“Do you hear that? It’s the winds of change,” spoke the great Mike Wazowski in Monsters Inc. Those words have echoed through my mind — more than any Pixar movie probably should — over the past year.
Back when I graduated from high school and the Young Women program almost 4 years ago, I began contemplating changing the name and focus of this website. The Personal Progress Helper has been a journey I started as a 13-year-old, and it’s been a treat to continue doing it for almost 10 years (yikes!)
Now that I’m not a part of Young Women, I’ve begun spreading out into other territories, but I keep coming back to Personal Progress. When the Church announced that Personal Progress was being discontinued, I was surprised that I wasn’t sad or upset. Instead I was excited. The world is ready for a new approach to help young women grow, and the new personal development program is it.
But in the back of my mind has been this small but brooding anxiety over how to move forward with The Personal Progress Helper. I’ve tested out dozens of different names, and none of them have felt right. I’ve pored over the scriptures looking for phrases and ideas, and prayed for inspiration. Nothing stuck.
A week ago as I was praying, it’s like a light bulb went off in my head. Not only did I have a new website name, but I had a vision of all the things that would turn “Making Progress Personal” into the resource I want it to be.
This is a rebranding effort, but not because I’m trying to increase followers and revenue. This rebranding is focused entirely on how I can create content that’s relevant and genuinely useful. I’ve been stretching outside of Young Women materials for a little while, but stepping outside of “The Personal Progress Helper” opens even more doors for me to focus on Relief Society, Missionaries, and scripture study for individuals and families.
I’ll be designing more, writing more, creating more. A lot of my focus will be on Come, Follow Me and The Book of Mormon. I’ll continue to have ideas and resources for youth activities, but I probably know less than anybody else about what this new program looks like, so it’ll be a learning experience for sure!
I’m hopeful that by focusing on making progress personal, I’ll be able to make my own progress, and help youth, parents, leaders, and friends make progress as well!
As a fellow former Personal Progress blogger, this was such a relatable post to read! I’ve had to completely reinvent my blog as well, but it’s been such an opportunity and not a burden! it’s so funny how some complain at the changes, but as I’ve participated in my own change in flipping everything about my blog and business’ approach upside down, we want things to change and always get better and it’s been so cool to see that in the church! I’m so glad you got to think of a great new name. Congrats!
You are so sweet! I absolutely love the things you make! I’m so glad the church continues to grow and change, and allows us to do the same — both personally and with work. God doesn’t like us to stay in our comfort zone for long!