Personal Development | Personal development plan

Everyone Agrees that moms are our best friends

2010-05-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is mother's day, and metro plus finds out if the new age mom is more a friend than a parent to her children. Surabhi agarwal an 18 year old says, in my case, a mother really is a girls best friend. Best friends are people who know somethings wrong even when for he millionth time you have said you are okay. they go out of thier way to make you smile and you can be yourself with them.

some kids think its cool to have parents who keep abreast with changing times and trends, making them more friends.
However, there are some kids who don't quite seem to think too much of a mother being more a friend than a parent. they want to hang out with us and our friends all the time. They don't always get our jokes and when weare too close to them, they become highly dependent on us. maybe a mother is a mother for a reason, says pavini shankar, a college student.

Psychologist shruthi ahluwalia gives a thumbs up to the change but asserts: it would be better if a mother is as much a friend as she is parent. one of the only ways to connect with your child or to be a part of his life is by being his friend. on the flip side, being too much of a friend could pose a certain danger. your child might end up taking your friendliness for granted and that's when he cant exactly be disciplined.

The Web Developers Field Guide to Outsourcing

2010-04-27T05:43:00.002-07:00

Whenever you hire someone or a group of people that are outside of your business
to handle business functions. This can include, auditing, payroll data entry
and work in Information Technology.

Outsourcing is essentially hiring a contract employee for your business. While
the concept can be used for businesses and projects of any size the work involved
is about the same. You will still need to manage your work and employees, answer
questions, make sure that work is completed on time and within budget. This
guide will explain how to do all of this. In the next section you will learn
about the benefits of outsourcing your development work and what this means
for your bottom line.

Not currently spending anything on web development? Doing it all yourself?
Hi, my name is Peter Ferrigan and this was me 3 years ago. I used to do the
same thing until I realized that my job was to smoothly run successful websites
and build new online ventures. You can look at the passion for new business
or the pure number value. Either way there are larger things that you could
be accomplishing with your time. How much is one hour of your time worth? If
you are currently working for someone else, the number is easy to place. If
you are self employed, it gets a bit harder.

Starting out as a programmer, when my work load increased and I was self-employed
I naturally assumed that I would continue doing what I was best at, programming.
The change from programmer to Project Manager happened when I started to put
a number value on my time. One hour of solid coding, how much could I charge
for this? As the work increased and my life got busier things started being
measured in smaller amounts of time. Instead of basing my pay on the entire
project, I began to look at how many hours it would take to complete and then
my average pay per hour.

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Developer Fantasy Land

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Let's say you take a small job that will take you an hour to complete.
For this work, your client, or boss pays you $40. So your wage per hour is $40.
This is of course assuming that you have an unlimited amount of clients or a
rock solid job, which is why these figures are used as just an example. So you
are currently making $40 an hour at a rock solid job or self employed with a
waiting list of wealthy clients. Life is good. You set $40 per hour as the cost
for 60 minutes of your time.

Change your perspective just a little bit and you can see that there is lost
opportunity. I read once that when investing in real estate you should avoid
all contact with a hammer, paint and nails. Why? Your job should be a professional
check writer, because time spent hammering or painting is time lost doing something
more profitable. Actions such as looking for another house to purchase.

Regardless of your current title, I am sure you know there are larger opportunities
in your field. Most of the time these opportunities are lost because you are
too busy focused on mundane details rather then the bigger picture of what you
could be achieving. Included below is an example of how outsourcing can benefit
you.

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Outsourcing for Increased Profit and Productivity

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Back to developer fantasy land, you're making $40 an hour. What if you
could find someone to do the same work for $5 an hour? What if they were available
24/7 and could work while you were asleep? How much would your time be worth
then?

If you could find someone to do the same work for $5 and you were charging
$40. You would make $35 an hour right? That's the common assumption for
the starting Project Manager (your new title).

How much time would it take you to find the programmer, explain the project
and check the work. Usually from my experience (for a one hour job) only about
10 minutes. So what is your total pay? $35 for ten minutes of work. We are still
in fantasy land, so after you have hired someone for $5 to complete your $40
job you go to the next client on your list.

Another $40 project appears, you spend $5 and 10 minutes. This keeps going
on 6 times. So in one hour you have made $210 ($35 X 6) as opposed to your previous
$40 an hour.

You have just given yourself a 525% percent raise.

One thing to remember is that we are in outsourcing fantasy land where each
programmer does exactly the right work; it is always completed on time and to
your exact specifications. This of course does not happen all of the time. You
will have some programmers cancel, others not respond and some might complete
the work incorrectly. If you leave 20 min out of each hour to review and handle
these issues, you are still making $140 / hour, 350% raise.

The best part is that outsourcing not only allows you to be more productive
and profitable while you work, it also provides these benefits in the time your
off work.

Let's say you work just 8 hours a day, and no more (in fantasy land).
This means that you are unproductive (on work issues) for 16 hours of every
day. These 16 hours can start making you money. Let's take a look at the
numbers:

Stated before the average project that takes only 1 hour of your time can be
done for $5 and 10 minutes leaving 20 minutes of every hour for exceptions.
As you will be planning ahead for the next 16 hours this will take some additional
time to prepare the work. Let's give each project an additional 5 minutes
to setup. This means each project takes 20 minutes: 10 to find explain and check
work. 5 to plan ahead and 5 to cover mistakes. These 20 minutes are split between
when you leave work and arrive the next day. We are going to outsource just
6 projects, which means this will take just one hour before you leave work and
one hour when you arrive in the morning the next day.

Taking a wage of $35 per project this translates into $210 for 6 projects outsourced
while you sleep. After this we need to deduct the $80 of time spent (2 hours)
preparing the work and your total profit each night is $130. Over a year (without
holidays) this is a $30,000 raise.

Of course the above example is just an example. I wish it were as easy as breaking
down projects into 15 minute segments, and each segment only took 15 minutes.
Also it's important to note that no one is a machine. Unfortunately as
your work increases, so does the number of people you need to manage. Without
a reliable management structure in place this would also increase the number
of delays and chance of error. Then there is the waiting list of wealthy clients,
which for most developers, doesn't exist.

So if you could be making $210 an hour during the day, and right now you are
only making $40, not outsourcing is actually costing you $170 an hour of lost
potential.

---------------------------

Outsource Today's Work

---------------------------

The best way to start is to join a freelancer marketplace such as ContractList.com.
These websites are broken into two sections; one for Project Managers (that's
you) and the other for Freelancers; this includes people who are skilled in
programming, design, writing and other talents.

As a Project Manager on ContractList.com outsourcing your development work
is broken into four steps: Signup, Post Your Work, Select a Freelancer, Payment
and Feedback. Below you find a description of each step followed by the relevant
link to complete this action.

Signup :: The first thing you will need to do is to signup at ContractList.com
as Project Manager. This allows you to post projects, accept freelancers and
make payments online.

After filling out the short signup page, a letter will be sent to the email
address that you submitted. This is done to confirm that your address is valid
and you are able to receive important announcements pertaining to your projects.
[http://www.contractlist.com/wm.php?a=signup]

Post Your Work :: After signup, gather the project details together and login
into your account. After login you will be taken to the Account Management page.
Here you can see the information relevant to your account. To post a project,
click the link 'Create Project' at the top of the page. You will
need to fill in the Title, Project Type and description of the work that you
would like to be completed. Later in the guide I will explain how setting the
right budget lowers your cost, and which details to include ensuring you get
the most qualified bids. [http://www.contractlist.com/wm.php?a=create]

Select a Freelancer :: ContractList.com is setup in a way that allows Freelancers
to openly compete for your business. This known as a reverse auction, where
competition actually lowers the bids instead of increasing them. Each Freelancer
will be able to submit a bid (the cost for the posted work to be completed)
and a time frame for the delivery of completed work. As there are hundreds of
Freelancers on ContractList.com your project will receive multiple bids from
people around the world eager to complete this work for you. Go through each
Freelancer's bid and select the person that you feel is best suited for
the work.

Payment and Feedback :: After the project is complete you will then need to
log into your account to submit payment and feedback about the Freelancer that
you worked with. ContractList.com creates online accounts for both Project Managers
and Freelancers, which are used for transferring funds related to work completed.
As a Project Manager there are several ways in which you can add money to your
account: Checks, Money Orders, Bank Transfers, PayPal.com, Authorize.net, 2checkout.com,
eGold.com, StormPay.com, YowCow.com are all supported. Once the funds are placed
in your account, you will then need to transfer funds to the Freelancer you
worked with. These channels are also used for Freelancers withdrawing funds
so you don't have to worry about how to send payment to a Freelancer in
a different country.

Leaving feedback is a valuable way for you to record your experience with this
particular person. When doing so, it is important for you to include comments
about their skills, communication and working in the time deadline. This information
is then used for other Project Managers considering them for work.

[http://www.contractlist.com/index.php?a=account]

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Completing Projects Faster, Accurately and Cheaper

----------------------------------------------------------

In this section of the guide you will find practical things that you can do
to ensure that you project gets started smoothly, progresses quickly and finishes
on time.

Detailed Description :: Include a detailed description of the work needed.
Each word you add to your description saves you money. By spelling out the work
required for the project you do not leave this up to the freelancer to figure
out. A clear concise description will save you money on each project.

Place your website address in the description. It always helps, and saves money
to give a live example of the website you are referring to. If you are not comfortable
placing your website, place one that is similar. Or if you do not have a website
created, give a detailed description of the work that you would like done and
give a few example websites, highlighting the features you would like to include.

Use Escrow :: ContractList.com employs an escrow system which allows you to
place funds in a neutral account and release them once the project is complete.
It is recommended that you use this system for each transaction, the reason
being is that it gives each person 50% control over the money. Only you can
complete the payment into the freelancers account and only the other Freelancer
can release the funds back to you. Disagreements do occur and the best way that
we can help you as a Project Manager is if the funds are placed in escrow. A
good policy is to make your payment into escrow for the freelancer when you
select his/her bid. This shows that you do have the money and it is committed
to the project. Once the work is complete you simply complete the transfer into
their account.

Post a Budget :: The worst mistake you can make is not included a budget at
all. This outright says to people bidding on your project that you are clueless
about the work required and money is no object in the completion of this work.

Post the Right Budget :: I half-jokingly suggest to anyone that brings this
up that they should place a max budget of $10 for each project. By placing a
$10 maximum you eliminate the idea that the Freelancer will be able to over
charge you for this work. Instead you place them in the state of mind of "How
can I win this contract for the least amount possible?" Obviously the
$10 trick will not work for every project however if you are not sure how much
your work will cost then put a $10 maximum.

Avoid Attachments :: Including an attachment in your project description, i.e.
"please see the included file for complete details". I have seen
it time and again. Projects with attachments that are included in the description receive less bids and higher estimates. The reason is that there is an automatic
assumption that if the description is to complex to be laid out in plain text,
then the work involved must be equally as complicated.

Delay the NDA :: Personally I feel that NDAs are over used. If you feel that
your project and work absolutely requires this level of secrecy then include
this requirement down the road after you found a few good candidates for completing
your work. By saying in your description that you require an NDA to be signed
by all freelancers scares off a majority of potential candidates. A solution
would be to put in the general description of the work you need done. Such as
the type of website you would like to create or the specific steps involved.
Once you have a list of qualified freelancers talk to them each individually
about signing your NDA.

Don't Modify the Posted Description :: Some people post a project and
then the next day make a change to the description. After answering some questions
and thinking about the work a little more, then make another change and another.
This leads to inaccurate bids, uninterested freelancers and a very bad start
to your work.

The best thing to do is before you place a project, write down every thing
that about the work that you can think of. Include what you would like to end
up with, what you have now, examples of similar work and your estimate of the
work required. If you have started a project and need to make a change, the
best thing to do is to rewrite a new project description and post it again.
On ContractList.com there is no charge for posting projects and this simple
action can save you a lot of time and stress.

Once the new project is posted, go back to the old one and invite each programmer
to bid on your new project. This will give you clear and accurate bids to ensure
that you pay exactly what the work requires.

Open Communication :: Issues in development can start out small and grow quickly
you do not catch them early enough. For this reason it is crucial to keep open
communication with all of the people you are working with. One idea is to create
series of events according to the project deadline. Short deadline projects
are relatively easy to manage.

For projects extending over 5 days, I have found it helpful to work out a list
steps to measure progress. These include the dates for the first mockup, when
revisions will be completed and the final deadline. Having a series of smaller
deadlines breaks down a large project into smaller, easier to manage pieces.
Having and sticking to your smaller deadlines consistently reminds the Freelancer
that completing the work on time is very important to you.

Use MSN :: By far the most popular communication tool when doing business online.
MSN Messenger allows you to instantly connect with the people you are working
with to hammer out details and check on progress. After you have accepted a
freelancer to work on your project, immediately send him your MSN address and
ask the following questions:

Do you have any additional questions about the requirements?

What do you need from me to get started?

How much longer are you available to work today?

Consistently check in and make sure you are available to answer questions. Once
in a while ask "How is your work coming?" "When will a mockup
be available?" "Do you have the demo ready?"

-----------------

Additional Help

-----------------

You now have all of the tools that you need to get started. Each step has been
covered from posting your project to leaving feedback. We have also gone over
some advanced topics that will help ensure your work is completed on time and
to your satisfaction. You are ready to start outsourcing today.

If you have any questions about how to post your project, or the best way to
word your description I would like to help you get started. Please send me an
email via the Contact Form on ContractList.com and I am happy to review your
project and help you get started.

Also if you are not sure how much you should expect to pay, just send me an
email and I will get back to you shortly.
[http://www.contractlist.com/index.php?a=contactus]

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope that you have found this guide
helpful and informative.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Peter Ferrigan

ContractList.com

Admin@ContractList.com

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Author Information
---------------------

Peter Ferrigan is the Administrator of the popular Freelance Marketplace Contractlist.com [http://www.ContractList.com]. He can be reached with questions or concerns by sending an email to Admin@ContractList.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Ferrigan

Using E-Mail Newsletters as a Business Development Platform

2010-04-27T05:43:00.001-07:00

When it comes to e-commerce, spreading your reach is extremely important. E-mail newsletters can be an effective method for expanding your business development platform.

E-Mail Newsletters

Selling and purchasing, over the Internet is a common practice nowadays. Generally successful enterprises focus on marketing strategies and planning. Web sites are significant way to enact these marketing policies. Web sites are a very effective way of promoting your products and/or services. People visiting sites will sometimes supply contact information like their name and email address as they may be interested in buying your product or they may have some questions about the services. They may also be interested in getting newsletters from you for service updates, special promotions or your latest product news.

Email newsletters are a powerful marketing tool. It is one of the most recent and advanced techniques of marketing. It not only provides a platform for your business development but also gives a new tactic to track your customers and leads. An email newsletter is a booming key to getting online customers. To gain customers' confidence is a great achievement. E-mail newsletters build credibility by showing authority on the topics of your business fields. Email newsletters also act as list management tools for web site owners.

People routinely get a lot of newsletters. They don't have enough time to read them all entirely. People generally like letters if the letter is easy to read or skim. Using short sentences, bullet points and outline formats all are inviting to readers in a rush. Nowadays users are quite demanding in terms of operation of subscription and un-subscription functions so another thing that matters is subscription process. The newsletter should also feature usability and functionality such that subscribers do not roam uselessly in web pages, trying to signup, find information or unsubscribe. This may result in loosing your valuable customers by annoying them.

As many as 70% of internet users in the USA makes a purchase online which is in some part a result of e-mail marketing. This means email newsletters play a major role in operating an online business. Currently many software solutions are available on the market and they may offer a variety of features. Before choosing any of them do some research. Learn what types of ads in newsletters are accepted and rejected by people and also by search engines. Sometimes you may be displaying banners or ads that may be ignored or unnoticed by customers. Bear in mind that reaching your target audience is not an easy job and your primary consideration is that you target those people that are willing to buy your products or services. Also pay attention to the value of repeated delivery. Repetition in email newsletters will result in name recognition for your company.

E-mail newsletters are a cost effective marketing tool but it is entirely dependent upon the content and users. Your main concern is the customer and without them no business can arise. A little care must be taken while getting users information. You should not attempt to force your users to supply personal information if he or she doesn't want to reveal it. If you get personal information then you should not expose his/her identity publicly. A privacy policy should be posted on any web site collecting user data. Information stored on web servers should not be openly accessible.

Email newsletters will provide a very proficient platform for any business development if it is implemented carefully with tact, planning and a firm approach.

Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company offering automated web site systems - http://www.businesscreatorpro.com - create web databases, e-commerce sites, business lead management systems and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Halstatt_Pires

Personal Development Series - Introduction

2010-04-27T05:42:00.002-07:00

At the beginning of every year, we all make 'New Year resolutions.' Over time, I've only met a handful of people who are pleased with their results at the end of the year. So we gear up for the next year determined to succeed this time, only to find, we have failed again. Somewhere along the way, we give up on setting goals or New Year resolutions.

Why are goals so hard to achieve at time? I would say goals are hard because we have to change something to achieve them. I've never met a person who lives in anticipation for the next change in their life. We hope the future doesn't cause us grief. Eventually, the change comes into our life even if it's the weather.

This is my favorite quote and I keep it on my desk by Sir Winston Churchill. He said, "To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often." I found this quote at the beginning of my career and put it in a prominent place on my desk. For some reason, I only read it when I'm faced with a decision. Every time, I sigh and tell myself to make a change and it's okay. The quote gives me the courage to make the change and I'm usually pleased with the results.

If we want to be successful at changing something in our lives, you need to understand it is a process and not just a decision. There is more to change then just deciding to do it. We innocently miss steps that cause us to fail. Over the course of this series, I plan on hitting on those steps on my website.

If you read my life story, "Over the Rainbow" on my website, you know my parents and siblings were taken away from me at the age of four. I was alone and didn't know from day to day what was going to happen to me. This was a huge change that I wasn't planning on in my life. Moments like this happen to all of us and leave us with scars. There are steps we need to follow to erase the scars or prevent them from appearing.

You can have everything taken away from you in this life and come back stronger, if you follow some simple rules. I plan on talking about the steps in the blog 'Friends.' Please feel free to ask questions and offer suggestions of what you want to talk about within the blog or if you want to talk to me personally. I'm open to answering something personal with where I found information that might help you or how I approached the same problem.

It doesn't matter what happens in your life. What matters is how you respond to your life. Remember, this is your life so own it because no one can duplicate your life. Embrace your life and build off of its challenges instead of telling yourself you can't because of what happened to me. Come and join us!

In my Personal Development Series called Friends, I'll be sharing regularly the principles of what I learned how to overcome:

o Constants Fears

o Stress

o Unhappiness

o Abandonment - Finding Yourself Alone in Life

o Self Imposing Limits

o Change Core Beliefs

o Depression

o Fatigue

o Anxiety

o Anger

o Grief

o Guilt

o Negative Emotions

o Anxiety over Something that Might Happen in the Future

o Phobic Responses

o Inner Conflicts

o Learned how to stretch your mind. You have to conceive before you can achieve

o Trauma

o Self-Worth

You can find my Personal Development Series on my website, LareneEllis.com in my blog link. If you subscribe to my website, you'll be notified by email of me posting a new article, regarding the Personal Development Series.

I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the near future.

LaRene Ellis is a young adult author who has written a factious story that takes place in another galaxy. In the middle of a gripping story line of espionage, mystery, and battles to entertain. The reader will find the secret of overcoming their life. You can find everything at http://www.LareneEllis.com. Come and join us!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=LaRene_Ellis

How to Sell Personal Development Products Online - A Reiki Case Study

2010-04-27T05:42:00.001-07:00

There are two ways to sell personal development products online you can either sell affiliate products (suitable for beginners) or you can target a specific niche market and develop your own product for that market.In this article I will set out my way of targeting a niche market and then selling relevant products to them.

Lets begin by defining the market. As I am in the UK I have chosen a market which is available via timezone in the USA on the east coast. I also define my target market as Reiki masters and Reiki Practitioners who have clients online (or potential clients) who are willing to pay a fee for distant healing.

The timezone dictates several things the most important of which is the timing of my emails. If I am assuming that this client group has a day job and is developing a part time business online and offline then the timing of emails has to be appropriate to catch people checking their personal email accounts after their day job.

This equates to 8pm GMT as there is a 5 hour time difference to account for. If emails are sent after 8pm GMT then more of this target group are likely to be home checking personal email accounts. This timing also ties in with my own day job which finishes at 7.30pm GMT.

The specific target audience can be reached via Google and YouTube search so I have targeted specific keywords appropriate for this group.

The next step is to become an expert in my chosen area of "online Marketing For Reiki masters".
This can be achieved by posting informative videos on a YouTube channel and inviting your target audience to signup for a newsletter or additional training videos.

The software I use to create videos is Capturewiz. It is inexpensive and can be obtained online at download.com

Once you are comfortable making short "Tips" videos then you can add affiliate links in the text box beside the video on YouTube and begin promotion via traffic exchanges or AdWords.

At each stage you will gain additional skills and experience which feeds into the whole system.

You can read more of my articles at http://www.hubpages.com/_eza/profile/DennisBarker

If you enjoyed this article visit http://www.videotipsmarketing.com for more short tips and recommendations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dennis_Barker

HOME::Home-Based-Business/Network-Marketing

2008-08-23T03:41:00.003-07:00

Personal development is a important part of life for anyone wanting to achieve anything which they have not achieved before. Personal development helps us become the person necessary to achieve the results you desire in your Multi Level Marketing home biz. In Multi Level Marketing personal development becomes even more important to achieve massive success.

Points I cover in this article:

* Personal development defined

* The role of personal development in a Network Marketing Company

* Achieve more with the power of personal development

::: What is personal development? :::

Personal Development is an attitude; it means you're always seeking new strategies and ideas for improvement. You must remember personal development is a never ending process of learning. The more knowledge we gather along the way, the better equipped we are to make wise decisions and choices on our journey through life. Personal development traditionally covers a broad set of areas to improve such as finances, relationships, health, etc Personal development is about improving yourself mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically to be the best you can be.

Personal development is so often misunderstood these days. Personal development is about becoming a coach and a leader of yourself primarily then others and using your talents, passions, knowledge and skills to make a lasting and positive impression in the world through your contribution and by helping others. Personal development is an investment into improving yourself and can be the best investment you can make.

Invest in your mind, and let your mind fill your wallet!

Personal development is more than that though. Personal development is a way of life. Personal development is about stepping out of that box, and out of the loop of living life, assessing and enhancing ones own ability and empowering ourselves and then managing life from that new perspective.

The greatest thing about personal development is there aren't a right way and a wrong way to go about it. The core message of personal development is to improve ourselves and ultimately grow into a better person with new skills. At the core of personal development is self-awareness. Like anything worth having in life, personal development is not always easy. Whether it is through learning or through new skill development, personal development is a never ending process.

::: The role of personal development in Multi Level Marketing :::

Personal development is important for you to achieve success in Multi Level Marketing. Like most people who enter Multi Level Marketing they hope that one day the efforts they put into their Multi Level Marketing home biz will pay off and make them financially free.

If we have not achieved a goal we have set already now or in the past, then it requires us to grow. If you have never made a million dollars in the past with your Multi Level Marketing home biz, then you must achieve some major growth before you can attain the million dollars. Personal development helps us improve ourselves and at the same time improve our Multi Level Marketing team. When we do this, we not just help ourselves, but make a major impact on the other people around us.

::: How you can achieve more by utilizing the power of personal development :::

Personal development is not something that can be rushed. Personal development is not a technique or tool to make a quick fix. Personal development is the attitude you have that you are constantly improving your life. Personal development is driven by your level of improving yourself. Personal development is a lifelong pursuit because life is a work in progress!

For example if you find that you are unorganized, then the power of personal development and constant learning will enable you to be a totally new person when you start to be organized.

A important part of this whole process is to take a long hard look at yourself and see where you could do with improving, and then work on it. Your Multi Level Marketing home biz will flourish as you help yourself and others.

Go for it,

Kozan Huseyin ~ Network Marketing Company Expert, Internet Marketer, Life Coach, Author.

Join Success University ~ Try for 14 days FREE and Learn and Earn principles which make millionaires, including YOU!
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kozan_Huseyin

5 Reasons Why Having A Personal Development Plan Is Essential For Your Internet MLM Business

2008-08-23T03:41:00.002-07:00

Here are 5 reasons why a personal development plan is absolutely necessary to bring your Internet MLM business to the next level.

Reason #1

The Internet is a super efficient medium for communication, business, work, gaming, play and many other applications that man can think of.

However, the Internet is still just a medium. It is the people that are behind the computer screens that we are working with. Thus, Internet MLM is still a people's business and therefore it is essential to understand more about human psychology. That is where personal development can help an Internet network marketer.

Reason #2

As an Internet network marketer, you need to explain your home business opportunity to would be prospects effectively as well as know how to address concerns, follow up, follow through and so on.

Thus, it is essential to improve your communication and people skills through personal development in order to be a more effective communicator and marketer.

Reason #3

To achieving your fullest potential, you need personal development on a continuous basis.

That is because in this modern world, you are subject to all sorts of influence and conditioning every day. Thus, it is important to consciously put into place a personal development plan to help you succeed.

Reason #4

With a personal development plan, you would grow and achieve on a consistent basis, rather than on a haphazard basis.

You would be able to compound your knowledge that would take you to a higher level just as saving a small amount of money with compound interest would reap exponential interests after some time.

Reason #5

It is still easier to succeed in Internet MLM by working in a team that will provide the momentum, excitement, mutual encouragement, accountability to keep us going every day in our success journey.

As such, it is crucial to learn and develop many skills focusing on your personal development such as leadership and teamwork to make things happen.

Now that we established that it is absolutely important to have a personal development plan in place, you might want to find out more about personal development by accessing the resources below.

Roger Loh is an Internet MLM Expert "Learn his secret of how he went from an unknown Singaporean to become the Success University DIRECTOR in 17 days and rake in tons of cash in just his 1st month"

==> http://www.internetmlmsecret.com

==> 5 Reasons Why Having A Personal Development Plan Is Essential For Your Internet MLM Business

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Loh

Thinking About Personal Development

2008-08-23T03:41:00.001-07:00

Personal development is a big hit in the Internet. If you just type "personal development" in the search bar of Google, you will get 13,000,000 results! That's an astounding number!

Apparently, a lot of people nowadays are putting up websites dealing with personal development. Some of these sites are chronicles of their own journey. Others are considered as gurus and coaches.

But in simple terms, what is personal development, really?

Personal development is about you. When we talk about personal development, we talk about your growth, your well-being, your physical and mental health and your over-all state of being. Our lifespan is very short. You might say that "let's eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." No! That should not be our attitude in life. Since we have limited time, we need to maximize our potential.

Personal development is about your growth as a person. You hold tremendous potential. You can learn anything at all if you put your mind to it. Age is not a determining factor in learning. Perseverance is! So when you grow as a person, you become better and in the end you can achieve what you want in life.

Personal development is about pursuing happiness and maximizing joy! You might have been told that the pursuit of happiness is evil. By no means! Happiness, in itself is good. What makes the pursuit of happiness evil is the source of our happiness. If we delight in evil, then the pursuit of that kind of happiness is evil. With personal development, you can pursue happiness and maximize joy in your life.

Mighty is a blogger and freelance writer who is always on the lookout for tips on personal development. For more articles on personal development, what to do at the crossroads and help in your life journey, visit Mighty's blog at http://bemightynow.penstalker.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_Rasing

The Secret to Effective Email Time Management

2008-03-13T00:52:00.002-07:00

Take a look in your email inbox- how many messages do you have in there? A few hundred? A few thousand? Believe it or not, there are actually people who have accumulated thousands of emails in their inbox. If this is you, it's probably a good time to take a look at how you are processing the incoming emails, and see if you can improve the time spent on reading and responding to email actions.

Here are four steps you can start taking TODAY, that will make a huge difference in the amount of time you spend on email related tasks. Effective email time management starts right now!

Schedule Email Time

How many times a day are you interrupted by the "ding" that notifies you when an email has arrived in your inbox? Also think about the number of total interruptions you get each day- from the telephone, people stopping at your desk or office, instant messaging, etc. Scheduling an hour per day to work through the information received in your inbox (moving files to your reference folders, or carrying out the actions required of action emails) can make a huge difference in the amount you accomplish. Depending on the nature of your work, you may need to check your email more frequently for more pressing emails requiring actions right away, but having at least one hour per day, specifically scheduled to deal with what's in the email inbox and to not allow phone calls or other interruptions, will make a huge difference.

If possible, don't leave your email program running throughout the day while you're working on something else. Every time you check to see what email is coming in, you lose focus on what you're working on and it takes time to get it back. If you must check it frequently for urgent messages, just open it when you are in between projects, or waiting for something to boot up, etc.

Classification

All email can be classified as either "reference" or "action" email. Statistics show us that learning how to do this can save you up to 50 minutes per day on filing and finding information. That's almost 7 hours a week, and well worth the time it will take you to learn this technique!

Reference Email: This is material that you receive in your email that you do not have to do a specific task with; but you want to keep it so you can refer to it at a later date. You need to store these in email folders, in the My Documents area of your computer, or in paper form within file cabinets.

Action Email: This is data that you use to actually complete an action. You need what is in the email to carry out the action. This information is typically saved on a to-do list, a calendar, or in a project management system.

One at a Time

It can be extremely difficult to resist the temptation to open emails in a random order- based on what looks most interesting to you as you open your inbox up! Systematically working through the emails one at a time, starting from the top, is a much better approach and will increase productivity and decrease time spent on email related tasks. Use your email program to arrange emails by date, so that the oldest or most recent emails are at the top of the list.

If you've got a backlog of emails in your inbox to work through, you will want to schedule blocks of time to get through them- organizing reference information and responding to actions. Eventually, you will be able to clear out your inbox of the older information and simply work on a daily list of emails, one at a time.

The "4 D's of Decision Making"

Are you constantly opening and reading the same email messages over and over- and marking them "as new" again to refer back to later because you just aren't sure what to do with it at this time? The reference/action classification will help you with that; as will the 4 D's of Decision Making model.

Handling email once is more efficient, and will increase your productivity. Making a decision the first time you open your email is paramount to effective time management. You have four choices to select from using this model of decision making, including:

1. Deleting
2. Doing
3. Delegating
4. Deferring

Delete: Probably half of the email you get, if not more, can just be deleted immediately. Do that instead of saving it "for later" or "for when I have time" and you'll eliminate a ton of unnecessary work later on.

Doing: If the action required in an email will take you two minutes or less, don't even think about filing it or saving it to do for later. That's what your one hour time block is for- just get it done and feel good about the accomplishment. For reference emails, get it filed where it belongs and then you can delete the email from the inbox. Probably about a third of your email can actually be "done" in less than 2 minutes.

Delegating: For emails that can't be deleted, and you can't get it done in about two minutes, what about delegating it to someone else to do? If you can delegate it, compose a quick email in under two minutes to send it to someone else to do!

Deferring: For a select few emails that just can't be deleted, and can only be done BY YOU, and it will take you longer than two minutes to get it done, you will defer them until sometime after your dedicated hour of email processing time. This is important- if you launch into doing tasks that take longer than two minutes or so during your email time, you've neglected all of the other emails in your inbox. So you defer the longer action emails for a scheduled work time by scheduling it on your to do list or calendar, or scheduling a meeting, etc.

If you do the above on a daily basis, you can really improve your time management efficiency for dealing with your emails. On average, it's been found that people can typically process about 100 emails in an hour using the 4 D's decision making model and the above tips for handling emails. Statistically, 50% of your email can be deleted immediately, 30% of email can be delegated or completed by yourself in about two minutes, and 20% of email can be deferred until a later, scheduled work time.

If you currently have a backlog of emails, just set aside larger chunks of time to start getting through the old messages. Start each day with an hour of email time, working through your newest received emails, and then schedule additional time to go through the old emails. Before you know it, you will be working with daily messages only- and enjoying your newfound email productivity!

Don't Let The Internet Throw You Off Your Time Management Plan!

2008-03-13T00:52:00.001-07:00

The Internet is taking over everyone's normal way of living. When we consider time management, we must also consider the World Wide Web.

In times passed when we thought of managing time we considered family, friends, work and ourselves. We now have to add to our list, emails, websites, advertising, search engine marketing, article marketing and other key factors that are included in businesses today especially if we have an internet business.

At one time we went to work for eight hours and returned home. Now, more often than not, our office is a part of our homes and we might not know from day to day exactly what our workload will include.

Technology and the internet are supposed to make our lives easier. I sometimes wonder about that. It has actually made my life busier and sometimes even more difficult. When the computer freezes and decides not to operate a person can spend hours just fixing whatever occurred. When all things were on paper, the paper was always available, unless of course, I misfiled it! Computer breakdowns and stalls can take a real chunk out of the time I had planned to spend another way that workday.

Time management is critical for us all. Without a time management plan we can develop headaches, high blood pressure and other illnesses from the stress of never having enough time to do what needs to be done. When we manage our time effectively we seem to function well in society and at home.

The massive amount of data that passes us each day via the Internet has changed the entire outlook of time management in the last few decades. We often spend a lot of time just sorting through the pile of emails to find out which ones matter the most. This is not good!

Time management means to spend your time wisely. Most email advertisements are slicks that draw us into a world of fantasy and provide us with links to never, never lands that seem to never end. One can get carried away needlessly on "nonsense." It is wise to try and discipline ourselves to stay on track with a positive time management plan for each day. I suppose we just have to keep our fingers crossed that the computer does not crash at any given point in our day.

Surfing the web is another source that can take our time and allow us to misuse it. With so many colorful and interesting headlines to confront us or a sudden pop-up that distracts us from our original goal a person can waste several hours that could have been spent in a much wiser manner. Self discipline today with a time management plan is much more important than ever before. Staying on the track we originally planned to stay on is often very difficult to do because of the internet's enticing ways of guiding us elsewhere.

To obtain an efficient time management plan today you need to avoid the areas on the internet that consumes your time such as the "chat rooms." I suppose these can be compared to the "coffee break rooms." They should be avoided while you are trying to accomplish the work goals you set for yourself in any given day.

So that in conclusion, it is a little more difficult to stay focused and mange our time wisely when most of our work involves sitting at the keyboard in front of the computer that is hooked up to the internet as well. Be careful, and don't let the internet sway you into 100 other plus more topics. Stick to your time management plan if you are ever going to accomplish your work goals in life, you will need a solid time management plan that you stick to. I am trying very hard to put one in place for myself.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

Personal Development In The Work Environment

2008-02-26T04:53:00.001-08:00

When we are at work and we become familiar with our job role, it is very easy to become complacent and stuck in a rut as we do the same job every day. But in the long term this can spell disaster for us.

The more versatile a worker we can become, the more protected we are, as we can more easily move between job roles as and when required. Acquiring a much wider knowledge base is also useful in giving us a greater understanding of the job we are currently doing.

Personal development in the workplace is also essential if we are to remain interested and passionate about the work we do. If we continue to do the same job day in, day out, we become less likely to do it well.

Think about the interests you have in your job, and ask yourself some questions to determine how you could invest in your own personal development:

# What brought you to the job in the first place?

# What skills do you have that you enjoy making use of?

# Could you further these skills in any way?

# Are there any training courses you could attend that would open the way for promotion further down the line?

# Is there anything you don't like doing any more that you would stop doing if you could?

The answers to these questions will help you to decide which areas of your working life are ripe for development. Although the term "personal development" makes us think of something we need to do, we can ask for the help of others to help us progress. Sometimes speaking to our manager will open the door to further possibilities for us to stretch ourselves in our chosen career, so don't be afraid to highlight any concerns or needs you may have. A willingness to learn and to take a pro-active approach to our own development is usually seen as a positive.

SECONDMENTS

Personal development is often associated with a complete change of job - leaving what we are doing now to take on a higher paid role with more responsibility.

But you don't need to take such a big leap in order to test the boundaries of what you may enjoy doing at work. Attending in-house or external training courses is one obvious way of expanding your knowledge and skills base. However a temporary secondment to another area within the company you work in now would also allow you to see whether another department or area of working would be suited to you.

There are plenty of ways to invest in your personal development at work. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you should constantly be looking for them - and making the most of these opportunities when they arise.

Setting Personal Development Goals Will Lead To Life Success

2008-02-26T04:52:00.000-08:00

The role of Personal Development and Self Improvement is to help you achieve your goals in life. Both are designed to give you the skills you need to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve. But can personal development or self improvement really improve your life situations?

Well, the purpose of both is to do just that. They are both just tools that are used to ensure you will succeed in your chosen life areas. They are designed to help you become happier on the inside and more satisfied with what you have on the outside in any are you chose to apply them!

So how do you start to set goals that truly lead to self improvement, more freedom, happiness and a better lifestyle for you and your family and ultimately more success? This question is not simple to answer because success means different things to different people. Therefore, if you want to become successful you must first have a clear understanding of what success means to you!

A fantastic way to get a clear on what success means for you is to ask yourself the question, "what would I do if I knew I couldn't fail?" Let your mind roam freely and immerse yourself in your inner vision. This vision will give you the clue that you need to unravel the mystery of success.

At an early age every human being knows what they want to do with their lives. We develop dreams and ambitions at a very early age. However as we grow older we are conditioned to believe that these dreams are not possible or are mere fantasies of our imagination. We are told to get an education, a good job, get married, have kids, a mortgage and holiday once a year with our family. By the time most people reach their mid twenties they have all but given up on their dreams or even forgotten what those dreams are. They have become conditioned into believing that they are incapable of achieving what they want in life. This fundamental belief forms the foundation of their self image and the rest of their mental attitudes are build upon it!

It is the role of personal development and self improvement to remove these conditioned mental attitudes from your inner mind and free you to pursue the life course that you chose for yourself. Through the use of personal development and self improvement you can begin today to remove mental conditioning that you received from well-meaning family, peers and teachers. In addition you will also be directed to remove all those negative mental attitudes that have been given to you by not so well-meaning people and those you have developed yourself through negative life experiences. This is not always an easy journey nor is it always enjoyable but the rewards that you receive are a thousand times the effort required.

The freedom that you can experience from removing just one negative mental and negative emotional pattern is akin to the feeling of rest and tranquility you feel after extreme physical exercise. Removing numerous negative mental attitudes and emotional stress from your mind and body is a feeling and experience that is truly hard to describe to someone who has never experienced it themselves.

Jesus Christ said, "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you": Matthew 6:33. By removing the negative mental and emotional attitudes from your mind you free yourself to reach your goals. Let me explain.

For instance you may have a desire to be wealthy and thus set a personal development goal to become financially free. There are thousands of different ways to achieve this goal. There are thousands of methods you could follow and plans you could set in motion that would bring you closer to this goal. Millions of people have gone from rags to riches. So, why does following a plan work for one person and the same plan will not work for another?

It is due entirely to the difference in attitude and mental conditioning!

There are at your disposal numerous personal development and self improvement methods that are designed to help you achieve this goal. Now these tools and methods are not designed to show you the way to become financially free but instead are designed to free you from your own inner resistance to being financially free. Many people think this is a waste of time and would prefer to be given step by step instructions to build financial wealth and I was once one of them. Yet however hard I tried and no matter how many plans and formulas I followed my financial situation actually grow worse.

Why was this? Were the plans I was following just not good enough to create wealth? Were the people peddling these rags to riches methods merely conning me out of my money? Was gaining wealth just pure luck like winning the lottery?

The answer to all of the above questions is no!

The plans I followed had worked for thousands and made them rich! The people selling me the products and methods had all made their fortunes using the very same techniques they were trying to teach me! I later found out that gaining wealth had nothing to do with luck!

It wasn't that these things were not good enough to produce the wealth I craved it was that I THOUGHT I wasn't good enough. When you hold a negative self image and have a negative view of yourself and your abilities it is very difficulty to achieve success no matter how much effort you put into it! This is why it is of paramount importance to first remove the negative conditioning that is holding you back in life.

Your attitude, which is only composed of thoughts and feelings, is responsible for your actions. Thought is the creator of action! Every action you perform, no matter how small or big, first begins in your mind as a thought. Each thought begins as a feeling. Think of when you met your last partner. You first felt the attraction. Then you had the thought that you would like to meet them. Then you performed some action to make that happen. Think of the last time you went out socializing. You had the feeling that you would like to have some fun, or be with your friends, were feeling lonely etc. Then you had the thought. Then you performed the action.

If your actions are motivated by your thoughts and feelings and your attitude is composed of thoughts and feelings do you think you could succeed at a given task if you hold a negative mental attitude about it or your ability to succeed at it?

Once you embrace personal development and begin to use any of the myriad of self improvement tools to remove your negative mental attitudes you will naturally find yourself becoming more successful in life. You actions will be more positive and you will unconsciously perform the correct actions that will lead you to success. I am sure you can know see how important it is to set some personal development goals. Not only will you see improvement in your self, you will also see many symptoms of success added unto you!

Using The Goya Method For Personal Development

2008-02-25T04:30:00.001-08:00

It's nearly 2008 and some of you will be looking over the year and thinking about what you have achieved over the past year. For some, nothing much will have happened, for others their whole life will have changed. Personal development begins in your head and GOYA method will help a lot.

Why has nothing happened for you?

Simply put, you are too lazy to do anything about your personal development. There I have said it. I can hear screams of reluctance and abuse at me now, but it does not matter, you are only fooling yourself and you know who you are.

Therefore, for 2008 I would like to present this method for personal development.

It is an acronym for:

Get Off Your Arse!

To do something, anything, you have to take action, to take action you have to get off your arse first and make a start. That is what this article is about.

I do not want to hear whines, excuses, or anything else just read this through and then Get Off Your Arse.

Getting to the stage of SOYA

A lot of us will have gotten to the stage of SOYA (Sitting On Your Arse) at some point in our lives. Indeed it is good to have a bit SOYA time but too much can lead to a permanent state of SOYA and your arse gets flatter with all the sitting, the only exercise you get is flicking the remote and eating those packets of cheese and onion crisps. The younger SOYAs among you will get a little more exercise with the Nintendo Wii and PS3 and Xbox 360s but you are still at the SOYA stage and need to GOYA more before your life becomes a virtual world and soon the Matrix will have you.

For those of us on board the Nebucadnezzar it is still useful to read this just for a little jolt.

For those of you who do not think you are at the SOYA stage of life answer these questions:

1. Is your Arse permanently flat?

2. Does it take you about half an hour before you can walk properly getting off your couch?

3. Do you make old man noises when you get off the couch?

4. Do you make old man noises when you go to sit on the couch?

5. Do you have some goals that involve Getting Off Your Arse?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above it is time for some GOYA.

GOYA in action

There are at least two voices inside you at any one time. One voice saying take the easy option just turn the TV on, and SOYA and the other, less dominant voice, saying come on, I need some goya time.

The trick to getting off your arse is making the GOYA voice more dominant than the SOYA voice.

Quick Exercise

I want you to think back to a time, recently, where you were in two minds to go and do something but instead elected to stay in bed or sit on the couch and watch TV. For example, you need to get up and tidy the house but instead you stayed in bed or watched TV or read your book. What did that voice sound like inside your head, if you cannot remember listen for it next time. The SOYA voice sounds like MR T 'Sit on your ass fool, aint nobody gonna clean the house' and the GOYA voice sounds like Mickey Mouse on Helium 'Oh shucks, thats a shame coz the house needs a good clean'

Listening for the SOYA and GOYA voice

You will soon begin to hear the little voices whenever you have to do something. Recognising them is the first stage and when you hear them, it will be a revelation. Now when I say hear them you dont literally hear them you hear them in your head. You might not think they are there but they definitely are. Any time you have to do something they are there.

The next stage is switching the voices around.

This can be tricky at first but when you do it once it becomes very easy all the other times and you will see a dramatic difference in your life. Now I know I am being a bit tongue in cheek here but I do mean this. When you switch the voices and use the SOYA voice for the GOYA voice i.e. MR T voice is now the GOYA voice and Mickey Mouse on Helium is the SOYA voice you will see an amazing difference in your productivity, you exercise routine, everything you need the GOYA voice for.

Another exercise for today

To try this method out try hearing the new GOYA voice telling you what to do whenever you are procrastinating about something. Obviously, it doesn't have to be MR Ts voice but you want a commanding voice, have a little fun with it. Eventually the voice will be your won voice and you begin to do tings you have been putting off.

You Can Use Personal Development To Create Miracles

2008-02-25T04:27:00.000-08:00

The power of personal development is available to everyone. It is available to you whether you understand its internal workings or not. There is no need to be skilled in self improvement to achieve amazing results from applying a few simple techniques from its mighty arsenal. You can, right now, begin to create miracles in your life without ever having to probe the depths of personal growth. Get ready now to learn the secrets of personal development, apply some of its simple techniques and perform miracles in your life!

There are people from every walk of life who are performing miracles everyday. You may have heard the stories of a woman lifting the full weight of a car to save her child or a man walking again after years in a wheelchair. Perhaps you have heard of the British man who's body miraculously cured itself of AIDS or the men and women around the world who have found their cancer dissolve. You may even have heard of stranger things happening in places like India and Tibet.

However, you may be unaware of the miracles that ordinary people, just like you and me, are performing all over the planet. Miracles like, turning financial ruin into avalanches of wealth and abundance, finding soulmates and healing illness. Miracles are happening right now where men and women are; rekindling failing or failed relationships; healing old emotional wounds that have been carried for decades; finally reaching all there long cherished goals.

Would you like to be one of them?

The power of miracles does not lie in some long and almost forgotten past of avatars and saints. Nor does it lie in some distant mystical land or with metaphysical warriors who had studied ancient hidden arts for decades. The power of miracles lies right here in the present. Your power is in the NOW!

The reason why so many people fail to gain results from tried-and-tested techniques such as visualization, affirmations, hypnosis, subliminal programming etc., is because they are constantly living in the past. They allow hurts from the past to impinge upon the present. Every negative thought or feeling that you have is based in the past. You developed that way of thinking and feeling because of something that happened to you in your past. You must learn to release these hurts.

The secret to performing miracles in your life is to get clear on what you want. There is no need to do anything else at all. This is the truth - if you were capable of thinking of only those things and situations that you want to have then they are the only thing you would ever get. Unfortunately, you tend to think negatively when you bring to mind those things that you desire. You permit your mind to dwell on thoughts and emotions that are connected to past experiences. You may think that because you have never achieved any goal you set that there is no point in trying again. You may have been hurt in relationships and thus you allow these episodes in your life to stop you from trusting and committing. You know yourself what pains you have endured in the past. Do you want to continue recreating them or would you rather break free?

A great universal truth that is known by many but not fully understood by most is this - your predominant thoughts, backed by belief or emotion, create your reality. Quantum physics has already told us that matter cannot exist without consciousness. This new science is now telling us that it is consciousness itself that is the very driving force behind the physical universe and everything that is in it. It goes further by stating that consciousness, through thought, actually collapses the quantum field of possibilities into just one reality - in other words your thoughts and beliefs make things real! You create your own world!

Therefore the first step to creating miracles in your life is to take full responsibility for everything that you have created so far - bad relationships, terrible jobs, unfilled potential or good relationships, great jobs and goal achievements etc. By taking responsibility you regain your power because if you did it then you can undo it or redo the same way or in a way that is more pleasing to you.

Look at how you were thinking in regards to the good things in your life - the things that you are happy with. I bet you do not have much negative thoughts and feelings around them. Now look at all the things in your life that are not how you want them to be. I bet you think in negative terms about those a lot. Also look at the things you do not have. Are you in a state of wanting to have them? Are you lusting after them or grabbing at them? If so, then you are affirming to yourself and your subconscious mind that you do not have them!

Begin to dissect your thinking by reviewing how you feel about things in your life. Your emotions are a great guide to what you are currently creating. When you are in a state of happiness and your emotions are positive you will find that it is because you are mentally focused upon the things that you want in life. When you are feeling negative emotions or feeling generally unhappy this is a very strong indication that you are mentally focused on the things in life that you do not want. When you do this you are infact creating more of these things, recreating them again or attracting them to you. When you find yourself in this state you can quickly change it if you start to direct your thinking towards the things that you do want. Once you do this you will feel your mood lightening and if you are persistent you will enter a happy state. This lets you know that you are back on track and thus attracting and creating the things that you do want in life.

Seek out ways to eliminate all the hidden negative thoughts and feelings that you are currently afraid to look at. We all have them! It is strange but things that are clearly apparent to other people about ourselves are hidden from us because we refuse to acknowledge them. I am sure you know of a person that has some undesirable qualities and yet they are the first to point out those qualities in another. They just cannot see that they are like that themselves. We are all guilty of doing this!

Once you begin to eliminate your hidden negatives you will find that your thinking becomes much more positive without any conscious effort. You will find your life begins to change in magical ways. And you will surely see many miracles taking place in your life as you embrace the life you always wanted and deserve!

The Importance Of Continuing Education

2008-02-21T03:33:00.000-08:00

The future of the world is left to highly educated people who alone can handle the scientific apparatus necessary for prominence in peace or survival in war.

Most people have the view that education stops when you graduate from High School, College or university. You are now qualified in your profession, you don't need to study anymore, right? Unless you are a doctor or computer expert who needs to keep up with changes in technology and research. That was the case in 20thcentury but the when world in slow motion or at war thee wasn't many options available to the masses just a privileged few. The society has always set its standards by which we all live. Those standards are resulted in luck of self believes and self worth. A person could not stand out of the crows what an earth would mates or family say?

From research papers on Alzheimer's disease we learn that people who continue their education and keep their minds sharp by learning, have less chance of suffering from Alzheimer's and related mental disorders. The illness which creates huge burden in families, community facilities and money it takes to mange the those suffering from not only Alzheimer's disease but many poor health that result or are created by just plain luck of inactivity.

Apart from using your mind to keep it sharp, there is also a second and more important reason to keep studying: Personal development. People, who keep reading books on subjects they are interested in or to learn new things, develop their personalities. The self development of knowledge, skills is an industry as you can put those skills into great use, by promoting learning in way of writing, articles, books, and promoting books, selling books. Which in turn creates spin of effect in manr other areas?

Also, the world keeps changing around us: When the baby boomers were young, we were taught by our parents to work hard at school, get good grades, go to college or university and get a qualification so you can get a good job with a good salary and pension plan so you can be secure.

Those who continue reading and learning know that it is no longer enough to get good grades and qualifications. Entire industries become obsolete overnight, for example the record industry. This industry required specialist training, and was obsolete overnight when CD's became available. An entire industry - all workers were made redundant. This is an important reason why we need to learn other ways of making an income. Ways of becoming self sufficient. Our jobs and income, our retirement, is no longer safe or secure. To this end we need to learn ways to create income so that we don't need to depend on a job.

Some adults go back to college, others learn by reading books or doing home study programs by listening to CD's or watching DVD's. Most adults learn from both books and home study courses. There is a lot of information online, and e-books and online audio and video programs are available too. Today the whole new industry has been created entirely based on personal development. In form of seminars, conferences, work shops, mentoring, coaching, books, CD's DVD's, live calls, on line universities, and list could go on and on. The other part of this new wonderful industry is affiliate marketing to sell those wonderful products.

In advents of modern technology such as internet and information technology, the opportunity to learn and be a champion has never been easier. The internet is such a wonderful toll you can find books information that will take your knowledge and your skills to new heights. Our parents, our grand parents and our great grand parents did not have the same opportunities and access to information as we do today.

Internet has created new industry point being that it created opportunities for people to learn new skills and at the same time promote for example a home study course which they can use to learn and sell or promote for residual income.

Personal Development

2008-02-21T03:32:00.000-08:00

How sweet it is to be loved by yourself has to be the axiom of choice by those in constant contact with their true self. Billions of dollars is invested yearly by those who seek to improve on the person inside of the body and visible to the rest of the world by their actions, words and posture.

Since the movie "The Secret" became so popular every speaker, article and inspirational website highlight or emphasize the 'Laws of Attraction' and how we are living the results of our perceptions.

Imaginary perceptions give the feeling that there is someone other than ourselves who is totally responsible for the history of our lives and therefore the future outcomes as well. We want to have a better life with dramatically improved results but we fall short of the actions needed to produce those results, like for example: New Years resolutions, and the many attempts of losing weight without medical assistance. The power of our willpower is amazing as is evidenced on the number of times it is hinted at in the bible, self help books, weight loss, quit smoking adds and other motivational exercises............. But yet failure to produce results is the sad ending of many resolutions. The saddest example of all has to do with marital engagements terminating because it commands effort and commitment that so many refuse to do because life is easier on a reclining chair with a remote in one hand and a beverage or cigarette in the other with perhaps a cake too.

You see having ones cake and eating it too, bread buttered on both sides or some other cliché takes the perceived fun out of effort and replaces it with resignation that maybe things would never work out anyway so why bother?

All I can say is thank God for all of us who have believed and continue to believe that the benefits from effort are totally worth it and when we reach our goals no matter how modest they are, we can smile and clap ourselves on the back because we took the first step in believing in ourselves. Money, time and convenience are never roadblocks for determined worthwhile objectives for those of us who want to exit the insane circle of repetitiveness. There will always be pitfalls and the more one does with ones life the more pitfalls one encounters, but so too will the increases in benefits be remarkable. Your positive results will be reflected by the commitment level of your desire to live outside the insane circle of going nowhere. Insanity is not just measured by hospital beds and locked doors with on-duty nurses around the clock, but also by expecting changes when you do not make any changes.

The Barriers To Personal Growth And Development

2008-02-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

The Barriers to Personal Growth and Development are caused by six reasons that people do not take action on the things they want to experience in life. The six reasons are lack of personal growth, uneducated about personal development, do not set goals, they feel the fear and do not do it anyway, negative feedback from people, and many growth barriers that was acquired while growing up as an adult in life.

So, why is it that many people around the world have a lot of barriers to personal growth and development in their lives today? I often asked myself the same questions about me, and many other people that I have learned from over the years in life. Through the many people I have interviewed over the past year personal growth and development have been a big part of their life.

The first reason that people do not take action in their lives is due to a lack of personal growth. Most people simply will not take any action to improve on their personal growth to improve their lives greatly by experiencing something new in their life.

Second, they are uneducated about personal development being apart of their life. Most people do not understand what personal development is all about, so they are uneducated about how to improve their own life as well as other people in their environment.

The third reason is because people do not set goals to achieve the things they want in life. How many times have you heard a person say I just set a new goal today that’s going to be completed by the end of the week? Not many I bet unless they hung around many like minded individuals that set goals on regular bases in their lives.

Fourth, they feel the fear and do not do it anyway. Most people feel the fear when they are doing things that make them uncomfortable and yet do not go through with it anyway to see results in their experiences.

The fifth reason is negative feedback from people that even do not understand their own life to the degree of giving someone else advise about certain issues in life. I use to hear many times how people are influenced form negative feedback that they got from other people in their life that hinders them from improving their own.

The six reasons are many growth barriers that were acquired while growing up as an adult in life. Most people walk around their entire time on this planet holding on to a lot of garbage that happen in the past to them while growing up as an adult. They keep those same ideas, thinking and feelings so long in their lives to that in itself becomes a habitual way of being in this world today. The best advice that I could give to another human being is this in two words personal development. Apply personal development in your life and you will be amazed at the many new things you will begin to experience in your life today.

Baby Boomers Who Are Looking For More Out Of Life

2008-02-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

We're almost at the age of retirement now and thinking what do I want to do when I grow up? Most of us have worked our whole lives for someone else. What do we have to look forward to after working 20 or 30 years with a company - a gold watch?? Is that all there is?

Are our 401K plans what we expected them to be? Did we put enough away on our own to cover our retirement expenses? Do we have to continue to work past the 65 retirement age? Or are we finding ourselves wanting?

Wanting - desiring - needing?? Wanting more time to enjoy the things we never had time for when we were busy working and raising our families. Desiring to travel and experience different cultures in the world or give our full attention to the hobbies that make us feel fulfilled. Needing to feel free and relaxed without going to the "job". How can I achieve this?

I'm a baby boomer myself. I was tired of working for someone else. Life and setbacks along the way did not afford me the opportunity to put enough away to retire early while I am still healthy and want to play for the next 20 years instead of work. We are living longer and are healthier than the last generation was at 65.

At this age, it is also a time of reflection. Where have I been and where am I going? Have you found yourself asking those same questions? If so, what did you discover about yourself? I discovered that I was looking for something more meaningful in my life. I wanted to give back to the world. I earned a good living at my "job" but really couldn't afford to quit because I still had bills to pay. So I asked myself "how I could earn a living, put money aside for retirement, have free time to enjoy all those things that I always wanted to, and help others along the way?"

I came to the conclusion that I could start my own in-home business. But what kind? There are zillions of home businesses out there. One of my priorities was being able to help others achieve their own goals in life. Another priority was to become financially independent myself.

Since I am a student of personal growth already, I looked at this concept as a business. I went on the net and again found numerous options. So research here I come. I did my due diligence. I was looking for something that would resonate for me. A business that would give me all the attributes that was on my "want" list.

I landed on the personal development business. I felt that this type of business could "kill two birds with one stone". I could give back by mentoring others achieve their goals and become empowered and could earn a great living doing it. But just as important - I am having a blast doing this. I get to work with my husband and build something together. We talk and share more than we have in years. We have a common goal. We are growing in new ways that I never thought possible. Working a personal development program with your partner is so rewarding. Also the excitement of waking up everyday knowing that I can talk to new people not just about how my life has been changed but about how they want their life to change. What are their dreams about? I see such initial excitement from others about the potential of how a personal development program and business will change their lives. When I first began this business I was so full of hope and excitement that I felt like a little kid going to first grade again. Scared but excited at the same time.

We even get to live our dreams of travel. We are going to Hawaii and Rome for our annual conferences this year. Imagine a large group of people with all the same positive thoughts and energy in one room. It is enlightening to say the least. Wow what a deal!!

So, if any of you other baby boomers like me need more out of life, enjoy helping others achieve their dreams, and tired of your "job", I encourage you to check out a personal development business working your own hours from your own home.

Personal Development Forums - Why To Use Them

2008-02-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

Personal development forums are a great place for you to share information, learn new techniques and to meet new people.

Let's face it, sitting at home reading a book can be very lonely. Some of the concepts in these self help books are not exactly clearly explained or easy to understand. I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I've had to re-read a page in order to grasp the concept.

And that is where a community like a forum comes in to its own.

You simply pop along to the forum and ask a question and someone there will answer your question. Best of all, you are likely to find more techniques and perhaps gain a much deeper understand of what you were originally reading. Plus, you will get contrasting viewpoints, which are always good to have.

There are a lot of forums out there these days, and most of them are fairly quite. With the rise of MySpace and FaceBook, a new type of personal development forum is growing in popularity. This is the type of interactive forum based on the aforementioned social networking sites. These new forums makes meeting people and sharing people much easier and more interactive.

No longer are you limited to just text but can share audio, video and photos (within copyright laws of course) with other people. Not only do you get to meet people, but you can get to advertise your business and build your credibility in your chosen field.

If you are someone who is interested in self improvement then you should definitely join some online forums and get to meet some new people!

4 Personal Development Steps To Higher Self-Esteem

2008-02-19T02:18:00.000-08:00

There are thousands, if not millions, of people who are trying to create a better life for themselves and their families. They put their best foot forward and give it everything they've got yet just seem to fail continually.

Why is this so?

The truth of failure, when you try your hardest and are prepared, is low self esteem. You cannot achieve anything of value for yourself if you do not appreciate, respect and love yourself. If you have a self-image that does not support you then no-one else will support and neither will life!

I'm sure you know of someone who sells themselves short in a relationship. There are many people who put up with unloving relationships and relationships that neither support nor encourage them. Most people keep their dreams hidden from the world and even those closest to them. They will not set goals to achieve them due to fear and apathy. What these people lack is a basic belief in themselves and their abilities.

Is there something you would like to achieve in your life or improve but you lack the belief that it is possible for you? Do you see other people succeed and believe that others can do but you can't?

We all suffer from some form of self-doubt. This is a necessary part of the human condition. Self-doubt can keep us safe. It is designed to keep us safe. You have a great deal of doubt that you could walk on water and therefore do not drown. You doubt that you are capable of walking on fire and therefore do not get burned. However, many of our doubts are unfounded and have their roots in the soil of low self-esteem!

If one human has achieved something great then other human beings can achieve it also. If you have dreams and desires rejoice. Ask yourself if you believe God would have given you such dreams and desires if you were incapable of achieving them? Do you think the Creator would be so cruel? You must realise that you would not have these dreams if you were not capable of achieving them!

However, you must learn the skills you need to learn to achieve your goals and make your action worthwhile. But, before you acquire the necessary knowledge and skill to complete the task of achieving your goals it is of major importance that you first believe that you are capable of achieving them.

To build faith and the belief that your goal will be accomplished you must first build faith and belief in yourself. You must build your confidence in your abilities and strengthen your self esteem. This will radically alter your self-image and you will start to view yourself as a winner and someone who can achieve his goals.

Here are four easy to follow steps to building your self esteem and changing your self-image.

1. The first step to high self esteem is to stop berating yourself. We all criticise ourselves. Some do it constantly. This is one of the most damaging things you can do with your thought processes. Be compassionate with yourself when you make mistakes, we all make them. Congratulate yourself that regardless of how many mistakes you have made in the past or how many hurtful experiences you encountered you were able to deal with them and are still here today and getting on with your life.

When you find yourself berating yourself then stop and reverse it. Look for the things that you did right in the situation. If you hadn't have dealt with the situation in the way you did might it have turned out worse?

2. Start to give yourself forgiveness for your previous short-comings. Forgive yourself for any past mistakes you may have made. Write them down if you want and read over them. Take the paper and tear it into tiny pieces, Then throw it away or go outside and let the wind take it for you. This is symbolic of you releasing the past and moving on.

3. Give yourself some approval. Look for the things you have done correctly. Review all the things in life that you have achieved both recently and in the long past. Allow yourself to accept that you have done things right. Give yourself compliments when you achieve even the smallest of objectives. When you complete a goal or obtain an objective reward yourself.

4. Learn to love yourself. Each day for 5 or 10 minutes stand in front of a mirror. Look into your own eyes and say out loud "I love and accept you just as you are." In the beginning this simple exercise can be extremely hard to do. Many people have become so accustomed to beating themselves up that they have forgotten how to nurture themselves. When you do this exercise you will find thoughts and feelings arising that contradict what you are saying. This is the perfect opportunity to release these past negative, false beliefs.

When such thoughts arise do not try to suppress them. Instead allow them to surface and allow yourself to fully feel the emotions that are attached to them. This is vitally important. Suppressing an emotion will keep it active and the thoughts that are linked to it. By allowing the feeling to be fully expressed in your body it will naturally dissipate. If you find some stubborn feelings and thoughts persisting then stop for a moment and give them some real thought. Is that really true about you? Is it possible that the belief you now hold could be incorrect?

When you follow these simple exercises you will build your self esteem to heights unimagined. When you increase your love and approval for yourself your life just starts working. You will find improvements begin almost immediately with little or no effort from you. A by-product of this increased self esteem will be better relationships. Your closest interpersonal relationships will benefit greatly from the work you are doing and it will all happen naturally and effortlessly. It is by loving yourself that you truly learn to love other people. When you have respect for yourself other people are tuned into this and it sends them a clear unconscious message about how you want to be treated. Treat yourself with respect,, love, compassion and kindness and others will treat you that way also.

Setting Personal Development Goals Will Lead To Life Success

2008-02-18T02:05:00.001-08:00

Personal Development Techniques To Release The Past

2008-02-18T02:02:00.001-08:00

It is possible to release your past regardless of how painful or deprived it was. Through these personal development techniques you let go of all your emotional baggage and start fresh.

Once you release your emotional attachment to your past you are free to enjoy the present. From this powerful place of being happy and content with where you are you can then begin to create the future of your dreams.

Although you cannot change anything that has happened in the past you can change how your past experiences affect your future. The first step to releasing the past is to accept that it happened. No matter how traumatic the experience or how distasteful the memory is you must acknowledge here and now that it occurred. This is what we call entering a state of Acceptance. Many people live their entire lives wanting to change the past. They moan that if only things had been different their life would be so much better. The past is gone. It happened. There is no way to change the past so there is no point wishing that it never happened or that it happened differently. You cannot change it so accept it!

After acceptance you can enter a state of peace when you realise that the past, all of it, good and bad experiences alike have helped to form and mould the person you are today. All the knowledge, desire and love that are in you right now are a direct result of the past experiences that make up your life.

Next realise that the past has some powerful lessons to teach you. Have you learned anything positive from your past experiences? Use your past as a learning tool. See where you went wrong and make the changes you need to make today so that your future becomes a bright and welcoming place. Never use your past as an excuse to stay the way you are or to tolerate circumstances and situations with which you are currently unhappy! Realise that the past has been and gone. All you have is this moment and that is all you need to make changes.

Many millions of people throughout the centuries have overcome their own personal adversity to achieve great things. You can do the same. These people refused to accept what life had handed them. They never moaned about their past nor allowed it to interfere with their present and thus they created their future the way they wanted it to be.

You should never use the past an excuse for staying stuck in your life. Your power is always in the present moment. Use your past negative experiences as a motivational tool to spur you on. It is all about your perception! It is your perception of the things around you that determines your reality. What you focus on expands. This means you get more of what you focus on in life. If you chose to focus on the mistakes and hardships of your past then that is what you will experience more of.

But if you decide to put the past where it belongs, in the past, and fully embrace the present moment and where you are you will find yourself in a powerful creative place. Only revisit the past to learn from it not as an emotional trip. Although much of your current mental conditioning originates from childhood and early life experiences it can be changed. By making the decision now and holding the intention now that the past will no longer affect you, you can free yourself from your own self-imposed bondage.

From this place of freedom you can make decisions based upon current situations and circumstances instead of being the slave to reactive emotional thinking and acting. The evidence is everywhere that people with painful, damaging pasts have overcame them and gone on to achieve high levels of success. Look at the business world, sports, creative arts etc. There are rags to riches stories everywhere you care to look.

You may encounter past experiences that are very difficult for you to realease. At these times you should seek professional help in whatever form you feel appropriate, even if it is just a subliminal or hypnosis recording. Do something now to release your past - make the decision that it will no longer rule over your current life. Intend to be free of the past. In your own mind decide now that no matter what you need to do you will release your emotional issues. Even though you may not know how you are going to do this yet hold the intention that you will do it. When you do this and begin to live in the now you will be more content and at peace while you wait for your marvelous future to unfold.

Personal Development Techniques To Release The Past

2008-02-18T02:02:00.000-08:00

Time Management Techniques - How Do You Figure Out A Time Management Technique That Works For You?

2008-02-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

There are many people that lead very busy lives. This is just a fact of life that most people have to deal with. There is never enough time in a day to get everything done that needs to be. This is where it is important to have a time management technique that will work for your busy life. You need to be able to not only get everything done that needs to be but you also need to be able to get enough sleep. This is why it is so important to find that time management technique that will work for you.

You will want to go online and do some research to find a time management tool that will help you figure out what needs to be done and when it can be done. This might be a calendar or a to-do list or maybe you will be able to find a tool that will let you determine more than one thing. You need to look and see what you can find because you are the one that knows why you need the help with time management.

You will also want to look at the different websites that are about time management. You may just find a time management tip that you would never have thought of. The more tips you find the better you will be able to figure out a time management technique that will work with your busy life.

One thing that you will want to find when you are online is time management courses. These courses will help you figure out how to better manage the time that you have. They will not help you figure everything out but they will give you an idea of how you can figure it all out for yourself.

You will also want to find out what time management systems others are using. This will help you determine if a similar system will work for your life. You want to know what they are doing and how they are breaking up the time that they have. This is very important to do if you want to ever get a handle on the time that you have each day.

Finding a time management technique that works for them is something that everyone should do. It is important to manage your time if you are ever going to get everything done with the limited time that you have during one day. So find your technique or system that will help you manage to get everything done and don't forget to schedule in time for sleep as this is very important too.

Personal Time Management - Accomplish More with Personal Time Management

2008-02-13T02:29:00.000-08:00

How you want to spend your time and how you want to lead your life is something that is personal to you. Because of this, effective personal time management is something you can only achieve if you are in touch with what you really want from life.

When you hear the words 'time management' you probably have thoughts of diaries, timetables, schedules and meetings. However, effective time management isn't really about any of these things, it is about you personally. Of course, diaries and the like are useful tools for keeping yourself organized, but there is much more to it than that.

However, before you look at any of that you need to find your own personal reasons for spending your time effectively. The best way to do this is to ask yourself:

• What do I want my life, both personally and professionally, to look like, feel like and be like?

• What do I see as possible for myself and others?

You need to think hard about these to find the true answers within yourself. I encourage you to aim for your ideal and write down the answers that come to you. After some thought you are likely to get a picture of ideally what you would like your life to be like and how you really want to spend your time. This is your personal vision and your goal as you begin to manage your time effectively.

As you begin moving towards your goals and changing the way you spend your time you will carry your vision uppermost in your mind. Remember that this is what you really want in life and I invite you to use it a source of inspiration and motivation.

So, you can see that effective time management is a very personal process in many ways. To really make the most of your time you need to be in touch with yourself and what's important to you.

Why Choose A Path Of Personal Development?

2008-02-12T02:15:00.001-08:00

Success is always achieved when you believe it can be. The only thing that stands between you and what you want from life is the courage to try and your belief that it is possible. The only true limits to your realization of tomorrow dreams are today's doubts. The moment you carry the conviction of belief is the moment your desires will become reality.

You can, be, and do, if you think you can. This is why you choose a path of personal development. You choose to create the life you desire. Achieve all the dreams you have dreamed.

However, this really isn't new information in the world. This is the age of reflection and personal growth. We are all searching for answers on how to feel fulfilled. To feel joy instead of unhappiness. This is what life is really about - feeling joy. It is true when you hear "No matter how many friends you have or how much money you have in the bank, it does not necessarily bring us joy". When you enter into a personal development program, you just don't wake up one day and are instantly changed into a new person. However, with a good home study program, usually 90 days, you will be guided through by a step by step process on how to start changing your mindset and life. It is amazing, that in just 30 days, you will feel uplift in your energy and attitude. Whatever time it takes, it is well worth the pursuit in order to have a better and enriched life.

But I now ask you?? Are you creating your future by choosing the thoughts that will give you what you want? Or are you just wishing your life would change? If you are just wishing, it might be time to get serious about where your life is going. It's time to take control of your future. Ask yourself "WHY" do I want my life to change or improve? The "why" is the most important element in defining or re-designing your lifestyle? The "why" is what sends your desires and goals out to the Universe? It is the fuel for your law of attraction. Do you have the ideal lifestyle that you deserve right now? Are you building financial independence so that you may spend quality time with your family? Are you on that road to personal and financial freedom? Are you experiencing a life by design - your design - or are you just floating by day by day?

Now - imagine discovering a business that would allow you to create a legacy of your own. Build something for yourself and family - not for someone else. Are you looking for more out of life that what you currently have? Most of us would definitely say Yes. With a personal development business you can achieve both personal growth to truly FEEL joy and financial freedom to truly ENJOY living.

However, most of us have also discovered that our goals and dreams did not come close to our financial abilities or our time availabilities. We knew we had to make an adjustment - either lower our goals to meet our financial and time capabilities or find a way to increase our time and financial capabilities in order to exceed our goals. The truth is most people can only achieve one or the other. Very few - the wise, one percenters- we call them, achieve both. These one percenters are usually business owners. You can be a one percenter if you believe you can.

By designing your life with a personal development business, you will achieve everything you have set your mind to. Because when you practice personal development, you know that the law of universe is a given. When you develop this business, and are achieving all of your goals, you will in turn want to help others achieve their goals as well. What a win-win business.

This home business has enabled my husband and me to retire in a lifestyle that we deserve. We are achieving our own dreams, traveling, spending time with our grandkids and just enjoying the best time of our lives. Our only regret was that we did not do this in our 30's to enjoy the next 40 years with this incredible success and freedom. We encourage you not to wait, please explore a path of personal development that will change your life forever.

Can Personal Development Help Your Online Business?

2008-02-12T02:14:00.000-08:00

The internet works in mysterious ways, but it can have tremendous advantages as there are thousands of opportunities to choose from. What many seem to not understand, though, is that the internet is constantly changing and evolving. And because of this, personal development is essential for everyone.

You may ask what personal development truly means. The answer to this question can only be answered by you. You are the only one that knows what you need to improve on. If you feel like you are not getting the amount of traffic you wished you could, you may want to take the time to learn more efficient methods to generating traffic.

If you have trouble communicating with people and being social, it is essential that you enhance your communication skills. Communication on the internet is one of the most crucial facets to being successful. You have to be willing to approach people online and entice them to come to your online business.

Perhaps the number one personal development that everyone on the internet must do is enhancing their knowledge on their niche. As mentioned above, the internet is constantly evolving. Because of this, it is up to you to take the time to research the new terms and products on the market so that you can be the best at what you do. Without research, you will just be mediocre and get lost in the crowd of millions of other internet marketers.

Personal development can be difficult because a lot of people are in denial of their weaknesses. Admitting that you have weaknesses that can and should be worked on takes a lot of willpower, but it can do a lot for your business once you realize them. Nobody is perfect but it is the people that work their hardest on their weaknesses that succeed.

Anybody can work on their strengths because it is fun to do what you are good at. However, just working on your strengths will bring out your weaknesses. The more you work on your weaknesses, the more balanced you will become to handle any type of adversity you may face.

Nobody said that personal development was a walk in the park, but there are things that you can do to make it easier on yourself. First off, set goals for you to strive for. As soon as you reach a goal make sure to reward yourself in some way for your efforts. Also, try to surround yourself with positive people. This will help you maintain a positive attitude so that you believe in yourself.

Personal development not only can help your online business, but it is essential for you to have success online. If you take the time to work on your weaknesses, you will be amazed at the kinds of success you have with your online business.

Personal Development Is A Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry

2008-02-11T03:08:00.001-08:00

Personal development - also commonly called self-improvement - is a booming industry! And Internet-based personal development - also commonly called e-learning - is now becoming increasingly popular.

According to market research and statistics, it is a 64 billion dollar industry worldwide. In the US alone, an estimated 9.6 billion dollars is invested in personal development in 2005 in the form of:

- books

- motivational speakers

- personal coaching

- weight loss programs

- audio tapes

- stress management programs

It is also projected that this industry will grow at the rate of 11.4 percent yearly and reach 13.9 billion dollars in 2010.

People are now turning to gurus for help in various areas as above. For example, Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' had been on the New York Times bestseller list for several years in a row and sold 20 million copies!

Likewise, Stephen R. Covey's 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' sold more than 15 million copies in 38 languages around the world!

In a similar manner, many people are spending thousands of dollars attending personal development seminars every year conducted by well-known industry gurus like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, T. Harv Eker and others.

Along with this mega trend, Internet-based personal development websites, typically membership sites, are becoming more popular as people can learn through audio and visual programs from the comfort of their homes. One well-known example is Success University, which became the No. 1 personal development website on the Internet, within months of launching three years ago.

Essentially, people are beginning to realize that a life time is too short for one to learn from their mistakes and it is actually smarter and faster to learn from successful people who have done what you want to achieve through reading their books, listening to their tapes and watching their DVDs, attending their live seminars or even engaging them as coaches or mentors.

Intelligent Warrior Subliminal Message Videos for Personal Development

2008-02-11T03:06:00.000-08:00

Subliminal messages can help unlock the door to significant personal development, as long as you know how to include them in your life effectively.

The Intelligent Warrior Subliminal Message Videos are some of the best subliminal message videos available on the internet, but in order to get the most out of them you need to know how to use them properly and maximize their effectiveness.

If you're here, you already know what the videos are all about. If you need more information, see my blog - otherwise, let's get started with some helpful tips that will have you seeing serious results in as little as a couple weeks.

Be Consistent

This should go without saying, but it is surprising how many people seem to subconsciously neglect this aspect of personal development - your use of these videos should be consistent. This means you should set aside a time each and every day to watch these videos. Ensure that it is a time you will have available every day so you will never have excuses to ignore your obligation. Remember, you're doing yourself a favor by taking a significant step towards a better you. By getting through the tediousness now, you will become a better person for it later.

Watch the same set of videos each and every day

The series contains 7 powerful videos, but you don't necessarily want to watch all seven videos every day. Focus your efforts by choosing 2-4 of the videos you are interested in, and watch those in sequence every day during your allotted time-slot. The repetition will make it habitual, and therefore easier and easier to accomplish.

Include Affirmations

If you've taken a moment to watch any of these videos, you've likely noticed that from time to time you will be consciously aware of the messages flashing across your screen. This is not a bad thing. Take note of the messages you see when you're watching the videos. Try to consciously internalize them. Make it a habit in the morning to spend five minutes repeating a series of the messages you TRULY want to instill in your self-concept. Repeat these statements emphatically with force and conviction - your subconscious will be more likely to believe you if you are sincere!

Follow these core principles and within a few weeks you should notice some significant changes in your mentality. These videos worked wonders for me, and I'm positive you can see the same results if you just commit to following these simple guidelines.

The Power of Personal Development

2008-02-08T01:44:00.000-08:00

I recently attended a seminar where I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a personal development tool of great benefit to me. I have come to realize the importance of having a balanced life, caring for myself as well as for others and believing that I am worthy of success.

I have discovered that I had inbuilt negative barriers which I learned from my parents as a young child, from my mother as a young adult and also from society which were preventing me from achieving my goals. The good news is that these negative beliefs can be unlearned and a more positive outlook adopted. Once beliefs and behaviours are adapted, your results will change.

I have improved my memory, become a better listener and also developed the art of small talk.

All of these changes are uplifting, enlightening and empowering. My outlook is more positive and I now believe I have the power to live the life I have always wanted.

The great news is that not only am I benefiting from the power of personal development, but I am also in a position to create an income for myself. You see, Success University not only enables you to grow through personal development but is a network marketing company offering step-by-step guidelines to ensure member's success.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Empower Magazines. This magazine has been designed to offer information on wealth creation, providing a cash-flow strategy and a personal development program. The magazine is very professional, contains personal stories of success and also includes a CD/DVD outlining the company. By introducing this magazine to your friends/acquaintances you can create a network marketing business generating income.

More recently I undertook a course on setting goals. I learnt the art of writing positive affirmations concerning all areas of my life. But even more exciting is by putting music to your affirmations (called musivation) you are able to recall your affirmations easily and immediately feel the power of being in a positive state. I took my main affirmation with relation to Success University goals and put it to a jingle that I have known since childhood. I was amazed at how many times throughout the day this jingle popped into my head, it was almost constant. How powerful do you think this jingle is to my mindset? It uplifts and empowers me every time I hear it, which must be around 100 times a day.

The benefits I have achieved through personal development have been extremely positive. My outlook on life is always positive, I am totally focused on my goals and I now know where I am going.

If you are stuck in a rut, tired of your job or always focusing on the negatives in your life, do yourself a favour and consider personal development. Go to the bookstore and purchase a book on personal development (I'm currently reading a book by Jack Canfield titled "How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be"). I undertake online courses in personal development, read something uplifting on a daily basis and focus daily on my goals. If I can do it, you can too. Make 2008 your year to grow.

4 Personal Development Steps To Higher Self-Esteem

2008-02-07T02:11:00.000-08:00

Personal Development Can Be An Exciting Journey

2008-02-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

Learning the steps to achieving the life of your desire is an exciting journey. Many people unfortunately do not live this kind of life. Only 3% of our population are actually living the life they have designed the way they want it to be. How can you get on board and begin the exciting journey towards what it is you desire? Easily the only way to be do have anything you desire is to begin taking some kind of action.

Without the willingness to put action behind your goals then you are only dreaming of what you would like to be do have. You can never achieve anything without action. If someone has figured out how to achieve their goals without putting any action into it; then I would love to know and I am sure so would others.

Personal development can be an exciting journey; plus it will also empower you in areas that could use some improvement. If you work on your personal development on a daily basis it will assist you in improving:

* self confidence

* self esteem

* courage

* beliefs

* positive outlook on life

* spirituality

* Getting rid of procrastination

Anything you wish to improve or develop a new habit personal development can be an exciting journey towards a new beginning. Yes it will be a new beginning because even though you have been living; chances are you have not been truly living. I know before I became involved with personal development I was just plainly existing. All I did was go to work, pay the bills and do it all over again. I did not have a purpose in life.

A life without a purpose can be very boring. We all desire something that we strive for so that we do not become frustrated with life. We tend to get bored easily if we are not challenged. However keep in mind that your conscious mind wants you to remain where you are today; because you are comfortable. Anything that causes change or makes you uncomfortable whether it will improve your life; the subconscious is going to attempt to scare you so that you do not move forward.

Yes you want to improve your life and begin your exciting journey towards what you desire. However you are going to have to learn not only your conscious mind; you will also have to learn how to ignore the people who will constantly tell you that you are crazy to change your life. When I left my government job after 8 years, everyone I knew kept telling me I was crazy to be leaving a job like that. However I pursued my goals and continued towards what it is I desire, and guess what it is paying off today.

Establishing A Personal Development Coaching Business In Houston

2008-02-06T02:38:00.000-08:00

Houston, Texas, famous for manufacturing oilfield equipment, is a world class Gamma city. Energy, the aeronautics industry, and its famous shipping channel are major contributors to its city’s economy. Starting a personal development coaching business in Houston can be a good idea, as you will be helping so many people find themselves and put them on the right track towards achievement and success.

Tips for Starting a Personal Development Coaching Business:

It is necessary to determine if you will be operating on your own or if you will be hiring the services of other certified and experienced coaches. Find out and analyze your competitors to get a clearer picture of the business and to correctly structure your services in such a way as develop a competitive edge as well as determine the duration of sessions and the rates per session.

It is always recommended to form a legal entity because it offers limited liability protection, so hire a lawyer and decide on an appropriate name, too. Make sure you get required licenses and permits as well as insurance coverage. Estimate start-up costs, arrange for the finances and draft a business plan with clearly defined goals. A good plan will also act as a performance assessment tool and a blueprint of all your day-to-day operations.

Decide on the kind of coaching you will be providing, face–to-face, via Internet and conferencing, or via telephone. Select the areas you will coach them in, such as spiritual coaching, parent coaching, business coaching, coaching them for promotions, sales and marketing coaching, accounting and bookkeeping coaching, and corporate coaching. Select an appropriate location and be sure that your establishment is located in a busy commercial area with easy access and ample parking space. Buy all necessary equipment, supplies, materials, Internet connections, and systems as per your needs. Invest in services and products that are designed to help new businesses succeed.

Hire suitably certified and genuinely motivated people with good listening skills, ability to aptly guide persons to achieve success, and who have experience with the techniques and principles of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to correctly guide the clients. Be sure to use all prescribed techniques to help their clients achieve what they seek.

Marketing and advertising your services is another area that must not be neglected. List your business in the Yellow Pages; advertise regularly in the newspapers and on the radio. Have a business website listing all your services, the rates you will charge, and if there are options such as classroom coaching or a much less personal telephone coaching. Be sure your site is easy to navigate and is keyword-optimized. You can also offer a free newsletter, which can generate leads for you to follow up on.

These are just a few facts regarding starting a personal development coaching business in Houston.

What Is Personal Development?

2008-02-06T02:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Tristan,

I’m a bit confused as to what personal development means and what is involved with it. How is personal development different than self-help, self-improvement, human potential or personal growth? Can you help clarify this for me?

Thank you,

Jeanette Merlow

___________________________

Hi Jeanette,

I agree with you. There’s quite a bit of confusion in the field as to what personal development is exactly—and what it is not. I shall do my best at clarifying what personal development is for you.

What is Personal Development?

Personal development is the enhancement of specific life skills which are necessary to facilitate happiness and success in one’s personal life. These life skills are the basic building blocks that form all the success or failures that you have in life. Personal development skills become the foundation from which all your achievements in life flow from and it has a direct relationship with winning and life success.

One key distinction between personal development skills and other skills that you might possess is that personal development skills are used 24 hours each day, whereas you may only be using your programming skills eight hours a day in the capacity of your employment. When you talk to someone, you are using personal development skills. What you decide to eat is personal development. When you investigate your feelings—that’s personal development. Even managing your sleeping habits belongs in personal development.

Personal development skills are life skills that must be honed in order to reap the benefits of a life worth living. The investment of time in developing yourself personally leads to a peak performing individual who lives a more fulfilling life than those who do not choose to develop themselves.

What Personal Development is Not

Personal development does not involve diagnosing or treating an illness or injury. There seems to be a general confusion in the personal development field concerning what it is and what it is not and since there are so many books at bookstores and libraries that miscatagorize mental illness books into the self-improvement section of the store, let me clarify that point. A key characteristic of someone who wants to practice personal development is that they are generally healthy and normal individuals who are able and willing to move forward in their lives. In other words, they want to become peak-performing individuals.

On the other hand, a person who is not able or willing to move forward in their life and pursue happiness and life success due to past illness, traumas or injuries that prevent them from doing so are in need of treatment or therapy to aid in their recovery. These are individuals who are not performing normally and their goal is to be performing at a normal capacity. In other words, they want to recover.

Personal Development’s Many Other Faces

In the scope of my own coaching practice, I view personal development, self-improvement, and personal growth as all the same thing. I view self-help as slightly different than personal development in that self-help topics tend to be less focused on personal growth and more on remedying a certain condition, hence, that is why there are many books in the self-help sections of bookstores and libraries that focus on treatment of problems, rather than on creating peak performance.

The Ten Components of Personal Development

The definition of personal development will vary from person to person, but through my experience as a personal development coach and former police officer, I’ve discovered that there are in fact ten key areas that comprise an individual’s peak performance. These areas of focus are:

1. Life Purpose: Having a life purpose gives meaning to all the activities and goals that you set for your entire life. We all know how to use up the time that we have in life, but unless we give meaning to those activities that occupy our time, then our lives will utterly be without meaning.

Subsections of Life Purpose Include:

* Legacy
* Values
* Passions
* Talents
* Spirituality

1. Goal-Setting: Goals are the stepping stones that allow you to reach your legacy in life. Any successful person out there knows that In order to achieve personal success in life, you must challenge and stretch yourself to accomplish more than your status-quo. Goal-setting is a powerful success skill that enables you to win in the game of life.

Subsections of Goal-Setting Include:

* Visualization
* Strategic planning

1. Productivity: The problem that many people make when they set goals is that they start cutting corners to get what they want and they end up bitter and discouraged in the end because goal-attainment doesn’t work that way. It’s like someone who wants to stand on the podium and receive a gold medal in the Olympics without putting in the time to train. While we can’t take shortcuts to reach our goal, we can shorten the time it takes to reach those goals by being more productive. Successful people are masters of productivity and it’s no mistake that they are able to achieve more in less time than most people out there. Learning how to be productive and making the best use of the time that you have is an important part of personal development.

Subsections of Productivity Include:

* Time Management
* Organization
* Prioritizing
* Delegating
* Getting things done

1. Motivation: If goals are the path towards personal success, then motivation is the fuel to get you there. Motivation is a necessary aspect of personal development because nearly all of us know that a lack of motivation considerably hinders our goal attainment process. Learning how to master your motivation can help you reach your success faster than you ever thought possible.

Subsections of Motivation Include:

* Inspiration
* Role-models
* Accountability partners
* Pain-pleasure principles

1. Self-Awareness: Emotions can either empower or hinder our performance. Emotions act as a thermometer that tells us the quality of experience that we are living. Therefore it is necessary to not only understand our emotions, but also to learn how to use them effectively. Self-awareness involves intrapersonal communication, which is the ability for you to really communicate with yourself and identify your inner wants and your needs.

Subsections of Self-Awareness Include:

* Emotional intelligence
* Responsibility
* Anger management
* Unconditional Love
* Intuition

1. Marketing: No matter how good you are at a given skill or how much you want to contribute to others, none it will matter if people don’t know about it. All the enormously successful people throughout history knew how to market themselves and it’s crucial for everyday life. If you are married or want to be someday, that involves marketing YOU. If you have ever gone through a job interview, then you were using marketing skills. Those who know how to market themselves or their products simply are afforded more luxuries than those who do not know how to market themselves, regardless of actual competency or skill levels by the mere fact that people are aware of them.

Subsections of Marketing Include:

* Marketing YOU
* Marketing services or products
* Networking

1. Physical Health: Your body is the vehicle that carries your thoughts and intentions into the real world. Therefore, you want to have a vehicle that is well-maintained and performing without problems. Keeping your body working optimally includes eating right, exercising and watching your stress levels.

Subsections of Optimal Health Include:

* Fitness
* Diet
* Sleep
* Stress

1. Relationships: The definition of synergy is the coming together of two or more entities with the purpose of creating more together than any one of them could have created on their own. All superior relationships in your life should involve synergy and creating synergy with other people involves the skills of empathy and communication. Life success is never a one-person project. It involves many people and it involves synergy.

Subsections of Relationships Include:

* Empathy
* Communication skills
* Negotiation
* Conflict resolution
* Interpreting body language

1. Leadership: Every successful person who has ever lived has been a leader in their respective fields. A leader is one who paves the way for others to follow and has the courage to stand out among the pack. A leader is a change agent and is flexible enough to roll with the unexpected events that come their way. They show others the path when that path is unclear.

Subsections of Leadership Include:

* Courage
* Decision-making
* Problem-solving
* Responsibility

1. Money Management: In order for personal success to happen, you have to reach financial freedom, which is the point at which you make enough money that you don’t have to worry about money. Money is energy and you need to learn how to manage that energy for optimal personal development

Subsections of Money Management Include:

* Entrepreneurship
* Delivering value
* Investing
* Money management

I hope that clarifies personal development for you.

For Passion and Purpose,

Personal Development and Being Self Employed

2008-02-05T01:39:00.001-08:00

The doors were set to open for the first time at 5pm in time to catch the early birds for evening dinner. Amy was bustling and checking last minute details, but she knew everything was just the way it should be. Since Amy made the decision to open a restaurant her world took on a new dimension in all aspects and especially her morale. Numerous motivational tapes, reading great inspirational books and the support for her friends, family and personal coach prepared her for this evening. Her smile was so infectious that it was felt by all the employees and it appeared everyone was floating in tune to the soft music in the background. The first customers arrived and were guided to their table and after a few minutes allowing her guests to relax Amy when over wishing them a warm welcome and some light talk...

The evening was an amazing success and Amy toasting a celebratory glass of champagne with all her staff at around midnight when all the clean up was completed thanked them all for their support and to her self a big thank you of acknowledgment that she had made the decision to be and sent out that message to the universe loud and clear that she was in for the long haul.

John clocked into his job at the same time every morning and had been doing this for many years. For the past six months John had been attending a business course at the local college and had been encouraged by the sheer enthusiasm of the lecturers and clicked with all the materials he had been studying. Soon he told himself he would find the business he was sure would be the right fit for him, because he knew he had set the stage in motion for attracting the right fit. Every weekend John coached with the local chapter of the boy scouts that his son Luke was a member of and just loved the rallying and the feedback he was getting from the kids. The plus side to this was Luke had told him how proud of his dad he was and it was a great boost for Luke with his friends. At work John was called the team cheerleader because he always had a bright smile and a happy way about him encouraging his fellow workers all the time. Self improvement and personal development played a large part in his life and he knew that was the area he wanted to find his niche.

Above are two scenarios where personal development played strong supporting roles in the lives of just two people and no matter what career any of us has there is always tremendous benefits from continual exposure to motivational materials and then being able to implement what you learn in your daily life.

Being self-employed for many years has had its many ups and downs, oftentimes scary too but the rewards have also been tremendous in ways that could not have been achieved with a paycheck. Yes there is the comfort of a guaranteed income every week, but actually that guarantee is waning and each day thousands take that huge step into the ranks of the self-employed because they want more from life.

Those who are successful go beyond the distance and do more, give more, learn more, practice more than the ones who fail and you know in all great accomplishments from NASCAR to swimming the difference in first and second is normally a second or two but the difference in income is doubled by the winner...it pays to win and it pays to be self employed and it more than pays to be working a self improvement personal development positive mental attitude if you want to be successful and live the life of success. Do It.

Quick Fix Personal Development

2008-02-05T01:37:00.000-08:00

When it comes to making changes for the better; there is no such thing as quick fix personal development. There are several successful people today who still use the principles taught in personal development. If you stop learning then you become stagnant. Personal development is a way of life it is not just a one time thing and then you never do it again.

If you want to lose weight you do not just go on a diet for a couple months and then go back to your old way of life of eating junk food and drinking soda and filling your body with the very things that made you overweight in the first place. No if you truly wish to keep the weight off then you learn how to develop new eating habits and exercise so that you can continue to live a long and healthy life.

People who have watched the movie "The Secret" have put the principles into use for a couple weeks and when they do not see any changes they lose their faith and quit believing in the law of attraction. If you are looking for a quick fix personal development you definitely will be disappointed. In order to be do have anything in this world you must do what it takes.

The most important thing is to know first of all what you wish to have. When you have that down on paper then you must learn how to control your mind and begin seeing yourself with whatever it is you desire. This takes persistence and time the important thing to remember is not to be discouraged if the first couple of times you attempt this you can not control your emotions the way you would like to. This is not a quick fix personal development life it is not a overnight fix. There is no such thing as something for nothing.

The ability to reach and influence your mind to help you achieve whatever you desire has a price and everyone who wishes to do so must pay that price. The price I am talking about is persistence there is no way to cheat believe me if there was everyone would be utilizing personal development in their lives. You and only you must decide whether or not the reward of your goal which you are striving for is worth the price to pay. No one can think the thoughts for you; you have to learn how to keep your thoughts on what you wish to experience and keep them off of your everyday life and financial worries. It is a simple process however it is very difficult to keep your mind focused on the things you desire especially when your outer world is in constant struggle or not designed the way you wish it was.

As you continue the process of personal development and learn how to influence your subconscious the way you want it to you will realize that you are a very powerful individual.

You Can Use Personal Development To Create Miracles

2008-02-04T01:25:00.000-08:00

The power of personal development is available to everyone. It is available to you whether you understand its internal workings or not. There is no need to be skilled in self improvement to achieve amazing results from applying a few simple techniques from its mighty arsenal. You can, right now, begin to create miracles in your life without ever having to probe the depths of personal growth. Get ready now to learn the secrets of personal development, apply some of its simple techniques and perform miracles in your life!

There are people from every walk of life who are performing miracles everyday. You may have heard the stories of a woman lifting the full weight of a car to save her child or a man walking again after years in a wheelchair. Perhaps you have heard of the British man who's body miraculously cured itself of AIDS or the men and women around the world who have found their cancer dissolve. You may even have heard of stranger things happening in places like India and Tibet.

However, you may be unaware of the miracles that ordinary people, just like you and me, are performing all over the planet. Miracles like, turning financial ruin into avalanches of wealth and abundance, finding soulmates and healing illness. Miracles are happening right now where men and women are; rekindling failing or failed relationships; healing old emotional wounds that have been carried for decades; finally reaching all there long cherished goals.

Would you like to be one of them?

The power of miracles does not lie in some long and almost forgotten past of avatars and saints. Nor does it lie in some distant mystical land or with metaphysical warriors who had studied ancient hidden arts for decades. The power of miracles lies right here in the present. Your power is in the NOW!

The reason why so many people fail to gain results from tried-and-tested techniques such as visualization, affirmations, hypnosis, subliminal programming etc., is because they are constantly living in the past. They allow hurts from the past to impinge upon the present. Every negative thought or feeling that you have is based in the past. You developed that way of thinking and feeling because of something that happened to you in your past. You must learn to release these hurts.

The secret to performing miracles in your life is to get clear on what you want. There is no need to do anything else at all. This is the truth - if you were capable of thinking of only those things and situations that you want to have then they are the only thing you would ever get. Unfortunately, you tend to think negatively when you bring to mind those things that you desire. You permit your mind to dwell on thoughts and emotions that are connected to past experiences. You may think that because you have never achieved any goal you set that there is no point in trying again. You may have been hurt in relationships and thus you allow these episodes in your life to stop you from trusting and committing. You know yourself what pains you have endured in the past. Do you want to continue recreating them or would you rather break free?

A great universal truth that is known by many but not fully understood by most is this - your predominant thoughts, backed by belief or emotion, create your reality. Quantum physics has already told us that matter cannot exist without consciousness. This new science is now telling us that it is consciousness itself that is the very driving force behind the physical universe and everything that is in it. It goes further by stating that consciousness, through thought, actually collapses the quantum field of possibilities into just one reality - in other words your thoughts and beliefs make things real! You create your own world!

Therefore the first step to creating miracles in your life is to take full responsibility for everything that you have created so far - bad relationships, terrible jobs, unfilled potential or good relationships, great jobs and goal achievements etc. By taking responsibility you regain your power because if you did it then you can undo it or redo the same way or in a way that is more pleasing to you.

Look at how you were thinking in regards to the good things in your life - the things that you are happy with. I bet you do not have much negative thoughts and feelings around them. Now look at all the things in your life that are not how you want them to be. I bet you think in negative terms about those a lot. Also look at the things you do not have. Are you in a state of wanting to have them? Are you lusting after them or grabbing at them? If so, then you are affirming to yourself and your subconscious mind that you do not have them!

Begin to dissect your thinking by reviewing how you feel about things in your life. Your emotions are a great guide to what you are currently creating. When you are in a state of happiness and your emotions are postive you will find that it is because you are mentally focused upon the things that you want in life. When you are feeling negative emotions or feeling generally unhappy this is a very strong indication that you are mentally focused on the things in life that you do not want. When you do this you are infact creating more of these things, recreating them again or attracting them to you. When you find yourself in this state you can quickly change it if you start to direct your thinking towards the things that you do want. Once you do this you will feel your mood lightening and if you are persistent you will enter a happy state. This lets you know that you are back on track and thus attracting and creating the things that you do want in life.

Seek out ways to eliminate all the hidden negative thoughts and feelings that you are currently afraid to look at. We all have them! It is strange but things that are clearly apparent to other people about ourselves are hidden from us because we refuse to acknowledge them. I am sure you know of a person that has some undesirable qualities and yet they are the first to point out those qualities in another. They just cannot see that they are like that themselves. We are all guilty of doing this!

Once you begin to eliminate your hidden negatives you will find that your thinking becomes much more positive without any conscious effort. You will find your life begins to change in magical ways. And you will surely see many miracles taking place in your life as you embrace the life you always wanted and deserve!

Personal Development Techniques To Release The Past

2008-02-04T01:24:00.000-08:00

Fear Personal Development

2008-02-02T02:34:00.001-08:00

Why do some people fear personal development? When this way of life will empower you and help you see that you can be do have anything you desire. The personal development industry is thriving and becoming bigger and bigger every year. However there are still people who fear personal development and tend not to believe some of the principles it teaches.

You must understand that there are people browsing the self help books area in book stores. People are becoming more dissatisfied with their lot in lives; and looking for some way to improve it. You can become a part of the pro-active crowd as we.

There is no reason to fear personal development; the principles are here to stay. If the principles were not delivering peoples goals and dreams; then it would be dwindling in size and becoming more and more popular. However the people who utilize these principles on a daily basis are beginning to live the lives of their dreams and are able to able to live in contentment.

Okay so if it works for some people; why does it not work for others? Have you watched the movie "The Secret?" It will explain in complete detail why this system works for some and why it does not work for others. You attract to you what you put a majority of your focus on. If you constantly fear personal development techniques will not work for you, then guess what you are attracting. You have to be semi selfish when you begin pursuing your goals. Most people always work hard for others because they enjoy helping other people. This is great I am not saying not to help others. However you must feel the same way about yourself, you must be willing to do anything to help yourself to what you desire.

You can turn on the internet and type in the word "personal development" in the google search box; and thousands of links will appear that will take you to things they claim will help you achieve anything you desire. Yes there are all kinds of useful products that will assist people to reach their goals; however are you truly ready to use them? What I mean is yes sometimes we set goals for ourselves; however deep down inside we do not truly believe that we can achieve these goals. You must be totally honest with yourself when you set a goal; do you have the desire to work towards that goal also do an honest insight into your own thoughts and beliefs about the goal.

Can you see yourself with what it is you desire? If not why? Do you feel like you do not deserve that goal? You must figure out what is holding you back from achieving that goal. There is no reason to fear personal development; if you can figure out what beliefs are holding you back then you will be able to utilize the principles to help you achieve whatever it is you desire.

Explode Your Marketing With A Personal Development Forum

2008-02-02T02:33:00.000-08:00

The personal development niche is worth billions of dollars a year. People across the world are flocking to the self improvement book shelves searching for information and desperate to improve their lives.

There are a lot of traditional methods of reaching your market, but with the rise of Web 2.0 technologies there is a brand new method of reaching a highly targeted, and eager, audience.

A personal development forum used to be a good place to find this audience, but people are moving away from these archaic, text based forums into communities of the MySpace and FaceBook kind. These new communities are taking the world by storm as a way to not only meet people but to share information and resources.

These new web based communities combine the traditional forum format with the ability to share audio, video, pictures and articles (usually via a blog on the community site).

Joining one of these sites will really help your business take off because you can advertise your products and services under the guise of joining in the community. Obviously, don't be too overt in your advertising, though some sites do allow classified adverts, so take advantage of those sites!

Visitors to these online communities browse through all the information available and you will find people following them through to your site and entering your marketing funnel.

By posting these resources you can establish yourself as an expert in your field. It's a great way to build your reputation and build your traffic. Not only do you get these people viewing your resources and coming through to your site, but you are also gathering free backlinks to your site in the search engines! Most social networking sites are regularly spidered because they have a lot of activity on them.

If you are a marketer in the self improvement niche, then you need to be joining a personal development community today and marketing your products and services.

Personal Development Forums - Why To Use Them

2008-02-01T02:35:00.000-08:00

Personal Development In The Work Environment

2008-02-01T02:33:00.000-08:00

Top 6 Secrets To Mastering Communication

2008-01-31T02:56:00.001-08:00

Communicating with others is an essential skill in business dealings, family affairs, and romantic relationships, and is an essential part of any personal development effort. Do you often find yourself misunderstanding others? Do you have difficulty getting your point across clearly? When it comes to communication, what you say and what you don't say are equally important. Being a good listener is quite crucial.

In my quest to become a better communicator, I came across a few things I will have to overcome before I succeed:

Challenge 1

Listen more carefully and responsively. Listen first and acknowledge what you hear, even if you don't agree with it, before expressing your experience or point of view. In order to get more of your conversation partner's attention in tense situations, pay attention first: listen and give a brief restatement of what you have heard (especially feelings) before you express your own needs or position. The kind of listening recommended here separates acknowledging from approving or agreeing.

Challenge 2

Explain your conversational intent and invite consent. In order to help your conversation partner cooperate with you and to reduce possible misunderstandings, start important conversations by inviting your conversation partner to join you in the specific kind of conversation you want to have. The more the conversation is going to mean to you, the more important it is for your conversation partner to understand the big picture. Many successful communicators begin special conversations with a preface that goes something like: "I would like to talk with you for a few minutes about [subject matter]. When would be a good time?" The exercise for this step will encourage you to expand your list of possible conversations and to practice starting a wide variety of them.

Challenge 3

Express yourself more clearly and completely. Slow down and give your listeners more information about what you are experiencing by using a wide range of "I-statements." One way to help get more of your listener's empathy is to express more of the five basic dimensions of your experience: Here is an example using one of the five main "I-messages" identified by various researchers over the past half century: What are you seeing, hearing or otherwise sensing?/ "When I saw the dishes in the sink..."

Challenge 4

Translate your (and other people's) complaints and criticisms into specific requests, and explain your requests. In order to get more cooperation from others, whenever possible ask for what you want by using specific, action-oriented, positive language rather than by using generalizations, "why's" ,"don'ts" or "somebody should's." Help your listeners comply by explaining your requests with a "so that...", "it would help me to... if you would..." or "in order to..." Also, when you are receiving criticism and complaints from others, translate and restate the complaints as action requests. ....").

Challenge 5

Ask questions more "openendedly" and more creatively. "Openendedly...": In order to coordinate our life and work with the lives and work of other people, we all need to know more of what other people are feeling and thinking, wanting and planning. But our usual "yes/no" questions actually tend to shut people up rather than opening them up. In order to encourage your conversation partners to share more of their thoughts and feelings, ask "open-ended" rather than "yes/no" questions. Open-ended questions allow for a wide range of responses. For example, asking "How did you like that food/movie /speech/doctor/etc.?" will evoke a more detailed response than "Did you like it?" (which could be answered with a simple "yes" or "no"). In the first part of Challenge Five we explore asking a wide range of open-ended questions.

Challenge 6

Express more appreciation.

To build more satisfying relationships with the people around you, express more appreciation, delight, affirmation, encouragement and gratitude. Because life continually requires us to attend to problems and breakdowns, it gets very easy to see in life only what is broken and needs fixing. But satisfying relationships (and a happy life) require us to notice and respond to what is delightful, excellent, enjoyable, to work well done, to food well cooked, etc. It is appreciation that makes a relationship strong enough to accommodate differences and disagreements. Thinkers and researchers in several different fields have reached similar conclusions about this: healthy relationships need a core of mutual appreciation.

Personal Development In The Public School System

2008-01-31T02:54:00.000-08:00

You know, with the evolution of technology and the human mind, you would really think that today's education system would evolve along with the evolution of society. We have children that are capable of learning and doing so much, yet we still tend to regurgitate the same information over and over again.

Why do we not teach children to become successful? Why do we not teach them to save money? Why do we not teach them that they are capable of creating things that are unimaginable?

Perhaps it is because teachers, today, are not educated on such things. They say to make a difference in the world or, to promote change, we need to start at the child level. Where this is correct, how could we possibly begin at the child level, when the teachers have no idea how to teach these skills?

Here's a thought, there are many personal development speakers and mentors around the world that are capable of teaching older adults to create substantial success in their lives; why are we not providing our children with this education. Think about it, what would it take to integrate personal and success development into the public school systems at the education level.

There are many people who have seen the movie "The Secret" but, what most don't realize is that they left 90% of the details out of that movie. But, the mentors that were speaking throughout that movie, are some of the most profound educators that this world has to offer. What would it truly take to acquire the assistance of these phenomenally talented mentors to help develop a new educational system. Wouldn't it be something if the knowledge that is passed on to our children today, was to decide their success, abundance and happiness tomorrow?

One of the most amazing facts that I realize is, children obtain and retain a majority of the knowledge they learn from the ages of 4 to 12 years of age. So why do we tend to begin teaching algebra and language to kids when they are 13 and fourteen years old?

If we realize that kids are willing to learn more at a younger age, then why does our public school system wait until our children are going through one of the most trying stages of their lives to teach them new knowledge!?

I am a parent, an educator and a mentor. I am a success coach and a radio talk show host. I am creating a fortune 500 company. Did I learn these skills from my parents? No, my parents are farmers who, when I was a child, brought home $150 a week. So, did I learn these skills in elementary school, high school or, college maybe? No I did not.

It wasn't until I was seeking for guidance from the personal development industry that I truly began to realize my passion and my soul purpose. Wow, wouldn't that be a lesson we could teach our children...How to find our passion and develop our soul purpose. Do you think, perhaps, that they would become more successful as a result of doing what they are passionate about? Maybe they will not become rich and famous...but that's what's nice about wealth and success, it has nothing to do with money, it is a characteristic of life that stems from within the people who are following their passions and developing what they believe to be wealth and abundance.

We seriously need to take a long, hard look at the way we are educating our children today. My wife was attending a university to become an elementary school teacher here in Pittsburgh. She decided to ask one of her professors this question, "If you had to state what our purpose is, as elementary school teachers, what would you say our soul responsibility is to these children?" His answer? "To prepare them to be able to acquire employment."

That statement, alone, should make you sick to your stomach...

My wife immediately changed her major from elementary education, to educational development and Psychology. Why? Because as a future educator, she understood the purpose of following one's passion and she knew that, as a teacher, she could not change the educational system. But, as somebody who is in the field of developing education for children, she can have a substantial impact.

I truly hope that this article has not offended any compassionate educators, but I'm sure it hasn't, considering, that if you are truly compassionate and passionate toward the education of our children... then these facts are staring you boldly in the face. Maybe you feel that there is nothing you can do to change things...but what have you done today to do so?

Setting Personal Development Goals Will Lead To Life Success

2008-01-30T02:29:00.000-08:00

Personal Development Through Courage

2008-01-30T02:27:00.000-08:00

We have all had times when something takes away all of our courage. We succumb to the effects of doubt, fear, self pity, and denial. It is at these moments in time when our resolve is tested in any endeavor. If you are truly passionate about what you are doing you will stand refusing to give in to the weakness.

Struggles are a natural part of any process. Through the challenges that we face we are building a solid structure. It will not only stand the test of our individual lifetime, but quite possibly endure through time. All great projects, including each one of us, are the sum of countless actions. These actions either build a palace or a shack.

When we are in the process of building our lives our greatest concern must be accuracy. People today marvel at the accuracy with which the pyramids were constructed. With no knowledge of the methods that were employed by the builders it seems utterly impossible for the time when they were built. How did they do it? They used the overwhelming abundance of natural laws to their advantage. Through the power of observation, and action they were able to accomplish the impossible.

Natural laws are absolutely the key to everything. We can observe that water always seeks to rest in a plane across the gravitational axis. The Egyptians observed this natural law and employed its use for insuring their foundations were absolutely level. They followed other natural laws regarding leverage, and consumption. I think you can see that these basic laws of construction, are an absolute in the business world as well.

Egyptian builders knew that their projects would require extreme physical effort, and resources. In turn there would be a demand placed for many consumable products.

I believe you get the picture. Take what you have, observe the natural laws pertaining to what you are trying to accomplish, finally put it all together by leveraging time, energy, and material.

To take on any task of magnitude we have to focus on the big picture. This is a critical key to the success. What will the requirements be? As always time, energy, and material. Those are the key elements, but the catalyst, which brings the elements into a symphony of production, is the human will, from the will comes forth action.

Our will is the most powerful force on this planet, second only to terrestrial forces in existence. Mankind has reshaped the earth in many ways with this force. The will to succeed, survive, surpass, create, and even destroy is extremely powerful. It can change the course of rivers, build magnificent structures, and unlock mysteries that are hidden.

The driving forces behind this will are thought, emotion, and action. The will is then manipulated with the elements of our character. Our character is the gravity, which pulls our will into a state of equilibrium with our ambition, and environment. This character is charged either positively or negatively. Compare say Jesus Christ with Genghus Khan.

Now lets come full circle back to courage. It is responsible for one to charge in when the odds are against you, to attempt what others would have you believe cannot be done, to get up after a crippling defeat and push forward. Courage is a great ally for you to develop. It's nature is pure, and its effects are astounding. It is the limitless potential of courage that will help you discover the natural laws necessary to complete your own life's work.

This life holds all the time, energy, and material that you will ever need. Have courage that you will discover the hidden. Strive for understanding every day. The primary element of success is to have the courage to keep going no matter what things appear to be like. Your courage is what will bring to life discipline, desire, and determination. So be very courageous in all that you do.

Can Personal Development Help Your Online Business?

2008-01-29T02:08:00.000-08:00

Personal Development Is A Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry

2008-01-29T02:06:00.000-08:00

Offshore Website Development India

2008-01-18T05:04:00.001-08:00

Offshore website development in India has progressed as website development companies move up the value chain to offer custom website development for global IT corporations. India has emerged as the king of providing valuable which led to the transformation of the country's transition from centralized planning to a market-oriented economy.

Website development India has become the one stop destination for getting cost saving, focusing on core business and flexible IT development services to get the full benefits of the current wave of information technology market.

Indian website development companies have developed their own simple and easy service providing methodologies which lead to complete satisfaction and better quality in every sphere of information technology. In order to provide the bets, Indian website development providers have a well-developed development process. An expert team of professionals, who are very skilled and qualified, availability of latest technology, proper developed communication channel to smoothen the effective exchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions and tools that gives full-cycle quality assurance.

Offshore website development India has boasted the confidence of Indian IT professionals who aims to perform and want to create their own niche in this fast moving world. With their specialized knowledge and updated information on latest technologies, Indian professionals have earned a great respect and trust of foreign clients and real worth of their hard labor.

Besides, this Indian website development market offers you the great worth of the money spend on development of the websites. No doubt, clients can get best of the quality and competitive cost better than other service providers. With its world-class skills, Indian website development services give you the added advantage of sharing of the information and responsibilities like completion of work at the promised time. Offshore website development market allows you to keep your head cool and provide you some optimum chances to gain in every avenues of their growing market.

Reboot Your Computer

2008-01-18T05:03:00.000-08:00

The greatest computer ever created lies within each of us. It is always on, connected to the the internet, and networked. The brain is the most complex, yet, least used computer that is in existence. We use only a fraction of it’s full potential. Imagine what we could accomplish if we accessed and used the whole brain. The world would be changed and would become a completely different place.

As children we used our brains very well. We were creative, passionate, we had many dreams and ambitions. We could be anywhere at anytime as long as we could think it up. There wasn’t a single doubt in our minds of what we could become. A dream was a reality. Whatever existed “Once upon a time” was an everyday thing.

Somewhere along the time line of growing up, our computers began to get viruses, adware and spyware. The viruses began to slowly distort and slow down. The spyware and adware effected our view on things and controlled what we were exposed to. Our computers became messed up and pretty much useless. They were operating on foreign programs instead of the ones that were installed in the beginning.

You know what? A good portion of the world is barely operating. Their computers are bogged down with so much junk that they are barely able to think for themselves. It is time to install an anti-virus program, remove all the crap, and reboot. The anti-virus is personal development. Personal Development is the cure for any limiting belief or operating malfunction. It is creating millionaires every day in this world and will continue to do so. In order to experience any significant change in life, it must begin from within.

I am involved in a business that is on it’s way to becoming a trade mark in the Personal Development Industry. In this business, as you improve yourself, your bank account also improves

Mind Tools for Personal Development

2008-01-03T04:04:00.000-08:00

Mind Tools for Personal Development.

New breakthrough discoveries by Neuroscience and Quantum Physics have given birth to a whole new technology of tools to enhance and expand our Human Potential. The most powerful mind and meditation tools ever created are now available-and most people have never even heard of this new technology that can unlock the limitless potential of the most powerful force in the universe; ‘our mind’, especially our sub-conscious mind.

Our subconscious mind is responsible for at least 70% of the results in our lives. Our mental programs stored in our sub-conscious mind are made up of our values and beliefs that work like filters, which in turn define our attitude and behavior towards the events in our life, or how we interpret ‘reality’.

Since most self-improvement techniques, like books and seminars, focus mainly on the conscious mind level, we tend to forget most of the information we acquire very quickly. While we may experience some results, the changes we expected do not last very long. So it is not uncommon to feel frustrated and quit our search for excellence and peak mental performance.

If you are the type of person that regularly tries self-help techniques, you may have tried positive affirmations. Positive affirmations are repeated on a conscious level, and have the potential to help us re-program our thinking, but most people do not find a quick fix, and often times they just make people feel silly! The problem isn't that these things can't work. It's just that they require an immense amount of effort and repetition to penetrate the conscious mind and reprogram years of negative programming that already exists in your unconscious. The problem with all these methods is they don't directly address the true source of your behaviors or core beliefs.

Many people have not even become aware of a new technology that is available that is helping people achieve amazing results. It is a technology that can bypass the conscious mind and address the unconscious directly, in effect, opening a window into your inner mind so you can implant positive programming. Through repetition and real life experiences that begin to mirror this new internal reality, it becomes self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating. Once locked in, your mind-script, is modified permanently. The unconscious then acts in accordance with its new programming and brings about changes in your everyday experiences to match this new reality. These programs utilize Brain Supercharger technology to directly modify your brain state and insert the new, healthy programming right into your consciousness.

One of the newest technologies available today that is having a positive impact on millions of people’s lives is called Brain Wave Entrainment.

What Is Brain Wave Entrainment?

BWE - is a well known scientific process that of inducing specific brainwaves to a desired controlled frequency (such as beta , alpha, theta, delta). One of the most effective forms of Brain Wave Entrainment uses binaural tones that recreate the desired beat frequency. The theory is that if this frequency is used as a stimulus to the brain for a period of time, then the brain's own frequency will adjust accordingly causing the pneuronet of the brain to restructure itself to a higher level of consciousness by balancing its left and right hemispheres, thus producing the positive lasting changes that we seek. Why would you want to do this? BWE can help you relax or stimulate your nervous system, and therefore will produce a sense of well-being, reducing depression and anxiety, improving overall health, and stimulate positive thinking.

According to Bill Harris founder of The Centerpointe Institute and the creator of The Holosync Solution: “this technology will safely and effortlessly take you to states of profoundly deep (and extremely pleasurable) meditation, stimulate the creation of new neural pathways between the right and left hemispheres of your brain, balancing your brain and leading you to a high-performance state scientists also call Whole Brain Functioning. You can dramatically improve your learning ability, memory, intuition, creativity, and your ability to focus, concentrate and think more clearly… Create true quantum leaps in your personal self awareness… Significantly lower your stress levels and lower your levels of harmful brain chemicals related to stress like cortisol…Create remarkable improvements in your mental and emotional health—even in areas that have stubbornly resisted change with other approaches…increase your production of vital (and very pleasurable) brain chemicals (serotonin) related to your longevity, well-being, and quality of life”.

Another well known company is The Transparent Corporation which is the premier developer of brain stimulation and training products geared towards solving human problems and increasing human potential. Their products are used by therapists, businesses, M.D.'s, teachers, academic researchers and thousands of regular, every day people in over 40 countries. These and many others BWE products can be purchased for personal use. I have put together a complete “Mind Tools Online Resource Guide” .

Network Marketing and Personal Development - Hokey or Essential?

2008-01-03T04:03:00.000-08:00

As an avid student of Network Marketing I have had an opportunity to read and re-read a pile of books, e-books, magazines and articles on the topic. A pile large enough that my wife sincerely wonders what they could all possibly say that is so different from one another.

The truth is that they don't often have all that much different to say - it's just that they say it differently from one another. Have you ever had the experience of having someone explain something to you and leaving you more confused than before? And then someone else comes along and explains the same thing and it all makes sense? That's the result I've gotten from all of this study.

One thing that every author, speaker, DVD guru agrees on, though, is this: there is an element of personal development that is essential to MLM success.

At first I thought that this was really corny, carnival barker-type stuff. Raise up the tent for the big revival rah-rah meeting! I completely discounted it. After reading, listening to, and watching all of these very sincere people tell me about it for so long I thought I was immune to it.

Then something happened. I was driving down the road, talking to a new recruit in my organization (Hands-free cell phone. I promise.) and I realized that I was talking the same talk! After the call, I spent some time in real soul-searching and discovered that all of this communication with people, all of this learning about their needs, all of this encouraging their success had been somehow transformative. "Oh, NO!" I thought. "I've become one of THEM!"

Well, I'm happy to have made the change. This MLM thing has helped me listen better. It has helped me be more encouraging and solution-oriented. It has made me pay more attention to the needs of the OTHER person.

The Barriers To Personal Growth And Development

2008-01-03T04:01:00.000-08:00

2007-12-20T02:07:00.000-08:00

Do you wake each morning filled with joy and happy to be alive? Do you face the coming day with excitement and anticipation? Are you happy with your life and how you have progressed over the years? If the answers to these questions are yes then you do not need to read any further. If, however, you wake each morning feeling trepidation, worry or just plain boredom then read on. If your life is not where you want it to be and you are dissatisfied with your progress then this article is for you.

There is a way to achieve your dreams. There is a way to find happiness. There is a way to uncover the winner that you have always been. You are about to wake the winner that has been sleeping within you.

Perhaps as an adult you have tried to better your life many times only to hit road block after road block. This is a common occurrence for those of us who wish to create better lives and happier environments. Sometimes going or what you want can stir up strong negative emotions and beliefs, leaving you feeling like a failure or loser.

However, do you realise that you were born a winner? You are already a winner! You have achieved the seemingly impossible since the day of your birth. You learned to walk upright on two legs regardless of the fact that you fell many times trying. You learned an unbelievably complex language so well that you don't need to think about what you're saying, all you need to do is hold an image in mind and you can instantly vocalise it! You can say things to yourself in your mind and instantly express those thoughts on paper in the form of words and sentences that were once merely strange symbols to you. Without any conscious effort you can read a book and understand every word. Don't you think it's time to reclaim your birth right and, once again, become the winner that you truly are and apply it to every are of your life?

You were born with tremendous self-belief and self-confidence. You never thought for a moment that was anything that could stop you from having, doing or being anything you wanted. As you got older adults started to tell you that you had boundaries and limitations and slowly but surely you began to believe them. Thus as you progressed in your journey to adulthood you started to learn how to lose in the game of life. You lowered your expectations and began to believe that you were incapable of achieving certain things, should not expect to get what you want and on some level that you are undeserving of success, happiness and achievement.

In order to escape these feelings of disappointment, dissatisfaction and low self-esteem you learned escape mechanisms. Some escape mechanisms involve smoking, drinking alcohol, sex, watching TV, seeking thrills etc. These habits are merely learned behaviour designed to cope with the feelings that drive them which are also learned. None of these states are natural to you!

Your natural state is of bliss, joy and wonderment - just look at a baby! This state of joy with no self-imposed feelings of limitation is the driving force behind success. Before you can achieve success in any endeavour you must uncover at least some of this natural state and remove those negative feelings and beliefs that have been programmed into your mind.

The Personal Development Industry and Self Improvement field have developed numerous methods for removing your self-imposed limiting beliefs in order to uncover the real unlimitedness and joy within you.

The tools available to create inner change range from hypnosis and sound therapy, at one end of the spectrum, to visualization and energy work, at the other. In order to eliminate your own resistance and the negative thoughts and feelings which are holding you back from the life you want you must seek the appropriate tools. There are a myriad of techniques, tools and instruments to help you in this objective. You are a self-fulfilling prophecy. We all create our own worlds. You are creating your tomorrows today!

To achieve success and uncover your true inner joy it is extremely important to monitor your self-talk - the inner dialogue that is constant throughout your day. By doing this you can identify your own self-defeating views about yourself and your world. Watch how you are talking to yourself about yourself and the people around you. If something goes wrong do you immediately blame others, yourself, the world or even God? Do you expect to succeed or fail? Look at your views and identify what your self-talk is telling you about your self-imposed limitations.

Once you have identified these false limitations that you hold you can then seek the appropriate method, technique or tool to eliminate it. Hold the intention that you will identify the thoughts and feelings that are holding you back and then seek some guidance on the best way to remove these inner blocks to your success.

You are manifesting your life on a daily basis and can truly have all that you desire if you take the time to clean-up the garbage in your own mind. Clearing unwanted beliefs is relatively easy these days as there are numerous cutting-edge technologies available. Hypnosis has progressed to a stage where a phobia can be cured with one session, binaural beats, light and sound machines, subliminal messages, the Sedona Method etc., have all been developed to make change happen quickly, easily and in some cases effortlessly. The problem is not having a way to remove these limitations of the mind the only problem you have now is identifying them.

Begin today to watch exactly how you speak to yourself internally. This is the fastest way to understanding how you view yourself and your world. Look for the negative beliefs you hold. Having identified your mental limitations you can get some self improvement tools and begin to change your own ineternal beliefs. Your life will change is ways you can only imagine and you will become the winner you were born to be!

Personal Development Plans For Musicians

2007-12-20T02:06:00.000-08:00

You know, there's much more to playing music than learning scales and chops. There's a whole other side to playing music that's in your mind and your heart. As a musician, if you create your own personal development plans and follow them, you'll be able to do much more than you every believed you could.

Setting Goals

This is first and foremost. You probably don't remember, but one year ago today, you didn't play nearly as well as you do now. You also hadn't heard some of the music that's influenced your playing. There were ideas out there in the universe that you couldn't have even imagined one year ago today.

So, where would you like to be next year on this day? Nobody ever gets anywhere without setting goals. Decide what it is you'd like to achieve in the next year, and then take the steps you need to achieve it.

But, don't set unrealistic goals for yourself. This is a real confidence killer. "I want to become proficient in six more orchestral instruments in the next year." Whoah, put on the breaks a minute! Think about what you realistically can do; take steps toward your goal, and each step along the way will be joyous and inspiring. You can do what you want, but some things take longer than others.

Keep An Open Mind

Every musician has a subconscious checklist. This checklist says, "I am this" and "I am that." It also says, "I can do this" and "I can't do that."

Everybody can benefit from exploration. Get out and check out new music you've never heard before. If you're a jazz player, get some hip hop records. What do you like and what don't you like about them? What is similar and what is different? You'd be surprised how different styles of music mesh together into something else. Don't restrict yourself.

If you're a classical musician, go the library and check out some CDs of music from some other part of the world. If at first it sounds jarring, give it a good listen. Maybe you can bring something unique to your music from a faraway place.

Turn Mistakes Into Learning Opportunities

One thing that holds everybody back, musician or otherwise, is focusing on failure. Regret is a terrible thing. When you make a mistake, reflect on it. Think about what went wrong and how you can make it go better next time.

This is especially important with your performances. When you have a bad show, you just want to go somewhere alone and stew about it. You might want to give the whole thing up and get an office job. But, it's really important not to think about it that way.

Whether you have a good performance or a bad performance, reflect. Think about what went well, and what went badly. What got the most audience response, and what could you maybe skip next time. This is all part of honing our performance skills.

Relax And Have Fun

Every performer has a certain mental zone that he or she gets into before the big show. This helps them play at their best and always give a good performance.

Even after years of performing experience, many people are nervous onstage. In interviews, professional musicians often say that this is the case. Everyone needs their own technique for relaxing before the show. If you're nervous, you just won't get your best results.

For example, when you play, imagine that you are in your room practicing. In your room, you want to do your personal best for yourself. If you fudge a note, it's YOU that has to listen to it. Imagine that you're back there in your room, and do your best for yourself.

Chops Aren't Everything

Finally, technique isn't everything. It's just a tool that helps you realize the sounds you hear in your head. Remember that heart, energy and soul are just as important.

We all play to the beat of a different drum, so find out what works best for you, and make that your personal development plan. In the words of the Beatles, "There's nothing you can do that can't be done..."

Effective Brainstorming

2007-12-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

Brainstorming or mind mapping is one of the most useful tools available to leaders. Through brainstorming a whole load of ideas can be generated in a comparatively short period of time. The effectiveness of any brainstorming session depends on some simple rules. So what are those rules?

Rule 1: Suspend Judgement

The purpose of brainstorming is to generate ideas rather than evaluate and discount ideas. For this to happen, it is essential that those participating in the session avoid making judgements on the ideas generated until the group has run out of ideas.

Rule 2: Free Wheel

Brainstorming is about being creative. Creativity is what unlocks brilliant ideas and produces the spark that gives organisations competitive edge. Key to unlocking these brilliant ideas is creating an environment, where ideas, no matter how wild or off the wall are welcomed and encouraged.

Rule 3: Focus on Quantity

Your brainstorming session should be all about producing a large volume of ideas. When you focus on quantity you energise and more and more gets created.

As an example, I attended a workshop recently where participants were asked to come up with as many ideas as they could for uses for a coffee mug. We only had a matter of minutes to do this but despite this 48 ideas were generated. The reason for this is that everyone was just focusing on generating as much as they could without thinking about whether they were good or bad.

Rule 4: Build and Improve

Another important aspect of effective brainstorming is to look at ways of building on the ideas of someone else. For example participant A says something that sparks an idea from B and C and so on.

You may be asking yourself how this can be utilised in organisations. Some potential areas where you could use brainstorming include:

• Generate a new product name

• Generate ideas for an article that you are writing like this one

• To come up with a new company slogan

• To carry out a SWOT analysis

• To problem solve

• To generate options for decision making

So if you want to generate more ideas in a shorter time, start brainstorming.

The Skills, Traits and Values of Successful Managers

2007-12-18T00:06:00.000-08:00

How often have you heard people complain that managers are too remote and don't really know what is going on? Probably a number of times, but have you ever stopped to think about the skills, traits and values of the successful managers? Here are my 9:

1. Productive

The most successful managers are highly productive. They get things done. You have probably heard people say that if you want something done give it to a busy person. Another way of looking at it is to say that if you want something done give it to a highly productive manager.

2. Set challenging goals

Successful managers love to be stretched, challenged and thrown into the unfamiliar situations. Setting challenging goals is about setting goals that that are achievable but will require a big push to make it happen. It might be a sales target, a reduction in waste or increased productivity.

3. Express ideas fluently

It is no good being great at generating ideas unless you can express them. Getting your message across is essential. Those that excel as managers focus on this core area.

4. Communicate assertively

Confusion often arises between what is assertive as opposed to aggressive communication. When a manager communicates assertively they respect both themselves and others. They have a knack of getting results without impacting adversely on the relationship.

5. Technically competent

Sometimes it easy to fall into the trap of believing that technically competent equates to being the technical expert. Technical ability is just one facet of a manager and a manager who is competent will often include others in the team who are the technical experts.

6. Lead the team

Teams look for the manager to set the direction, monitor progress, take responsibility and help unclear blocks. In other words they look to their manager to provide leadership.

7. Loyal and supportive

It is easy to think that when someone becomes successful as a manager they forget about the past. In my experience it is quite the reverse. Successful managers are very loyal to the organisation, their team and peers. They also want to help others to achieve success.

8. Positive approach to problems

Problems and challenges are part of day to day life as a manager. Successful managers accept this and stay positive. They see these problems as an opportunity to develop and grow.

9. Prepared to make sacrifices

Becoming a successful manager requires a willingness to make sacrifices. This can include giving up free time to get additional qualifications or a willingness to relocate to secure a promotion. Alternatively it might be a willingness to wait to get resources for a project because there is a more pressing need elsewhere in the organisation.

Your True Potential

2007-12-15T02:54:00.001-08:00

Most people are not living up to their true potential are you one of them? Are you stuck in a rut in your life working at a job that you are not truly happy with, but you stay there because you do not have enough belief in yourself to pursue your goals? Are you living in a relationship that you are not happy with because you feel like you can not do better? If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, you are not alone because several people are living under their true potential.

Many people do not set goals for themselves because they do not feel like they will not even be able to reach them. Heck many people do not even know how to set goals. You must begin to realize today that you do possess so much true potential to be do have anything you desire. However before you can begin tapping into it, you must be willing to take risks that can open doors of opportunity to you. Whatever you desire whatever your goals are you can pursue your dreams and as you begin to live life more positively things will begin to unfold the way you envision them.

People are letting fear hold them back, and they end up living a life of regret. You only pass through this life once and if you let fear hold you back then chances are you will never live a life fulfilled and living up to your true potential. You must begin to believe that we were all put on this earth to accomplish great things. The law of the universe is on our side and will help us achieve all great things. You can call it whatever it is you want religion, spirituality, or the law of attraction; it is all the same everything is working for you to be able to tap into your true potential and live life to its fullest.

People will attempt to tell you that you can not be do have anything you desire, as long as you can stop listening to the negative and believe that as long as you persist and believe that you can have anything you will eventually achieve it.

Begin developing new habits that will assist you to feel more positive. As you take the time to write your goals down visualize the outcome you desire on a daily basis. Take the time to continually tell yourself positive affirmations. Read books that will help you stay motivated and constantly learn new things to help you tap into your true potential.

If you desire something then take the time to believe in yourself and have the faith to move forward to it. It does not matter what others believe you can or can not do. All that matters is do you possess the courage to begin tapping into your true potential? Or are you going to keep letting society tell you what you can do?

As you learn to develop your faith you will begin to realize your true potential.

How To Develop Gratitude

2007-12-15T02:52:00.000-08:00

Once you learn how to develop gratitude, things will become easier for you to manifest. Yes we can have be do anything we desire you must learn how to develop faith and believe that you were meant to live an abundant life. Most people say because they go to church on Sunday's they have learned how to develop gratitude.

One of the things I have learned how to do to help me develop my gratitude is waking up everyday and giving thanks for just being alive. I run through the things I am grateful for in my life. Yes sometimes it can become a little difficult especially if things are not going the way you would like for them to go. However as you learn to appreciate what you do have then you will begin to attract more of whatever it is you desire.

Take for instance you want to make more money for you and your money however right now you are barely making ends meet. As you begin to give thanks for the food you have to eat, the roof over your head, and the car that you have to drive things will begin to get better for you. Opportunities will begin to show up in your life, checks will begin coming in the mail. You will begin to realize that you will not necessarily have to work eight hours a day to bring money into the house. I know that may seem a little hard to believe but I am speaking from experience.

During my tough times I kept positive and always made sure that I gave thanks for everything in my life; I still do it today. I received two checks in the mail from a past employer I have not worked for in over two years. Yes it was amazing I did not expect any checks from them but they came addressed to me. So if you really want things to be better in your life then begin being appreciative for everything in your life. You do have a lot to be thankful for if you just look at your life.

If you truly wish to experience more abundance, better health, more happiness or whatever it is you want. You must be thankful for everything in your life right now; as you begin giving thanks for everything you will notice more blessings coming into your life. You can not expect anything new or better to come into your life if you are ungrateful for things right now.

Stop complaining about the things you do not like and stay focused on what you wish to experience as you do this you will be grateful for everything in your life. As you begin living your life in this manner you also will become a much more positive person and people will begin becoming attracted to you as well. It is a wonderful way to live and once you live it, you will be happy you chose to be thankful for everything in your life.

Personal Development - Why Is It Important?

2007-12-12T00:34:00.001-08:00

We did not come with an instruction manual and the people that taught us what we know very likely did not have one either. Research has been done to assist you in understanding how to attain true health, wealth and happiness.

When I was first introduced to the world of personal development, I was one of those people that said "yeah right". I fought the idea, but my reason for looking in the first place was more compelling than the reason (lack of belief in doing it) not to do it. Working on understanding how you tick is not a fun thing to do at first, because you can tend to focus on all the things that are wrong with you. You have to be willing to accept the fact that you are not perfect and could improve in a number of places. The good news is you also have just as great an opportunity to focus on the good that you have in you too.

Good personal development, that is personal development that allows you to develop personally over time, will take you on a tour of your mind, usually over about 90 days. Part of the trick is to stay with it, after all, you went to school to learn how to learn for 12 years, you may have gone to college to learn specialty skills for 2-5 years or more. The point is you will not understand yourself over night, it will take 90 days just to break into your mind and learn how to operate it and a lifetime to master it.

Have you ever taken the time to assess your good and bad points, understood the background to some of your "bad habits", thought that you are supposed to be wealthy? If not, why not?

Everything we do is based on "beliefs", beliefs are things that we develop over time, some of them are based on fact, some are based on fiction, while others are based on someone else's beliefs. For example, we know that if you touch a stove-top element when it is hot, you will get burned. Maybe you learned this yourself and experienced the pain or you learned this from someone else that told you. Another example could be that you believe you will never be wealthy because either someone told you, or you have experienced it that way so far and have just given up. Shame on you!

Bill Gates, one man, has made over 50 Billion dollars and he is not the only one; he did it from nothing more than an idea. If he believed it when people told him that he could never be a Billionaire, he never would have become one. Bill Gates is a Billionaire because he is a student of personal development; he has learned how to set goals, visualize them and attain them by understanding how his mind works.

Freedom is a belief that most of us do not really understand, one would initially think that freedom would not have any limits or costs. Well, wake-up, if you live like most go and go to a job every day, you are only as free as the distance you can go away from your job so you can be back on time tomorrow.

Now, living Beyond Freedom is a lifestyle that most of us do not believe is possible. Here is the think, there is a life out there that you deserve to have, it can be found in yourself, you just need to know where it is hiding. Living Beyond Freedom will bring you into a whole new world, a world where you can attain true health, wealth and happiness.

So, go find some books, programs, etc. and begin to create the life you know you deserve. If you need some help finding the right ones, contact me and I will get you to the place that I know is best.

Personal Development - Get Ready To Be A Winner

2007-12-12T00:32:00.000-08:00

Personal Development Tips - 7 Qualities of a Successful Leader

2007-12-05T02:14:00.000-08:00

To be truly successful in your life, your career, your community or in any area, you need to develop the qualities of a leader. First and foremost, you will need to be able lead yourself to success. Furthermore, true success often requires you to lead other people as well. Here are 7 personal development tips – the qualities of successful leaders.

There are 7 important qualities of a leader that you should know about, assimilate and practice every day in your life. You may already recognise some of them in your self – that’s a good start. Be assured, we all have the makings of a leader in us. You just need to build on that base to incorporate more of the qualities of a leader a bit at a time.

As you get closer to the qualities of a true leader you will find that you begin to act like a leader and people behave as if you are leader. Leaders are the people who have the greatest rewards in all walks of life. Whether in business, or in society or in the community.

Seven qualities of a leader

Integrity. Integrity means that you are true to yourself and your ideas. You are someone you can trust and someone other people can trust. This is possibly the most important quality. You should always strive to do things that you are proud to explain to anyone.

Understand the area you want to be a leader in. You simply won’t have a thorough grasp of the area you are trying to be a leader in. This applies to any walk of life – business, community, spiritual… All leaders have a good grasp of the basics and the key details.

This is not to say that you have to know everything there is to know – that is the job of the specialist, but you need to be able to talk to specialists and contribute some guidance to their work.

Consistency. When you are trying to lead people, you will rapidly loose the trust of your followers if you constantly change your mind and your direction. They will feel uncertain about their future and eventually you will loose them. This applies to yourself as well. If you are constantly changing direction, you will end up running round in circles and going nowhere.

Ability to admit your mistakes. One of the greatest cause of failure is not being willing to admit your mistakes. If you lie to yourself, you are fooling no one but yourself. You must be able to face up to your mistakes otherwise you will miss tremendous opportunities to learn from your mistakes and accelerate your success.

Willingness to listen. You can never know all the answers, you must be able to deal with contradictions and leverage the vast pool of knowledge that is around you.

Decisiveness. Great leaders make decisions and they make them quickly. Even if they are wrong, you’ll learn more by taking action than by not taking the decision. You can always make another decision based on your learning.

Self Belief. If you don’t believe in your self… no one will! You will face a lot of setbacks and obstacles. You need to believe in yourself and your ability to solve the problems and achieve your dreams. If you believe in yourself you will display an burning passion for your idea that will motivate others to follow you.

The Barriers To Personal Growth And Development

2007-12-05T02:13:00.000-08:00

The Dark of the Moon - A Natural Time of Magic and Creation

2007-11-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

The Dark of the Moon is considered an especially mysterious, fruitful, and flexible time of "molding" the creative experiences that will come forth in the weeks immediately ahead. It is said that wishes made as the last sliver of the Moon's light fades on the left, and affirmed through the Dark of the Moon period until the first sliver of new light appears again on the right, have special support -- special empowerment -- to come true. Affirming them again at the moment of the New Moon itself gives extra push to their nourishment and initiative.

The Dark of the Moon is time of legendary power for such creation. The Dark of the Moon is always best used to rest, recuperate, become quiet, invite calm and serenity into your world, and spend some time in personal reflection looking back over your life and personal history -- as far as you want to go into the past -- and playing with new intentions, new desires, new directions. It's a time to stay "at home" -- both physically and psychologically -- and tend to your private world and its circumstances.

Create the conditions that will replenish your spirit ... and indulge them fully, whether this means meditation, reading, contemplation, cleaning, clearing away emotional and psychological debris that hinders you, listening to music, writing in your personal journal, talking quietly with intimate, trusted associates, listening to the whispered words of your deepest intuitions, working on personal healing therapies and rituals ... or some combination of all these things.

Play with ideas and think of things you might like to create over the next several weeks, realizing this is a time to brainstorm, daydream, and fantasize, not a time to take action. All things begin in mind. Everything in the world originated in the nebulous intellectual energy of an idea, a dream, a desire. To work with the especially potent energy available during the Dark of the Moon, plan for some serious personal down-time every month starting about 2 1/2 days before each New Moon ... and lasting for 1 - 1 1/2 days after ... and focus your inner work, thoughts, and attention on the matters I just described.

This automatic "natural" 4 day vacation can help bring fabulous results -- emotionally, psychologically, physically, spiritually and even financially to your life. It's easy to find information about the New Moon every month ... by searching online, certainly, but many calendars (and certainly all astrological calendars!!) have this information clearly marked in the appropriate day / date box. The Dark of the Moon days that surround the New Moon's arrival each month are the time to set new intentions and plans into motion in your life ... in the realm of thought where all creation happens.

You can learn lots more about working with Moon energy on our website ... and get plenty of Moon energy information and tactics delivered right to your inbox by joining our Premium Members website. However you choose to do it, learning to work in flow with the natural progression of energy marked by the phases of the Moon could be one of the most productive things you do for your life and your success ... ever!! And one of the easiest to use.

The Energy of The Sun - Interpreting the Symbolism of The Sun in Astrology

2007-11-30T02:27:00.000-08:00

The Sun symbolizes your basic personality. The Zodiac sign it is in describes the "essential qualities" of your character. This sign is also the easiest one to find. You probably already know it. It's what you mean when you tell someone "I'm an Aries," or "I'm a Capricorn," or "I'm a Pisces."

Astrologers consider that your Sun sign describes your core personality... and many will say it is the most important sign you have, although that's not entirely correct. The Moon sign and the Ascendant sign are just as important -- although they are impossible to accurately determine unless an astrologer actually casts your horoscope and looks at the information it contains.

The Sun when well-supported brings willpower, pride, the desire for personal glory, and the drive to "shine" in the eyes of the world. It prompts actions that have impact and the show you are important. The focus is on being recognized ... for all the things you are. A well-supported Sun in a horoscope has other planets that form helpful angles with its position. These angles are known as aspects, and the benevolent ones -- the conjunctions, sextiles, and trines -- show planets aligned with the Sun's interests in ways that are sympathetic, cooperative, supportive, or working from a foundation of similar values.

Planets that form conjunctions, sextiles, or trines with The Sun bring their qualities and strengths, skills, abilities, and interests to support those of the Sun in the way it expresses itself, the work it performs, and the results it produces. The Sun, of course, reciprocates with this "partner planet," lending vitality, charisma, and confidence to what it represents in a person's character ... and the agenda it has set out to perform.

If The Sun in your Natal Chart has planets that form conjunctions, sextiles, or trines to support it... your personality has added "ego strength." Your character has help expressing itself well, and your natural talents have ready-made channels for development and areas of life where they can display themselves well.

The Sun when stressed is an energy that degrades into an atmosphere or character that is arrogant, vain, egotistical, self-centered, petty, and pompous. The recognition you seek is hindered somehow... and you feel slighted, discounted, mistreated, insulted. (And you respond to that just as one might expect! Badly.)

Planets that form squares or oppositions with The Sun apply their qualities and strengths, skills, abilities, and interests in ways that interfere with, hinder, irritate, or otherwise stress the Sun and its ability to express itself, do the work it wants to do, achieve its ambitions, or gain the results it desires.

If The Sun in your Natal Chart has planets that form squares or oppositions with it, your personality feels hindered, limited, divided, "torn in different directions," forced to time-share your resources, or in some cases chronically blocked and frustrated ... unable to express yourself well, impeded in gaining your desires, unable to achieve your ambitions easily -- if at all, and deprived -- or at least delayed -- in gathering the respect and authority that marks you as "someone important" in the family, social, and business circles where you want others to value you and your contributions.

These descriptions hold true whether the helping or hindering planet is also contained in the Natal Chart (and therefore is constantly in its positive or negative position relative to The Sun) or whether it is transiting in the sky (and therefore is only temporarily involved in the expressions of The Sun, for better or worse.)

The horoscope is divided into twelve different sections called houses ... which represent the twelve major divisions of life interest and experience. The house in your Natal Chart which contains the Sun shows the area of life and the kind of concerns where you want attention -- and where you pay a lot of attention, where you want to be noticed, where you want to be considered essential and influential. It is the most important area of life to you. It's where you want to be proud of yourself and what you do. It describes what makes you feel alive ... and what you consider your real reason for living.

Information based on your Sun sign alone is "better than nothing," but it is also seriously incomplete. Forecasts based on your Sun sign will tell you what is happening with regard to your ego, your self-image, and your personal development out in the world. But that's not all you are ... not by a long shot.

Personal Development: Communication Tips

2007-11-22T02:47:00.000-08:00

Communication has less to do with actual words and more to do with preparation, follow up and body language. Physical communication (person to person in the flesh) includes many different things to consider. Voice communication is different from physical communication for obvious reasons. Written communication has certain advantages for the writer, as he/she can really think through what they are trying to convey to the reader. But preparation, follow up and body language are very much related to all of the above types of communicating.

Obviously, the more one is prepared for something, like a meeting, the more it is likely they will know what to say and when to say it. If I try to give a seminar on commercial real estate to a local real estate investors club, I could easily be asked a question and not have the answer. However, if I do not prepare at all for it, the likelihood that this will happen increases very much. Being prepared means knowing or at least attempting to know what to expect. I was never a boy scout, but I know their motto is “Be prepared.” This makes perfect sense. The more prepared you are, the more confidence you demonstrate to others.

Follow up. Follow up. Follow up! In life, the better you are at following up on things, the easier things seem. It’s funny how you can expect things to just go your way or happen as planned. Make no mistake, follow up is an important part of communication. Think about the follow up call a guy gives a girl (or vise versa), on a Tuesday, after getting the number on that past Saturday night. Sure, there is that “mandatory” waiting period, but the follow up is key to extending further communication. Without it, communication breakdown begins and before you know it, a month has passed and when you go to call the person, they don’t [or don’t want] to remember your name!

If you’re closing on a piece of real estate, you depend on many different parties to get things done. The lender, title and insurance company, inspectors, appraisers and the like, must come together to help you close the deal. Follow up is so important on your part! Making calls and sending emails to the various parties involved will only better your chances of a smooth closing. You must follow up.

Body language involves the eyes, head, body and general appearance of a person. A very intense look consists of eye contact and possibly some nodding of the head accompanied by leaning forward. Compare this to a person leaning back in their chair and yawning as you speak. Different body “tones” send different messages to the receiver. Making a point to make eye contact can go a long way in developing rapport with people. By conveying positive body language, you’re showing the receiver you are a person with motivation, confidence, and strength.

These are three basic communication tips, but they’ll go a long way toward improving your overall effectiveness. Effective communication does depend on the confidence you show but you build confidence if you develop these basic skills. Being prepared cannot be stressed enough! The more you prepare for a speech, conversation, or networking/social gathering, the more confident you will be. That is a fact!

Can Personal Development Help You To Get Everything You Want?

2007-11-22T02:43:00.000-08:00

Do you think you could imagine a better life for yourself and those you love if a genie appeared and told you that you were only a thought away from your perfect life. Do you believe that it is possible for you to envision that perfect life in such detail that it seems real at the time? Do you think if the genie said to you that every small detail would become reality in a very short time and that you had time to prepare your vision, you could perfect that mental image? What would you place in your mental picture? What you you have? What would you be? What would you do?

Well fasten your seatbelt and get ready for the ride of your life. It really is possible to be, do and have anything that you can imagine and it is possible through some simple personal development techniques!

So ask yourself the question, "what would I do if I knew I couldn't fail?"

There are only two things that can stop you from having what you want in life and being the person you aspire to be.

1. Lack of Clarity. It is important to be specific about what you want. Most people fail to achieve or gain the things in life that they want simply because they do not know what they want. Their desires are like leaves in a breeze, blown this way and that on the winds of change. You must be clear on exactly what you want if you are ever to achieve it. A strong vision of your future is the first and most important step in goal achievement.

To get clear do the following exercise: Take a piece of paper and write as many things you can think of that would make you happy. Give yourself three minutes to complete this exercise. Don't limit yourself. Don't allow limitations to get in the way. No matter how unbelievable it may appear or how impossible it may seem right now don't let it discourage you. There is a universal maxim that states "You only have a desire because you are capable of achieving it!"

Now after you have written your desires down number them from 1 upwards in order of importance. Chose the three most important desires on your list. These will be your goals that you will focus on first and accomplish before the others. Ensure that these are the most important things to you at this time.

2. Resistance. Now there are people in this world that are very clear on what they want in life. In fact not only are they clear on what they want but they are also very clear on how to get it, yet no matter how hard they try they seem to make little, or no, progress. Why is this?

Resistance is the only thing stopping you! Your resistance is the only reason that you have never achieved your desires. Re you one of these people? Do you harbour resistance within your being? Somewhere deep within you are conflicting beliefs that stop you from achieving success.

You must weed out these destructive modes of thought and feeling in order to achieve your aims. Truly when you have resistance it just means that you are not yet fully clear on what you want.

Your thoughts are only creative. Do you realise that your entire world has been constructed from your thought. If you have resistant thoughts then you are sending out mixed messages to the universe. On the one hand you have the thoughts that reflect your desires but on the other hand you have thoughts of doubt, confusion, disbelief or fear.

It is essential to do one of two things.

1. Get so clear on what you want that you wipe out resistance through your belief in your vision.
2. Destroy destructive thoughts at their core and you remove resistance from your thoughts, emotions and life.

Here is the key to universe and to achieving everything you want in life - YOU ALWAYS GET MORE OF WHAT YOU FOCUS ON in Life! We all have a tendency however, and this includes you, to believe more in what is not possible than what is possible. If you are honest with yourself and take inventory of your own nature you will find that you tend to focus more on your personal limitations than on your strengths and capabilities. Do you tend to focus on what you cannot do, or do you focus on what you can do? Do you focus on what you want or do you focus on the lack of it? There are many great techniques for eliminating resistance from your thoughts, feelings and beliefs. The easier way to overcome resistance, for the novice personal development student, is to get very clear on your what you want. When you are totally clear you believe so strongly in your vision that nothing can stand in the way of its manifestation!

You can begin with a visualization technique where you imagine your ideal scene twice daily. Visualise your ideal scene every morning just after you waken and then again at night just before you turn to sleep. See the image as having already happened. Imagine it as though you have already achieved the three most important things on your list. Actually step into the picture and live it as though you already had it. Feel all the great feelings that being, doing and having that vision conjure up in you.

Then when you go about your day reinforce that picture by acting as though it were already true. Evoke the same feelings you had when visualising it and you will convince your subconscious mind that your visualised life is really your true reality right now. Once this happens nothing can stop its achievement!

Stay focused on what you want. If you have negative thoughts realise that this is just resistance and when you catch yourself doing it - stop. Then immediately think the opposite thought while evoking strong feeling with the thought. It is important to evoke positive feelings when you call to mind your vision. If you start to feel frustrated that you have not yet achieved your vision take several deep breaths and concentrate on the rewards of having. Get yourself back into a state of feeling good!

If you wish to create your life the way you want it to be then this is the only personal development tool you need. It is not always easy to learn at first but the rewards are worth many times the effort required to master it. If need be seek out quality assistance to or any of the great tools available to help you stay focused and remove resistance but most importantly of all enjoy the journey and transition from where you are now to the deliberate creator you were born to be!!

Personal Growth and Success

2007-11-17T04:57:00.001-08:00

I am, from the start a "READY GO" person so in the beginning days of my network marketing business I felt that the personal development component of a business, whether network marketing or other any other, was not a helpful use of time. I have done a 360º turn in what I am thinking now about the value of personal development. Let me explain why.

At first, I felt that far too many people "nested" in personal development and never did the business. I was just the opposite. I didn't do anything much in the direction of personal growth. As my organization grew, and grew very quickly, I discerned that not everyone has come along the same path of development. People, all of us have come to the business via different directions having come from various career backgrounds. Many of those career paths are not terribly rich in providing opportunity for a person to develop and grow. We all need to be growing in our journeys here on planet earth.

What I will tell you is that it does not build your business to stick your head in a book or tap your toes to the introduction music of the motivational tapes more an hour or two tops per day. This is NOT income producing activity. You need to be in income producing activity at least 80% of your work week time. I have no more than five suggestions in my "Leaders are Readers" section and then a few more in the "Supercharge and Take it to the Next Level" portion. I separate the two so new business coaches know they can get started quickly with a short list in terms of personal growth. On my short list is the following:

• Watch or read The Secret

• Add these important books to your library and make it a priority to read them...

o Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

o You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor

o The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

o The Power of the Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy

These are not in a particular order except one and two. Listening to The Secret will greatly assist people in an important mind-set - that of being in the state of attraction. Don't feel you need to be able to do this perfectly right away. It doesn't happen for most people that way. We are a work in progress so give yourself permission to do your work a little at a time. Whenever I find my mind going to a negative I take a deep breath and move myself to a positive state. So first is the mind-set of attraction. Next I want my new starts to spend time with Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich where they will immerse themselves and feel the importance of growing themselves personally. I love the journey he suggests on self-confidence early in the book. Do a team call on confidence and focus on the portion of his writings.

The 4 Hour Work Week is the freshest piece I have read in a long time. Readers will be highlighting and taking notes on the perspectives and checking the websites Tim Ferriss suggests. It will be a book to carry around with you as you grow your business and choose to develop a lifestyle only some people "dreamline". You Were Born Rich is just a timeless piece from a highly respected mentor to so many of us. Bob Proctor helped me understand that we are all born with abundance and what we do with that is up to us. The Power of the Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy will open a new world to you in the way you use your own mind!

The privilege we have before us with a network marketing business is what it allows us in relationships and the development of individuals. DON"T be a gerbil on one of those little tread wheels going round and round and never getting on down the road toward your financial goal. DO hold high the value of personal development. Plan to jog your way through the short list and walk on to whatever you choose to supercharge to the next level. Just make it as easy as possible in the start up to begin your journey of growth.

Brief Biography for Nancy Quinlisk

Nancy's current leadership positions are President and CEO and board member of two financial institutions where she helps chart strategic management directions. Nancy has served the YMCA as Chairman of her state Y's . The Youth Development Award is given in her name annually honoring her many contributions to the youth in her community. She has also served Neways Corporate as a member of their Distributor Support Team. She does consulting work, assisting financial and non-profit organizations in their forward planning. Nancy holds a Graduate Degree in Banking from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She and her husband, Warren, a retired manufacturer, are enjoying the bright new opportunity before them as they work together with various joint ventures.

Establishing A Personal Development Coaching Business In Houston

2007-11-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

Personal Development Plan - A Story Of A Girl And A Small, Ugly Pony Being The Stars Of The Show

2007-11-16T00:09:00.001-08:00

Marianne read the list: 'Susanne rides Moro, Daisy rides Boy, Renate rides Billy...' My thoughts started to wander, I would ride Diamond, and all my effort would be compensated at last. 'Charlotte rides Patsy...' I could not believe my ears. I looked in despair to Marianne, but she just carried on with the to-do list: 'White socks will have to be washed with water and a little bit of bleach, make sure your boots are polished....'

My eyes were filled with tears, I started walking away. Suddenly I felt a big hand on my shoulder, and the deep voice of Mr. Kingsley sounded far away: 'Where are you going to?' I didn't answer; I just looked up to him. The 70 year old horse trainer, who taught me to ride, who had always had so much patience with me, who tried to help me get rid of my inexplicable fear for horses and even more inexplicable urge to learn riding.

'I understand how you feel' he whispered. Minutes before, I had just suffered the biggest disappointment I could imagine. The owner of the riding stables was going to get married, and we, the kids were going to ride behind the carriage on all the riding school ponies. I had been assigned the task to groom Diamond, a big beautiful gray gelding, with long full manes and a long silvery tail. Today the list was announced who would ride which pony, and I was sure that I would ride Diamond. I knew that he was a handful to ride out, but I was sure that I could handle him, especially after having spent weeks grooming him until his coat was shiny as a mirror.

And now they made me ride Patsy... The little brown pony, maybe 12 hands high, gray on her face because of her age. Patsy with her dull brown hair, her matted tail, and the weird white patches on her neck and left hind leg. I had tried in vain to make her look shiny too because I felt pity for her, but her winter fur did not allow much brushing, and her tail was beyond hope. My mind was racing. I was going to look ridiculous. Why had I spend so many hours on the riding school, fighting my fear? I had never heard of personal development, and it just did not make any sense.

Mr. Kingsley looked at me, and wiped my tears from my cheek with his hand. 'Patsy will be so proud' he whispered. 'You don't understand' I gulped, but he talked again. 'I know how you feel' he said again, but I couldn't contain my anger and frustration. 'Why did they make me do all that work, for nothing? Why did I put so much effort in to learn riding, to try to overcome my fear, to groom Diamond....? I am going home, and I will never be back here.'

Mr. Kingsley just looked at me, probably wondering how he could explain this vital part of every single person's personal development plan to this little girl. His soft voice hit me like a knife: 'Why did I put so much effort in teaching you, if you quit at the first disappointment you suffer? Everything worthwhile has a phase in which you think about quitting. I call this "The Dip". Clever people don't even start on something new when they think they will not conquer the dip. Brave people start and struggle through the dip. Stupid people quit every time they hit a dip. Every one should have a plan, a personal development plan: What is it you want to reach and what are you willing to pay.'

I did ride Patsy, and I brushed, washed and rubbed her until she was shiny too. Because she was the smallest and the calmest pony, she and I were allowed to ride in front of the carriage, and my white dress as a bridesmaid matched beautifully with the pearly white laces in Patsy's manes and tail. I had never felt more proud when the waiting guests cheered at our sight.

Personal Development Plans - Can They Help You Achieve Your Goals

2007-11-16T00:07:00.000-08:00

Do you realise the power of having a personal development plan? It's like having your very own blueprint for success in your life – tailored to create your life exactly how you want it to be. If I could show you how to build your own personal development plan, would you be willing to devote 10 -15 minutes per day to nurture it and put it into practise?

Before we get started, let me ask you a question: "Why do successful people seem to find it easier to get what they want in life?" And why do some people get to the top of their careers and earn good money, while you continue to struggle to make a decent living?

The way I see it is this – the people who are able to achieve their goals and ambitions in life, with relative ease are much less inhibited, and are even totally un-inhibited.

These people still get nervous and anxious when in demanding situations that take them outside of their comfort zone, but they have learnt how to control those limiting and dysfunctional emotions and behaviours and even eliminate them completely from their lives.

Successful people have learned the behaviours they need to achieve their goals, and they practice them on very regular occasions. So much so, their old, limiting behaviours have all but been eliminated from their life, and their new empowering behaviours and now the norm.

If these people can learn how to not feel nervous and anxious in important situations, so can you.

If these people have learned how to remain calm and relaxed when they get into winning positions in sport, so can you.

If these people have learned how to stand in front of a room full of people, be relaxed, smile, and present their ideas, so can you.

And if these people have learned how to overcome their frustrations and inabilities to achieve their highest goals in life, so can you.

If you can dedicate 5 to 10 minutes each day to practising some simple NLP techniques, you can start to take control of your fears and frustrations and turn them into positive and empowering emotions.

Before you turn tail and run at the thought of learning some NLP techniques, or if you're not really sure what it is, in it's simplest form, Neuro Linguistic Programming is basically a method of helping you change the way you habitually react to any given situation. When you experience anxiety or frustration, you are simply reacting negatively to the situation that is causing those emotions. NLP teaches you how you can easily change your reactions to be positive and empowering.

To get started, there are two very simple exercises you need to learn and practice:

1. You need to become aware of all the situations and environments that make you feel nervous, anxious and inhibited. Carry a little notebook in your pocket so that you can make note of them whenever they occur.

In order to start tearing down the barriers that are standing in your way, you need to know exactly what those barriers are.

2. The second exercise is even easier – you simply need to write down how you would like to feel most of the time, and what feelings and behaviours you want to eliminate from your life.

Garden Planning

2007-11-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

When you want a perfect garden, have a lovely tree, plant perennial flowers, and / or have other gardening concerns about how to best prepare your garden, you should certainly know how to plan your garden. Find out how to do this, a method that guarantees your garden will best suit your needs as far as design, beauty, and / or harvest is concerned. There are many recommendations and tips that will make your gardening easier in general, your blooms or your landscaping more beautiful, and / or your garden (no matter what kind) the most efficient garden it can be.

If you are planning a vegetable garden, winter time is a good time to start planning. Design a garden, depending on how in-depth your project, you may want to start with a pencil and a sheet of graph paper. You will want to be sure to make the proper measurements of how deep to burry your seeds, what kinds of conditions different plants require, and how much space and quality soil you have to work with. Depending on the varieties of vegetables you choose, you can create the perfect conditions for a vegetable garden that will produce more vegetables and / or healthier garden vegetables for you.

Your planting space is very important. When it comes to gardening, always remember this phrase “the right plant in the right place” and you will have the most successful possible for your specific environmental conditions. The phrase above is practically a gardening mantra for the experienced gardener. Consider variables such as leaf cover (in other words: trees or other shade-providing foliage, as well as buildings or structures such as fences or shelters, for the same reason. Light is virtually always the most important factor to consider when you decide what to plant. The atmospheric conditions are also very important variables to consider: conditions such as humidity and temperature. Your particular plant will thrive in certain conditions with certain amounts of sunlight per day. Therefore, if you have a tall storage shelter right next to or nearby your shrubs, and your shrubs need direct sunlight for at least three hours a day, you do not have to worry as long as they receive the minimum amount of sunlight.

If your favorite flowers prefer a more humid climate than you have in the environment in which you live, you may want to plant them near a waterfall, garden pond or fountain. As a matter of fact, there is a simpler solution for you if you do not have a garden pond, reflecting pool or waterfall, all you need to do is to mist the plant and / or its flowers to keep it moist. This is true for maintaining a plant in less than perfect conditions, requiring additional moisture, virtually every time.

Because of the increase in modern technology, there are even pieces of gardening / landscaping equipment available to help you easily ascertain the conditions of your garden space. You will know almost exactly what you will need to create the perfect garden in the conditions or under which you live or that you can create so your garden can thrive. These aforementioned pieces of gardening equipment are sometimes very important if you need the extra help.

Creating the conditions you need is essential for your ultimate success for your gardening and / or landscaping overall. Here is an example of one such plant many people love to have in their yards and gardens: The Bradford flowering pear tree.

The new flowering pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) is a great tree, beautiful and fragrant, is a very typical tree to see lining the urban streets creating a little ally of surrounding comfort. If the pyrus calleryana is something you care for in your own yard, know that it is a small – space flowering tree. The tree is also, unfortunately, likely to be deformed and perhaps hazardous for you because it is narrow and grows more upright than other trees, and is therefore less likely to survive a storm. In conditions where heavy storms are very common, you are likely not to see any flowering pear trees thriving in delicate stream-like trails.

There are, of course, many other examples of both flowering plants as well as others that may be perfect for you gardening and / or landscaping needs. Explore your favorite plants and flowers, and discover the environmental condition they prefer, then design the perfect gardening or landscaping project. You can impress even yourself when your garden is set in the very best conditions for each and every plant to thrive.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her articles on gardening and outdoor supplies, please visit outbackpatio.com, supplier of high quality Garden Accents and Patio Accessories.

Personal Development - A Lifelong Journey

2007-11-15T04:35:00.000-08:00

I heard lots of people asking almost the same question, perhaps with different paraphrasing and it goes like this. "How can I become wealthy and happy?" The most common answer will be "Work harder so that you can make more money!" Well, I will most probably probe further by asking "What do you work harder on?" I guess you will most probably say "Isn't that obvious? It should be on your job!" Well, it is true if you are contended with a life of mediocrity. If you want to live a life of richness and success, then you ought to learn to work harder on yourself than you do it on your job. That is when personal development makes its grand entrance to your life.

I must admit that working on personal development has been the most challenging task of my life because it is an indefinite process. Once you are in personal development education, it will stay with you lifelong and only stops on the day we die. There is nothing we can refute on. You see the importance of personal development education has on our entire life. That is why we see people die at the age of 21 but only get buried at the age of 65. These are the groups of person without going through proper personal development education.

A lot of people have goals and dreams of what they are going to get and they plan and strategise working towards their goals. In fact, we have failed to realise one thing which is the most important in personal development education. It is not about what we are getting but rather what we are becoming to is far more important. The reason being so is simple. When you become the person you want to be, getting what you want usually comes along with it. They compliment each other. Just like a successful businessman earns millions or billions in his business. The money come naturally when you become a successful businessman.

Why does every successful businessman make money? Have you heard of any successful business who does not make money? Does making money equate success to you? What do I mean by all these questions? In fact, I am highlighting the importance of personal development which has a knitted impact in finance management. Personal development encompasses a wide area and finance literacy and management is just a certain part of it. Without proper training in financial management, that explains why people who strike billions of dollars in lottery claimed they were not the least happy after which or declares bankrupt faster than anyone would have thought of. Therefore, personal development is where you should focus most in your life otherwise you might just have to contend with mediocrity.

Personal development is not only about financial literacy and management, it also encompasses relationship establisment, health, family, love, spiritual and many more. If you want to know the secret attitudes, techniques, methods and strategies that, when applied, will skyrocket your success in virtually every area of your life, you have to visit

Personal Development Growth - What's Right For You?

2007-11-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

There are so many personal growth products it can be difficult to choose what's best.

* Most, if not all, of them do work.
* Most, if not all, of them probably won't work for you unless you apply the techniques.
* Most, if not all, of them are easy to put into practice but tweaking and fine tuning them may take longer.
* Most, if not all, of them require some of your time - anything from a few minutes to an hour a day.
* Regularly. Not just once or twice.
* Most, if not all, of them work better if you've got someone else (a "buddy") to work with, giving each other encouragement and support.

Which kind of suggests pick a product you get on with and that requires the amount of regular time you can afford.

* Meditation/Centerpointe: 10 - 60 minutes a day plus maybe some kind of "induction" course.
* Subliminal videos: 8 - 20 minutes a day.
* Subliminal audios: 10 - 60 minutes a day.
* Tony Robbins: various durations plus probably an introduction day or more.
* Sedona: 1 - 8 hours of listening initially, then a few seconds to release each item as it comes up, when it comes up.
* New Psycho Cybernetics (Maxwell Maltz, updated by Dan Kennedy): a book to read initially then regular work on your self image.
* Effort Free Life System: 6 hours plus of CDs plus several short mental exercises a day

The biggest problem with any of these is the initial regular implementation. Once you've done something for 14 - 28 days, it's a habit. Most of the "it doesn't work" brigade can be found in the trail of bodies who haven't worked on the idea long enough for it to become a habit.

So, it's really a case of:

* Pick a method. Any method (I'm sounding like a magician there!)
* Study the method long enough to know what you need to do to start. Don't worry about perfection. Starting is much more important.
* Start practicing on a regular basis.
* Keep going on a regular basis. Once a week, twice a week, weekdays only, weekends only, daily, whatever. This is where the "buddy" comes in to gently nag you to keep going.
* Set a target if that's appropriate.
* Make that target realistic, so your brain will believe you. And work towards it on a regular basis so your brain starts to realize you're serious this time.
* Revise your target if appropriate. There's nothing wrong in deciding that the original direction you wanted to go in is no longer appropriate.
* Keep working on it.
* Keep going on a regular basis so it becomes habit. Something you always do, like cleaning your teeth.
* Don't switch and change between methods just because someone else is doing something different.
* Remember the saying "all roads lead to Rome". If you've picked a method you get on with and stuck with it, you'll almost certainly get there.

So, pick a method you get on with. Pick a regular time that's good for you and is unlikely to get shifted out of the way by the slightest excuse.

Then start.

After starting, keep going.

Tune out the naysayers. Get help from your "buddy" if available. In turn, help them back.

In a year's time, look back on this as the turning point in your life.

Your Personal Development Plan

2007-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

To help ensure success in life it is good for every one of us to have a personal Development Plan (PDP) to guide us along life’s road. Your Personal development is not a destination, you’ll never get ‘there’ wherever ‘there’ is. Your personal development is ongoing so as you accomplish or master one area of your life you will move onto the next level or expand that area.

Many people have a ‘mental block’ when it comes to addressing problems about themselves and there are those who are terrified about taking time and thinking about any such problem. These folks find it much, much easier to work on a project or to help someone else solve their own problems but won’t even consider addressing their own. For this reason and others it is important that we all have a PDP.

Based on your current situation and role, a PDP will help to prioritize the most important areas of your life, that you need to concentrate on and will point you in the right direction for further advice and training.

Identifying Areas that need development.
When constructing your PDP I suggest you begin by identifying the areas in your life that need attention. It can be challenging to identify areas of your life that need development, especially if you are not in tune with who you are, what you desire, what you have and don’t have. You have to be aware of where your life is now in terms of what’s working and what’s not, and also what you are ignoring totally. Just because you have tried in the past to develop certain areas of your life and failed, doesn’t mean you cannot be successful in the future, the timing may just be wrong.

For many of us our personal development goals are just not strong enough, they have no ‘humph’ in them, no great desire behind them so we keep changing them from day to day or year to year. I’m sure you know those people who on January 1st every year list out the things they want to achieve for that year, when they have not even tried to accomplish their goals for the previous year.

So to identify the areas in your life you need to develop, the first thing you need to do is to ask yourself “what are the areas in my life that are very important to me and to my well being and my existence.” these areas will be different for each of us, for me they are:
1. Physical health
2. Mental/emotional
3. Spiritual
4. Achievement/recreation
5. Financial
6. Relationships-romantic and family

Be careful not to get too hung up on names and what falls into what category, just write them down. This is really just to make it easier to decide on what you want to improve in your life and is by no means carved in stone.

What are your Personal Development goal for each Area
Once you have identified the important areas of your life, write down everything that you would like to improve for each area as it relates to your personal growth. In most cases your development goal is going to be about either building on your existing strengths or developing new skills and competencies. So under ‘Physical’ you can state how you would like your body to look, do you need to join a gym today, stop eating meat, exercise five times a week and so on. The key here is to write down anything and everything that comes into mind, whatever you can imagine write it down. You can include short-term goals –something you may want to achieve this week and also long-term goals –things you want to achieve in twenty to twenty-five years. Make the goals ones that you can get excited about.

Put a Timeline on each goal
Once you have listed the goals for each area of your personal development, you then have to take the time to put a time line on each goal. It’s not important right now to know how you are going to accomplish your goals. All you do right now is to write down a time frame within which you’ll want to operate. By deciding when you’ll achieve a goal providence comes to your aid in making them a reality. If one year is your time frame and you are committed to this then write down one year. If it’s five years then write down five years.

Begin with your one-year goal
You want to choose the one goal that you consider to be the most important in any of the areas you have identified, make it a goal that would give your great excitement and make you feel that your year was well spent if you were to accomplish it. Next write a paragraph or two stating why you are totally committed to achieving this goal within the year. Include why this is a must for you, what benefits will you gain by achieving it, what will you lose or miss if you didn’t achieve it. Whatever reasons you come up with ensure that they are strong enough to get you to follow through. If they are not, then come up with better and more empowering reasons or better goals.

Where are you now
Once you have determined what your one-year goal will be, begin by analyzing where you are starting from. This will become the “baseline” from where you measure your progress. A clear awareness of where you are now will help greatly in facilitating your development. If you find it hard to focus on this or to be honest with yourself, you can ask for feed back from someone who knows you well and can be objective. You can ask your friends, family, or even your work colleagues as they are all observing you and are affected by the things you do and will therefore have some views about your skills. Ask them questions like:
“What am I good at”,
“What am I great at”,
“What do you think I could be better at”
Make sure they are specific in what they are saying to you. If you do not want a long drawn out epistle from your friends you can limit them to two or three comments.

If you choose to ask someone else, pay careful attention to what they are saying as not everything you hear will be flattering to you and some comments will be useless to you. Note whatever is said keeping in mind that good feedback is always specific, clear and non-critical, so if someone says “you’re always doing crazy things’ this should not be take as feedback but criticism and you should total ignore it, it’s not worth your time.

Once you are done combine your thoughts and the feedback you get and make a list by writing down what you think were your strengths and weaknesses. You need to be honest with yourself here. Check to see if there are any patterns emerging from the comments.

The End Result
At this point what you do is to imagine what it would be like if you got up tomorrow morning and your problem was solved. Write down how you will feel, what you will be thinking and what it will be like. Make sure these statements are made in the affirmative and are positive. So instead of writing “I feel o.k. about the way I’m dressing now” you should write “I fell happy and confident about my clothes and how they look on me”

Action Plan
Next you need to identify what you need to do to take you to where you want to be. This is the time to think creatively about what you need to do. There is a wide range and a large number of resources out there, ready and waiting for you to use to take you in the right direction. There will be a mixture of self-study, formal training, informal training and “on the job” experiences. Only you will know what’s best for you, your budget and your lifestyle. So if your goal is to be physically fit then you will want to find out information on health and fitness. Your fist stop would be your doctor, and then maybe a trainer, then you need information on a gym that fits what you need. You get what I mean. After you have written down all the things you need to do, put them in some order so that you know what you will be doing first, and what’s next and so on. Break it down to its simplest task if possible. Take your time when doing your plan, and one important point is that it doesn’t have to be perfect, so do not try and make it so.

Your Reward
Though not necessary you may want to include a series of rewards as you make progress and achieve the smaller goals. You can make it as simple as a slice of your favourite cheesecake after you have been working out for six weeks. For some people no extra incentives are required, the improvement is reward enough but small rewards are a good idea still.

Review Your Plan
Once you have finished writing out you PDP it is always a good idea to review it. It’s a good idea to take a break away from your initial PDP of about five days to a week, then return to it and review it. When reviewing the plan you may also ask someone else to look it over and give their views. If there are any changes that you think are necessary make them.

Implement the Plan
Now that you have completed your PDP, it’s time to implement it. Start with the first task you must accomplish and keep going until all the tasks are finished. Each time you complete a task or do something you are not used to doing, do a kind of short review. What did you do well and what could you have done better.

Review Your Progress
By checking your progress you will be able to reflect on what is working and what is not, so you can adjust your actions or change course if you are not achieving what you want. You have to decide how often you check on your progress, it could be every week, every month or every six weeks.

When you develop your own personal development plan and follow through with action, it can be one of the most satisfying things you have ever done. It can even build your self-confidence and boost your self-esteem, as you will have a sense of surety about what you are about to do.

The key here is to take the whole process one step at a time. If you ever feel yourself getting overwhelmed, it could be a sign that you are taking on too much. Slow down and concentrate on one thing at a time. Now get going and enjoy the process.

How To Use Your Feelings For Building Self Confidence Levels

2007-11-12T02:29:00.000-08:00

Your feeling affect literally everything you do in life, and everything that happens in your life - especially your self confidence and self esteem. You create feelings and emotions about everything that your senses pick up, and you create an immediate and automatic reaction to everything that happens to you.

When you taste something really bad, you immediately feel revulsion and try to get rid of the horrible taste as quickly as possible. When you slip on a wet or icy pavement, you immediately feel panic as you lose your footing and fear you might fall.

In every situation you encounter, your feelings are immediately brought into play and then determine how you react to everything that happens to you. Let's quickly cover the different types and groups of feelings, because it's important to recognise them so you know how to deal with them and manage them in a positive way.

The first group we'll look at are commonly referred to in NLP and painful feelings. Imagine you're having a bath, you've been lead there relaxing for a while, and the water is getting a little cooler than you'd like, so you expertly twist the hot tap with your toes, but suddenly a rush of scalding hot water shoots out and burns your foot. You yell out in pain and immediately pull your foot away from the water. So we can see that painful feelings make you move away from the source of pain.

The first type of painful feelings is anxiety. Anxiety can be a very debilitating emotion, and is also non-specific. By that I mean that you can be feeling very anxious about something, but not really know exactly what is causing your anxiety symptoms. You're feeling apprehension, dread, uneasiness and distress, but not sure why.

Anxiety can be very severe - and can certainly be strong enough to wake you from a deep sleep or cause an anxiety or panic attack. It is usually caused by an accumulation of many smaller fears and worries that combine together to create overwhelming emotional stress. In stronger cases, it can cause you to be uncertain and incapable of positive action. In most cases it also has a negative impact on your self esteem and reduces or even wipes out your self confidence.

The second group of feeling we call pleasure feelings. Imagine you're going to meet someone you love very much, but haven't seen for some time. As soon as you meet, you feel compelled to rush over and hug them really hard. Doing this would make you feel extremely happy and joyful. These emotions cause us to feel pleasure and want to move towards them.

We are all programmed to seek out pleasurable experiences and situations, and to try to have more of them in our lives. This is why romance, holidays and even pleasure parks play such an important part in our lives. Pleasurable emotions and feeling that we can't get enough of include happiness, joy, laughter, love, friendship, fulfilment, winning, being loved and inner peace.

What Is The Value Of Your Personal Selling Time?

2007-11-12T02:27:00.000-08:00

Time, is our most precious resource. How are we to make the most effective use of each twenty-four hour span? Most people give little thought to the actual value of their time, possibly not even during conventional working hours. Entrepreneurs know better. We cannot afford to haphazardly approach the workday. We must have a plan and execute it to the best of our ability, leveraging time to our greatest benefit.

Dave Navarro at Jonathan Phillips' Freelance Folder proposes a thought-provoking method of accurately valuing our time. "Your time is worth exactly this much:

Cash Money / Hours Worked = Your Rockin’ $DPH (Dollars Per Hour)

Now, in the last 30 days, how much did you earn? Stop reading, and think about this seriously. Don’t read any further until you do. How much cash crossed your hands (or how many orders came in) in the last month? Stop and think about it. Now that you have that number firmly in mind, it’s time to get brutally honest. How many hours did you spend in the last 30 days doing business tasks or business-ish tasks?

Translation:
Business tasks = stuff that actually drove your business forward Business-ish tasks = pointless stuff you did when you were supposed to be doing stuff to drive your business forward.

That’s right … those business-ish activities robbed you of the revenue generating goodness that you know and love. But you still gotta include them in the equation. And they bring that $DPH down, down, down."

Most self-employed people are acutely aware that their time investment must produce immediate income. Most generate income in proportion to the amount of hours spent working each day. Many other entrepreneurs however, are in the position of remaining gainfully employed as they pursue their entrepreneurial dreams part-time. This strategy is often a wise one, born of necessity, in the absence of venture capitol investors. It provides that safety-net of income and benefits for our family while we tend to our dream.

If we calculate the incoming-producing value of our time at $120 per hour, we must also further understand that idle, non-productive time is then costing us $120 per hour. This is opportunity cost. While not immediately recognizable, this cost can cripple a fledgling business if not properly managed.

All activity, however relevant to the business, does not directly produce income, yet remains important to the overall business operation. Such activities are best completed during non-prime-time hours, where selling and revenue generation must remain the priority otherwise. Designing advertisements, marketing materials and selling strategies, bookkeeping and other administrative functions fall within this category of necessary activities. It may make sense to consider outsourcing many of these tasks to others who will charge far less than $120 per hour for their services, yet deliver a top-notch solution for your needs, thus freeing you to generate more revenue with your precious, limited selling time.

There are many occasions where a personal phone call, sales call or a group sales presentation are necessary. For effective sales results under those circumstances, our conventional, personal efforts must focus on our best sales prospects during the most productive, prime part of the day. For most businesses, this the 8:00am until 6:00pm time slot. Our automated sales systems however, such as our web site, blog, advertising and various marketing channels are available 24/7/365 to a world-wide audience of prospective buyers. These systems often provide us many warm prospects for dealing with during prime time. Learn how to let your assets work for you.

Keeping tabs on your most productive selling hours, managing your time and other assets to your maximum advantage while minimizing idle, non-productive time is the formula for a successful business. Try watching less TV and invest that time in your business. Be certain to eat well, drink plenty of water, sleep well, scheduling both downtime and family time.

Do You Realize The Importance Of Personal Development?

2007-11-05T23:09:00.000-08:00

It is unfortunate that many Americans today do not pursue the "American Dream." They get stuck working a 9-5 job for 20 plus years with nothing to show for it.

With the importance of personal development at hand you learn how to begin taking small steps towards a life filled with joy and passion.

This has become such a fast and growing industry everyone wants to learn about self help in some area of their lives; you begin to understand the importance of personal development.

So why all the fuss you ask? Well we have all be raised in a society that instills limiting beliefs, and yes you probably still possess the beliefs that you picked up when you were young and they continue to hold you back today.

Personal development will teach you techniques that have been utilized in the past and are still used today to assist individuals to begin creating and working towards the "American Dream." The importance of personal development is not taught in our schools. (which I believe it should be)

So what are some of the techniques that are utilized by athletes, entrepreneurs, salespeople, professionals, and anyone else who decides to utilize them?

I have listed some of the techniques below:

1.) Goal Setting: believe it or not this is the most important step in the whole process. Without a goal you have no direction, and you will keep going in circles.

2.) Action: Okay now that you have a goal in place, take the time to write it down on paper. (believe it or not this is extremely powerful) It now becomes more than wanting, what are you willing to do to reach this goal? How much effort will you put forth?

3.) Set A Date: A goal without a date of accomplishment is just a wish. However learn to set a realistic date, if you set a unrealistic goal, you can tend to become discouraged a not ever pursue an endeavor again.

4.) Read, Read, and Read: Never stop learning. You must continually be open to receiving more education. You can receive this education through books, weekend seminars, or classes.

5.) Mastermind with others who understand the importance of personal development as you do, and they are on the path. The more you can surround yourself with people who think like you do, it will benefit you both.

Remember the saying "birds of a feather flock together." We become like our closest friends we hang out with.

The importance of personal development is; it is never too late to begin. However the sooner you begin your journey the sooner you can begin to let go of your limiting beliefs.

Once you let go of your limiting beliefs you will begin to find the courage to pursue your dreams. Without dreams, we are just living without a purpose. When we do not have a purpose, We have no spark or happiness. We as humans must have something to look forward to everyday.

Financial Wealth Begins With Motivating Goals

2007-11-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

All financial wealth begins with motivating goals. Do you find yourself setting goals that excite you? Are you willing to do anything to do to make them become a reality? If you look at anyone who has achieved financial freedom in their lives, you will realize that they are passionate about what they do.

Donald Trump, Robert kiyosaki, Bill Gates and many other successful individuals have achieved financial wealth by following their passions and doing what they love. Not only does it involve setting motivating goals for yourself, it requires you to take action to reach financial wealth.

Anyone can write down their goals, it is not hard to sit down and write out what you want to achieve. However most people do not possess the courage to follow their goals and take action.

In order to create financial wealth it takes more courage than just the ability to work a 9-5 job. Financial wealth begins with motivating goals; your job is not going to provide you the financial freedom that you are seeking.

If you are not passionate about your goals you will be unable to overcome any obstacles you encounter. Anyone who sets goals for themselves will encounter goals, it is just a fact of life. However as we continue to persist and work towards achieving our goals the obstacles will eventually disappear and it will become easier to reach all the goals you set for yourself.

Begin at once to learn how to set some goals that will excite you. It is extremely important if you want to set some motivating goals. Ask yourself "What is it that you enjoy doing?" Based on that question you can begin setting realistic achievable goals.

For instance one goal I am passionate about is working on my website and spreading the word that people possess more potential than they realize. I want people to realize their true potential and begin their personal development journey. Personal development will teach them that they can use their subconscious to create financial wealth in their lives.

As a matter of fact it is such a driving goal of mine, that I spend time working on my website every week. If you can set goals for yourself that drive you as much as mine does me, I am sure you can overcome any obstacles. You must understand that financial wealth begins with motivating goals; once you set them you must take all out action to make them a reality.

Do not share your goals with people who do not believe in the law of attraction or believe in personal development. People tend to say negative things and try to hinder your success if they do possess the courage to follow their goals. They will attempt to make you feel like you can never have success, and make you believe that you will fail in every endeavor that you encounter.

So if you truly wish to experience anything different than what you presently possess, you must remember you must be willing to do something different. If you continue doing what you are currently doing, you can never experience anything different.

Personal Development At Work

2007-11-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

Personal development is such a huge industry, in fact it is one of the fastest growing industries around. There are several employers that provide their employees with personal development at work. It has become a 60 billion a year industry, and is continuing to grow.

Employers have take the opportunity to provide it at work because it has been known to improve attendance at work, increase employee motivation, and increase work performance at work. It is a great way to live and begin to utilize, because it gives you back the power to your life. If you do not presently utilize it at work or at home, then most likely you do not feel as if you are in control of your life. From a business standpoint it is worth providing your employees with personal development at work, because it will empower them to accomplish all the work on a timely manner. Plus it will also make them feel better about themselves.

When people become involved with personal development or self help they realize that life is great and they become empowered become they can create a life filled with passion and can have be or do anything they desire. The great news is you do not have to wait until your employer provides you with the opportunity to access this at work, you can begin today. There are several opportunities available around us to become involved with this powerful way of living.

People have used personal development at work and as a way to make a living from it. You are probably wondering how can I make a living from it? Well there are several personal development companies that you can become an independent distributor and begin making a successful living from. You can honestly make a successful living from becoming an entrepreneur and being an independent distributor. Most of them provide training from other successful entrepreneurs in the same business who are already making a six or seven figure.

However if you decide not to become an entrepreneur then you can invest in the personal development course itself, which will help you immensely. The program I have invested in is a 90 day program and it is a home study course with interactive exercises you can work on your own. The exercises are meant to help you work through any obstacles that are holding you back and will help you change your mindset and beliefs so that you can begin achieving success in any area in your life.

Some employers do not provide personal development at work, if you are in a situation like this and not being exposed to the powerful living of this and do not understand how important the law of attraction is, my suggestion to you is to get your hands on a personal development program that can assist you to develop new life changing habits. As you do this and begin to change your life you will better understand how powerful and how much potential you truly possess.

You may enjoy your job and may not desire to become an entrepreneur. That is fine not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, however I believe everyone should possess a program that can help them and their family change their lives.

In my opinion personal development at work is great, however I believe that anyone with a pulse can benefit from the program I utilize. As you get your hands on this program you will understand what has been holding you back in certain areas of your lives. In short ... You can change anything in your life forever in just a short 90 days.

What is Personal Development Coaching?

2007-11-01T01:22:00.000-07:00

To understand what a personal development coach does, you must first understand what personal development means. Personal development is a path towards well being through behavior modification and self improvement techniques. Simply put, it is being able to enjoy your life in a conscious way by improving yourself and circumstances. It can be improving yourself in one area or a complete overhaul of your life. Typically, personal growth is a consistent intention done purposely daily. For many people, self improvement is a continual necessary process. By improving ourselves, we dramatically improve our outcomes and opportunities. But for many wishing to change, they lack the knowledge or tools to do so. This is where personal development coaches came aboard.

Personal development coaching was created especially to educate and motivate individuals who desired a positive vision for their life. Called "Life Coaches", these teachers embrace powerful strategies for self management and personal growth. There are different categories of life coaches. Each life coach has his specialty area and unique approach. Some teach how to change habits, while some embrace more spiritual design platforms. Personal development coaching can include anything from how to improve your relationships to overcoming public speaking. Whatever weak areas exist in your life, a life coach can be called in to strengthen and encourage.

A life coach can help you redefine your purpose for living. They have the skill and resources needed to re-direct your life into a more meaningful existence. Everybody needs a strong support system and reinforcing positive feedback. It is the food necessary for good mental health, and for personal growth. Not everybody has access to a quality support system. Just as a personal body trainer whips a person into physical shape, a life coach whips a person's life into shape.

Life can layer setbacks easily. Confidence can wash in and out in a moment. There are those stuck patterns in living which make it seem near impossible to move forward. In personal development coaching these patterns are tackled head on.

It is with the help of a life coach self-actualization happens. The right life coach will teach you how to be an over-comer. The message is delivered through positive tools you can use to restructure problem areas. Many large companies schedule professional and executive seminars to help their employees with career objectives. Motivational speakers and life coaches aim hard with their messages. The seminars are said to increase productivity and round out the work environments.

Not everybody needs a life coach. Ascertaining whether or not you need one depends on your needs. If you just cannot work through the setbacks, or if you need to learn new behaviors, then you probably want to consider seeking out a life coach. Everybody is doing it, so never feel you have to struggle alone. You owe it to yourself to maximize your human potential. The first step to self improvement is acknowledging your weaknesses. The second step is to find the help you need. A life coach could be your saving grace.

Personal Development Plans - Can They Help You Achieve Your Goals

2007-10-31T05:16:00.000-07:00

Personal Development Growth - What's Right For You?

2007-10-31T05:14:00.000-07:00

The Power of Books to Transform Your Life

2007-10-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

I was listening to "America's Success Coach", Jack Canfield, recently and he told a story that reminded me of Bob Proctor's "333 Story" from his international bestseller "You Were Born Rich". In summary, the "333 Story" is a great example of what you can achieve when you make a firm decision and remain open to possibilities rather than focus on obstacles.

Jack Canfield recounted that while he was in Atlanta promoting his book, "Success Principles: How to get from where you are to where you want to be", that he was interviewed by a woman who said his publisher had sent her two copies of his book. She read one and gave the second copy to her brother who had been unemployed for three years. He was depressed and refused to venture out.

Well three weeks later her brother had finished the book. He shaved, put on a suit and attended three job interviews. Just three days later he was offered a job. Just writing about this gives me goose bumps. Books indeed have the power to transform your life.

It was novelist, journalist and poet, Christopher Morley who said:

"When you give someone a book, you don't give him just paper, ink, and glue. You give him the possibility of a whole new life."

This man had certainly been given a new lease on life when he was given the gift of "Success Principles".

It can be argued that one book has single-handedly transformed the world of personal development. Someone gave a little green book to Lloyd Conant who spent an entire weekend reading and rereading its contents. On Monday morning he decided that he would build a world-class corporation and that is exactly what he did. Nightingale-Conant is a giant in the field of personal development. The company is recognised around the world for the quality of its training programs and all the leaders in the field of personal and business development, marketing and sales training, spiritual growth and wealth building aspire to have their resources distributed by Nightingale-Conant.

One evening, Lloyd Conant told Bob Proctor and Harold Gash, two of his "top lieutenants", about the little green book. Proctor was just itching to discover the name of the book and more importantly what was written in the pages of this book that has had directed Lloyd Conant to his true purpose in life - to put the inspirational and educational recordings of Earl Nightingale in every home around the world. The book was "The Science of Getting Rich" and, though its text is outdated by our twenty-first century standards, it continues to fascinate and inspire a new army of transformational leaders.

Bob Proctor says of "The Science of Getting Rich" that:

"The contents of this book have served as the foundation for every personal development program I have written for the past quarter century."

In fact, Bob Proctor used this book as the basis of his "Science of Getting Rich" seminar - a powerful seminar that has helped thousands of people across the world better understand, and apply with outstanding results, the process of wealth creation.

The little green book inspired Rhonda Byrne to create and produce the movie "The Secret" - a movie which I recently heard described as a blockbuster. That made me smile for this movie does not feature the likes of Bruce Willis, Halle Berry, Samuel L Jackson, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon or George Clooney. There are no breath-taking action scenes, suspenseful car chases or even elaborate sets.

Instead, the movie features the likes of Bob Proctor, Loral Langemeier, Rev. Michael Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Lisa Nichols, Dr Joe Vitale and Bob Doyle among others. The film stars teachers, philosophers, finance experts, psychologists, physicists and authors. Bizarre, isn't it? But when you understand the spirit in which this film was made it really is no surprise that it has been as successful as it has been and, more importantly, the power of this movie to transform lives across the globe.

"As you learn The Secret you will come to know how you can have, be or do anything you want. You will come to know who you really are. You will come to know the true magnificence that awaits you in life."
Rhonda Byrne

I'm sure you can recall a book, perhaps even given to you by a friend or loved one, that made a significant impact on your life. I urge you therefore, to continuing reading inspirational books and to give someone you care about the gift of a great book.

Personal Development - Why Bother?

2007-10-30T02:43:00.000-07:00

Personal Development - Why do you need to bother developing as a person? It's hard work, but to reach your greatness you have to be continually developing as a person.

What Is Personal Development: It is continually putting yourself in a position where you are going to be challenged and motivated to dig deeper and reach higher to maximise yourself as a person. It is taking control of your personal growth and forcing yourself not to stay still and become stagnant, but to move toward greatness and better yourself and therefore your future.

How Do I Develop Myself As A Person? There are so many ways! Here are a few!

- Begin to read! There are hundreds of books available on personal development. You can buy them online, borrow them from a friend, or even rent them from your local library.

- Sign up online for inspirational e courses. Most of these are free and you will receive a motivational email once a week or more often depending.

- Take a course. If there are things that you would like to do, but you are not qualified, take a course in it. It may just be once a week, but you are developing yourself as a person and putting yourself in a position to be challenged.

These are just simple ways that you can begin to apply to your life today to begin to develop yourself. In doing so you are growing yourself as a person and moving toward reaching your greatness. Do not give up! Keep at it!

Is there greatness on the inside of you but you don't know how to achieve it? I have just completed my brand new 7 part e-course, 'Find Your Greatness'

Can Personal Development Help You To Get Everything You Want?

2007-10-29T03:39:00.000-07:00

Define Your Personal Goals

2007-10-29T03:38:00.000-07:00

Can you define your personal goals? Do you even have any goals set for yourself? If not ask yourself "am I not worthy of setting goals for myself; do I not deserve to know where I want to be in six months from today?" It is a sad statistic but only 4% of our society actually set goals for themselves. You can not expect to accomplish anything different in your life if you can not define your personal goals.

Do you want your kids to have an easy successful life? I am sure you would like to be a good role model and teach them to get past their fears and work forward towards their ventures.

If you learn to define your personal goals; your family will follow your examples. It would be great to see your son receive a full paid scholarship because you helped him set some academic goals. Also wouldn't it be great if you were able to put an extra $100 a month into savings because you sat down with your spouse and came up with some financial goals. All this is possible if you can get your hands on a personal development program that will help you define your personal goals.

It is never too late to begin setting goals for yourself. However if you truly desire to become successful in anything you must begin today.

Most people do not begin setting goals, because they do not know the first step in the process. One of the things I do to always keep my mind and energy on what I desire is; I carry a small laminated card that fits into my pocket or my pocket book. I am able to look at it everyday as I strive to reach it. I will share with you what mine says to give you an idea of what your goal should look like:

"I am so happy and grateful I am now making $9,000.00 monthly income from my endeavors."

This is my goal, of course yours will be different. However when you do write yours down on a card that you can carry with you; make sure you make it in the present tense. Write it down as if you are already doing whatever it is you desire. Believe me this helps the subconscious bring it to you quicker. The biggest step is to be able to define your personal goals.

Once you realize what drives you and what you are passionate about you can begin putting an action plan together to make it become a reality. Be open to opportunities that come your way. You must be willing to take risks, without them you will never accomplish anything different that what you have already accomplished. If you go through life avoiding risks, then you will never change your lifestyle.

No one who has avoided risks in their lives has ever accomplished anything great. You can take a look at all the successful stories in our history; you will notice that anyone and everyone who accomplished anything was willing to take some measure of risk. It is not a difficult process to define your personal goals and then be willing to do whatever it takes to reach them.

As soon as you begin reaching some of the short term goals you set for yourself, you will realize that the whole process becomes easier. So take the time and sit down with your spouse; look over some personal development programs. You will be able to find some on my site, I have listed some of the ones that have assisted me along my journey.

You can both begin utilizing them to assist you on creating the life you desire. Work together as a family, however remember it is important to be able to define some personal goals that you desire. These goals should be something that will make you happy, and may not influence your family.

Have fun with this and let's set some goals that we can reach together. Always remember to be open to detours and do not be hard on yourself if you do not reach the first couple of goals you set.

How Can We Set Goals, When We Don't Really Know What We Want?

2007-10-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

It has become very clear to me as I discuss the law of attraction with people as part of my personal development coaching events that when I ask "What is success for you? Or "What do you really want from life?" Many people just don't know and don't know how to even start down the pathway to wealth creation that they feel is the answer to this question. I ask you "Do you know what you want?" Personal development is designed to sharpen your senses and defining your direction. You have to get past the mind set of "wishing" it would happen and get to focused actions. Life is full of barriers that the world will throw at you and there are the one's that you build for yourself, your inner self doubts "I can't do that" or "You want me to do what?" These barriers must all be overcome.

The mind set must be of success - whatever that means to you, because if we don't find the inspiration to do something, you'll do nothing but wishing for something. Doing nothing gets you no where; it's as simple as that. We need to use personal development and the law of attraction (as it's intended as a tools, not as an answer) to focus on the personal & interpersonal skills and wealth creation strategies, that underpin any success story. May be your looking to start an investment programme, buy and sell shares, or start your own business. It doesn't matter what the activity is, if the mindset is not where it has to be then you will flounder on the "what if's". May be your right in the middle of it - struggling to keep your head above water, realising your going broke gracefully through what you're doing. We must concentrate on our goal setting at all levels from what we will do this hour, this day this week this month and this year. Without the goals there is no direction, no urgency to progress. You all know how much work you get done just before you go on leave, the clear the deck syndrome.

If we worked just half as efficiently as we do when we have a reward such as a holiday in front of us we would achieve so much more with our lives. So is it to hard to set rewards for goals that are met? so that we do gain the added drive. Successful people set these rewards as part of there goals. They plan holidays and events a full year in advance not as last minute events. We need to take charge and use our resources such as the law of attraction to build the wealth creation from a wish list to a life style. We are talking about where we want to get to.

How you are going to get there? We need to talk about how you can identify and maximize opportunities in ways that best suit you and who you are. We must get past the doubts and limitation of our current thinking. You have to shed the doubts of our passed learning and what others have and will tell us about what we can or can't do. You have to think and believe and work your way to success. Use the law of attraction to set the goals, build your belief system, and manifest the results and to live the dreams from wealth creation. Financial certainty will never be there; all things carry a risk, so accept there is a risk and enjoy the stimulation that the risk induces within you, the sharpening of your observations, the adrenalin rush. If your serious about your success - wanting to make breakthroughs in your life then set your goals, involve those around you in your direction for life and bring them with you, build from their support and share with them the successes that you achieve with each milestone that your reach. I sometimes think that knowledge and higher education can be overrated because life has shown me what I didn't learn at school (but wish I had) has been of greater use in my wealth creation. I know many people who are very well educated wear the right school tie, mix in the best circles and know a lot about business or investments - but they haven't built significant wealth, a business or even successful careers.

To top it off some of them actually go so far as to write books, run courses and do presentations to tell others how to build wealth based on their education not experience of actually doing it. This is a real example of the spectator telling the sportsman how to play the game. For any success in wealth creation there are fundamentals that must be achieved. Without any one of these fundamental not being achieved, then any success will be short lived. We have all seen business start grow and fold. The statistics show that nine out of ten business fold in the first year. Nine out of ten that pass the first year fail in the next two years and only five out of ten that remain will last for ten years. Many successful companies will fold while they seem to be ploughing ahead. What are the fundamentals I hear you asking? The three that I put at the top are as follows

1. There's stuff you need to Know
2. There's stuff you need to Believe
3. There's stuff you have to Do

No single fundamental is higher than the other. They all hold equal weight What makes the difference between people who become ultra-wealthy and people who never make the grade? First, ultra-wealthy people always start companies. At some point, working for other people is no longer letting them achieve the success they were destined for. Second, the ultra-rich always invest in shares and real estate as they provide the greatest returns and enable tax minimization or tax free income streams. The third point is there is no other investment like a balanced investment portfolio. Over time, despite ups and downs, it outperforms all other investments. Remember that "Financial Security" is the biggest health cure available to western society.

Together, with a little work, you are going to make yourself rich. Set your goals, remembering to use the law of attraction, manifest the goals, live the goals as if they were already there and when they are there, stop and enjoy them. Give gratitude that you have what you have and above all else give to others so that the abundance reaches out to all of mankind.

Development Of Personal Self Confidence

2007-10-25T05:22:00.000-07:00

For most of us self confidence can not really be explained. It is never easy to fully describe what it's like to be confident. Self confidence is a state of being. It is a bit like being in love - you can't really explain how you know you are, you just know. You also know that it is a state that you need to aquire if you ever want to succeed at anything worthwhile in life.

Self confidence begins with trust. It is trusting in your own abilities, strengths and attributes. It is the ability to take action and succeed. It is also the ability to take action and fail without allowing the failure to reflect badly on your own internal self of identity.

The true essence of self confidence lies in faith and belief. The belief in your own abilities. It is having a sense of self worth and feeling no less than anyone else. Self confidence means that no matter what happens you know that can deal with it. It is really having a sense of Self. Being aware that you are just fine as you are and being aware that those little imperfections that you do have are a part of who you are. They are part of the unique individual that makes you special.

So what leads to a lack of confidence?

Well, each of us have a self-protection mechanism built into us, and although this is much needed, it can cause untold damage in other areas of our lives. There is a self protection program that is hot-wired into the brain and energy system of every living thing. Its role is to protect us. It protects us from dangerous situations by accessing memories and reminding us of the previous discomfort!

Let me explain with an example. If you touch a hot coal you get burned and you know not to touch it again - your self-protection mechanism kicks in. If you encounter a red-hot coal in the future you keep your hands and body far enough away so you don't feel the burning sensation and the pain associated with it. Your subconscious mind programs into your brain the fear of getting too close to hot coals. This memory, or just the fear and pain connected to it, is immediately evoked and sent to the conscious mind by the subconscious when it feels you are in danger of getting burnt. This mechanism, for self-preservation, has protected you from an infant. Unfortunately though, it also works against you in a lot of different ways.

Let's look at one. For example at some previous point in your life you may have tried your hand at something that was completely new and alien to you. You tried and you failed! Perhaps your peers, family, parents friends or even complete strangers ridiculed you and laughed at your efforts. This may have embarrassed you and made you feel inadequate. Your subconscious mind stored and filed this information in exactly the same way a computer does and can access it in the same way. These are neural networks in the brain that fire in sequence and send electrical impulses to the body telling it to release certain chemicals (which produce emotional responses). A neural connection is made between the memory of the event and the emotion you felt at the time. When faced with a similar circumstance in the future you will have problems. The subconscious mind immediately activates the schema and the neural network begins to fire. Thus the subconscious mind replays the memory and the original emotions are evoked in order to protect you! This is done purely so that you do not feel belittled again.

For example, you may have tried to paint a picture. Your friends around you laughed and ridiculed your efforts. This caused you embarrassment and the feeling of being ostracized like the "odd man out". You lacked the approval of your peers. Like a computer your subconscious filed this information away on your memory banks to be accessed at a later date when it thinks you need it. 20 years later you still have a desire to paint but won't even go to a night class to learn because the thought of painting brings forth the emotions of disapproval, embarrassment and fear. The subconscious mind replays the emotions associated with the old memory even if you can't recall the actual event ever having happened. You are actually getting a very clear message from your subconscious mind and it is telling you that if you try to paint again you feel all those terrible feelings. It reminds you by showing you the feelings again!"

Usually such emotional memories stem back to childhood from the time when you were most impressionable but not always. You can just as easily encounter such problems when you are an adult and the key to protecting yourself from such negative influences is to develop a better sense of yourself and build your confidence. This is at the very core of all personal development and self improvement techniques!

In reality you have no idea what the outcome will be when you start something new . As an adult, you should be able to try new things without the fear of what ridicule, or condemnation from others, would do to your confidence.

Self confidence is having the ability to feel the fear and do it anyway. In reality you have no idea what the outcome will be when you perform a task that is new to you. However, with increased self confidence you will be more expectant of a desirable result. Should you not have the outcome you desire you are then capable of looking at the situation realistically, determining what you need to learn and develop in order to succeed at it or at least be able to accept the fact that your are not suited to the activity without "freaking out" about it.

Many people believe that you are either born with confidence or you are not. The truth is we are all born confident! You demanded what you wanted and let everyone around you know it by wailing because you believed in your own self-worth and knew that you deserved it. You tried to walk several times while falling knowing that eventually you would get it. This is confidence. Unfortunately this kind of confidence is usually programmed out of us but it is your NATURAL sate. It's time to get it back.

Firstly, you should be kind to yourself. Don't expect perfection. Do you think Tiger Woods got a hole in one the first time he played golf? Although he may have been born with an innate ability at this sport chances are that the first time he played he was terrible at it!

The thing that builds your confidence is trying things that you haven't done before. Try to do something that scares you. Those people who have self confidence are willing and often eager to try new challenges not becuase they are certain of success but becuase they have enough belief in themselves to give it a try. They refuse to give into their own fears. If there was no fear or uncertainty then there would only be knowing! Self confidence is not about being certain of an outcome it is about being uncertain but believing in yourself enough to have a go anyway.

The good news is that there are strategies and approaches you can learn to build your confidence level to a new all-time high. Once you learn these and begin to apply them you will feel better able to try new things and enter new situations. Then as you begin to succeed and realise that the world didn't stop spinning because you faced your fear, you will gain more and more confidence.

The best advice I can give you is to use some of the excellent tools available for building up your self confidence and self esteem. Hypnosis and emotional releasing techniques can be invaluable. The personal development industry has a myriad of products and you should pick one that resonates with you. However, you have all the power within that you need to change yourself from the inside out. Make the decision now to face one fear a week and do it. You will build your self confidence to a level that you can not even now imagine.

Life Is A Balance

2007-10-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

Watching a TV program on the past Sunday talking about the addiction of Internet gaming set me thinking? Am I addicted to Internet Marketing to a certain extent that I started neglected other important things in life? Can a person can be too engrossed in doing certain things that he forgets about the balance?

Giving some thoughts about my own questions actually set me thinking. What was the primary reason for me venturing into Internet Marketing? I remember clearly that it was for 3 primary reasons:

1. Achieve financial freedom ultimately
2. Fulfilling relationships with family and friends
3. Pursuing passion in marketing value to the market

However, when I look back at the activities that I have been engaging for the past few weeks since the end of the boot camp in 17th June, I discover that not only did I not balance my activities, the anxiety state of mind got the better of me. I was too anxious in making the Internet Marketing work in the soonest time possible that I neglected my family; I was too anxious in making sales that I wanted to jump on every affiliate bandwagon even if there was no value in the product and insufficient engagement in personal development resulted in lack of knowledge for necessary application.

Now that I know my challenges, I will be back on track with balance that will empower and equip me with the knowledge and gives me the desired confidence to engage in the necessary activities to achieve what I want in life. Decision has been made to include the following activities in my daily routine: -

1. Morning exercises to keep healthy and fit…
2. Enjoying an hour every day to spend with family…
3. Increasing my goals’ list on what I would like to achieve…
4. Engage in self development to elevate my self esteem…
5. Research on products of great value to market!

I am sure that with all these activities that I have laid out to do on a daily basis and more activities to be added on progressively, I will be living my dreams and will want to show and help others how they too can achieve their dreams.

I Believe In You! I Know You Can Do It Too!

Yours Believingly

Eugene Goh

Eugene Goh has been engaging in personal development since 2002. His first self help book was Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and since then, has been engaging in personal development through reading numberous books and listening to various audio programs. Just to name a few of his favourite books are The Success Principles by Jack Canfield; Your Roadmap to Success by John Maxwell; Great Trilogy by Og Mandino and Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. He has numerous audio programs from the greats of Jim Rohn, Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy and is in a constant state of learning to learn from everyone who is willing to coach and in turn coach those who is willing to learn. To find out more about Eugene Goh, go to the following website to read his regularly updated blog.

3 Personal Development Steps To Success

2007-10-24T02:27:00.001-07:00

The Self Improvement industry constantly tells us that we must change our beliefs if we are ever to achieve the success we desire. Personal Development teachers point out the fact that action is necessary in order to achieve change and alter our lives to reflect our dreams and ambitions. Well how do you get yourself to take action when you don't know what action to take and when the world is telling you to stay put and not to strive for the impossible?

There is only one way!

Change your beliefs - This is real Personal Development Power!

The greatest of Self Improvement teachers tell you that in order to achieve success and have the ability to take action you must first alter your beliefs. But why is this and how can you do it?

Well, our beliefs are merely a set of thoughts that you have about a given subject. They do not need to be, and usually aren't, based of any real hard facts. Did you know that there are many psychological studies that show the views people have about themselves are wrong. Most people tend to be very hard on themselves and rarely give themselves credit for their achievements or recognize their own strengths. If you are a normal human being then you are doing exactly the same thing!

Since thought always precedes action, it is imperative to change your disempowering, self-defeating destructive beliefs to empowering ones that will create drive, confidence, faith and, ultimately, success!

By changing your beliefs your core thoughts will change and thus your actions will be completely different than they have been before and in alignment with your desires. I can give you 3 simple, yet highly effective, steps which you can start to use immediately to change your beliefs and your life. They only require a small amount of effort but you do need a lot of persistence to keep following them! Remember its all about taking action.

Step 1. Learn to recognize your emotional responses and you will learn to control your thoughts.

When you begin to watch your emotions you will learn to control your thoughts. Our emotions are just a by-product of the thoughts we are thinking. When you think a sad thought you get sad and when you think a happy thought you feel happy. Although to many people this sounds overly simply YOU must realize that there is great wisdom and huge rewards that come from watching your feelings.

When you feel bad it means you are thinking about the things you do not want. When you are experiencing joyful happy emotions it is a clear indication that your thoughts are in the same direction as your goals and desires. Feeling good means you are focusing on the things in life that you really want! Teach yourself to be aware of your emotional state. By watching how you feel you can easily regulate your thoughts.

Make the decision now to watch how you are feeling, especially when you are concentrated on your goals and desires. When you feel bad and are experiencing negative emotions it is a sign that your thinking is in the wrong direction. Feeling bad is an indication that you are focused on the things in life that you do not want. If you are feeling good then you are focused on the benefits of actually having what you want. You always get more of what you focus on even quantum physics is now telling us this!

So, use your emotions to gauge how you are feeling and if you are feeling bad then begin immediately to change your thoughts to the opposite. Focus on what you want until you begin to feel good. Through persistence you will thus condition yourself for success.

Step2. Let Go!

Don't try to force the issue by trying to work out every little detail of how you are going to achieve your desires. Just by focusing on them you set in motion powerful forces that will bring people, situations and circumstances that will open up opportunities for achieve what you want.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a plan of action. In fact this is very desirable. Just don't get so caught up in the plan that you lose sight of the goal.

Learn to have an optimistic yet detached view. By grabbing and trying to force every situation in your favour you merely cause yourself frustration. This will mean you never enjoy the journey towards success but more than that it means you are focusing on the lack of your desire. You always get more of what you focus on!

Step 3. Take action!

Being flexible and allowing the Universe to show you the way towards your goals and desires is definitely the best way to achieve success.

It is necessary, however, for you to take some action or at least be willing to take some. Take one step forward and the Universe will take ten steps to meet you!

The whole point of changing your beliefs is so that your thoughts change and thus your actions change also. If you take action, even tiny baby steps, towards your desires and goals you have already ensured that you will eventually reach them.

If you want to walk from LA to New York you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer hugeness of the goal. However, if you walk 5 miles every day within a week you will be 35 miles closer to your goal. It may take you almost a year and a half to reach your destination but it is possible when you break the goal down and take some action! When you are willing to take action you will find that strange things begin to happen. You may just find that the Universe sends a Porsche to give you a lift! - "The journey of a thousands miles begins with a single step", Chinese proverb.

Follow these three simple steps to success and your life will change in ways you never before dreamed were possible.

3 Personal Development Steps To Success

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5 Steps to Creating and Achieving Your Personal Development Plan

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A personal development plan helps you to grow and achieve. So why do so few people take the time to create one? Two potential reasons are:

• Lack of know how

• Fear of limiting themselves

There are 5 key steps in creating a personal development plan

1. Do a personal stock-take of your strengths and development needs. As well as your own assessment get the input of others. They can often see talents that you are not aware of or are failing to fully utilise.

2. Think about what development will help you most in achieving your professional and personal goals.

3. Decide which methods of delivery will have greatest impact on your learning. We all have different ways of learning so find out what works best for you.

4. Set out a calendar of development events for the next 12 months. This makes it real and more likely to be achieved.

5. Put an accountability structure in place to ensure you follow through. Often the lack of accountability can result in you losing focus.

So what are the benefits of creating a personal development plan?

1. You give a clear message that you take your contribution to business success seriously

2. You can start to work on the areas that are less developed so that you become even more of an asset to your employer

3. If things are not progressing as you would like career wise you can demonstrate to a potential new employer what you can contribute with real impact

4. You take informed choices about the type of roles you pursue rather than leaving it to chance

5. You continue to grow, be motivated and stretch yourself to achieve what you desire

Take the first step towards to realising and exploiting your real professional and earning potential.

10 Step Approach to Career and Personal Development Planning

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Step 1: Set a vision
Get a clear vision of what you want. Ask yourself at the pinnacle of your career: What role do I want? How much do I want to earn? What type of organisation you want to be working for? When do you want to achieve it by? What impact do you want to leave behind at the end of your career?

Step 2: Identify what you are willing to do to achieve your vision
Life is all about choices. By saying yes to career you are saying no to another area. Make a list now of: What you are willing to to achieve your vision What you are not willing to do

Step 3: Identify what it is worth to you to achieve your vision
Get connected to What it will give you What values your will be honouring How it will feel to achieve it? What will be the cost to you if you don't achieve?

Step 4: Identify the help and support you will need along the way
Start to make a list of all of the people and resources that you will need along the way to achieving your vision.

Step 5: Assess your skills
In assessing your skills you need to identify: Skills that you currently have Skills that need to be developed

Step 6: Assess your knowledge
Similar to skills consider areas where you have specific knowledge such as Finance, Marketing, IT and also the knowledge you will need to develop to be a leader.

Step 7: Assess your personal qualities
Read any research or speak to anyone who has reached a leadership role and they will probably tell you that softer skills were the most important attribute. Rigorously assess and review this area.

Step 8: Prepare a personal development plan
Use the results of the steps 5 to 7 to set out your personal development plan for each of the next 5 years. Be specific about what you want to do, the outcome you are seeking, how you will do it and when you will do it by. Consider the accountability you need to say on track.

Step 9: Prepare your career plan
In developing your career plan consider the experience you need to acquire, type of roles you need to do, specific industry experience you want, time in each role, support and help you need.

Step 10: Monitor, evaluate and adapt
If you don't monitor you are likely to go off track. Set up accountability. Set review dates. Be honest about what is working and what is not. Be ready to adapt to reach your final destination. Remember that many people have the potential but fail to realise it. Use this 10 step approach to get you off to a flying start.