"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound." (James Allen)
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On the self - leadership journey it is important to address the importance of personal development. It all starts with being unhappy with the way things are. There is no one alive who can claim to be a finished product. We are all a work-in-progress. Personally, I am not where I used to be, but I am certainly nowhere near where I ought to be in terms of all that I can be. It takes humility and honesty to admit that you are not, "all that" and you are not, "all there". We have good intentions and sometimes the right motivation but this alone is not good enough. There has to be a willingness to put in the necessary work in order to achieve the goal. It is wishful thinking to imagine that you can change anything of importance without improving yourself. Let's look at some of the areas that need work.
We live in a time where there is much learning. It is possible to learn all the new skills and even spend a fortune yet yield no results. Acquiring new knowledge without a new mind is akin to putting new wine in old wine - skins. Change your mind!
Settling the mind issue positions you for real transformation. Personal development does not happen by itself. Physical growth is an inevitability; personal growth takes decisive action. If you are not growing, then you cannot achieve greatness. What skills are you going to attain to remain relevant in your chosen field? It has now become easy to be "self - taught, thanks to free online courses of which there are a lot on offer. Ivy league universities such as Harvard, Preston, for example, have resources on their websites which you can easily access. With YouTube, we can learn virtually anything, anytime by spending as little as thirty minutes per day on tutorials. You can read at least one book in a month. It is time to grow!
I remember when we were trying to develop different concepts for an advertising campaign. We seemed to be stuck and no creative ideas were coming to mind. That is when the director told everyone to stop and go online for "stimulus", that is, exposing ourselves to different concepts in order to stimulate the mind. What does this have to do with self-development? You need the right environment, the right exposure to nurture your quest for improvement. A child who grew up in a poor home, in a poor neighbourhood will never aspire to anything different until by reason of exposure she sees that it is possible to create a different, better reality. Jealously guard your environment; the people, the places and ideas you expose yourself to are important. There are a lot of good inspirational movies out there. If watching movies is not your thing, surround yourself with stories of people who have triumphed over adversity and achieved what you are trying to do. Seek them out, take them out to lunch, download their testimonies from the internet. It will save you time to learn from their mistakes.
Are you an ambitious, determined person? No matter what your goals are, or what field you wish to excel in, there are mentors, thought patterns and mindsets that can help you get there.
From computers to agriculture, there are thousands of success stories -- all too often portrayed as Horatio Alger-style 'rags to riches' changes. The reality is that very few success stories happen like this.
The road to riches is paved with hard work, and these personal success tips will help you navigate it without falling victim to biases, assumptions and poor steps.
Personal Success Tips #1: Find and connect with mentors.
Here's a personal success tip that you won't find in any guidebook. Thanks to the explosion in social personal development skills media and connectivity, your mentors aren't as hard to contact as they may appear.
Whether you want to speak with a bestselling author or a star computer engineer, there are communications channels that open you up to contact with successful people, offer you massive inside tips, and allow you to communicate with people that could create your future.
Personal Success Tips #2: Make use of the massive bank of free resources.
There are hundreds of free resources out there that can help you improve your life outlook, abilities or specific knowledge.
From online courses to gigantic collections of digitized books, the opportunities to learn online are endless. Don't think you need to pay to learn -- spend some time on the massive amount of resources out there online.
Personal Success Tips #3: Filter your resources carefully.
The internet has caused a major secondary effect for those with a desire to learn: minority voices can present themselves as mainstream.
From radical political views to factually untrue blogs and companies, you need to fact check with dedication, look at both sides of the issues, and weigh up any biases and assumptions you find.