done with personal developmentCan you ever be done with personal developmentI often hear people saying stuff like, You dont need to read non-fiction books anymore They pretend they somehow graduated from the whole personal development movement.I stopped listening to podcasts, is another one of those statements. Every time I hear something like that, one word comes to mind Arrogance.When people say they are done with learning, what are they really saying? They are saying they are too good for the knowledge that other people are sharing.They are saying, I dont need this. I know it better. And thats exactly the type of person I dont relate to.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreFollowing trends vs focusing on the fundamentalsI used to work at the front office of a gym during my college days. During that time, I noticed two types of people who signed up. You had people w ho signed up to participate in the latest fitness trend. And there have been many of thoseRemember Tae Bo? What the hell was that about?Or how about the Atkins diet? And all the variations on spinning classes? There was the Zumba craze. The Yoga craze. I also remember when Crossfit became popular.These days, everybody is all about rock climbing. Yeah, yeah, I get it, you watched Free Solo and now you think you can do the same.There are always people who jump on those trends, simply because its popular. These folks followed the latest trends.They signed up, came to the gym for a few months, and you would never see them again.And then there were people who focused on the basics. These people didnt care about trends. Instead, they were driven by inner goals- which could be anything from losing weight to building strength.They cared aboutresults. They askedWhat are proven strategies?What has worked for decades? What are the fundamentals of a practice?Naturally, the latter group was very small. But the fundamentalists were the ones who stuck around. In fact, its been more than 10 years ago that I worked at that gym. But I mucksmuschenstill run into some of those people at my current gym.Even the most experienced meditators still meditateWhat Im trying to say is that when you decide to move into a certain direction in life, it becomes alifestyle. And people who are done with something never really started in the first place.They just hopped on a trend. Its exactly the same thing with personal development. So when you read another one of those nonsense pieces about how you should stop reading and start living, shrug it off.If youre in it for life, you keep repeating the basics.I just finished readingMindfulness In Plain Englishby Bhante Gunaratana, a Buddhist monk. One of the things I learned from that book is that even the most experienced meditators still repeat the basics. They meditate like a beginner. And they are never done meditating.Its a lifestyle. So why do most people quit something? Why did those people quit the gym? Why do some people quit readingpersonal development books? A lack of patience. Gunaratana said it bestPatience is the key. Patience. If you learn nothing else from meditation, you will learn patience. Patience is essential for any profound change.Ask yourselfWhy am I trying to improve myself?If we have the wrong intentions, like trying to impress others, or become rich, we quit if we dont get quick results.But if you have an inner drive, you will automatically have more patience. When you no longer do something for external reasons, you will adopt a beginners mind.And that is the key to lasting success. When you adopt this mindset, you dont even have the arrogance to say something like Im done with this practice. You also dont think you know it all after reading a few books.Repeat the fundamentalsEverything in life has fundamentals. From fitness to diet to philosophy to meditation.Focus on those fundamentals and repeat them often.And neverforgetthe fundamentals. That will keep you humble. But it will also make you better.The best basketball players in the world practice the free-throw thousands of times. Kobe Bryant famously made100,000 practice shotsduring the off-season. He didnt forget about the fundamentals. Tim Duncan, another basketball great, was even called The Big Fundamental because he built a career on basic basketball moves. Some people called him boring. I call iteffective.So no, you can never be done with mastering the basics. Nor can you be ever done with improving yourself. Its a process that ends whenlifeends.Until then, keep on improving yourself, my friend.This article originally appeared on Darius Foroux.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people