The Concept of Personal Development

by Darren Roberts, Contributing Author

Personal Development is understanding where you are, knowing where you would like to be and the action of bridging this gap. Before you embark upon something new you really need a successful attitude to make the most of everything in your business and personal lives.

When you first think of the two words pinned together "Personal Development" what are your thoughts?

Do you picture a child making mistakes being corrected from his parents? Do you visualize it as climbing the corporate ladder at your place of work? Do you see it as something which is silly as you're happy with your life situation? Or do you see it as an avenue to pursue and achieve those things most dear to you?

It could be any of the above. Personal development is so misunderstood these days. Unfortunately many people see it as a silly concept that isn't for them. Others go overboard and drown themselves in info until they don't know what to believe anymore. It's probably healthy to be somewhere in between - perhaps leaning a little more to the latter but not too extreme. One thing is for sure - the concept cannot be forced upon you. If someone tells you that you need to develop yourself in this regard then you'd probably jump on your high horse and tell them where to go in no uncertain terms.

Understanding where you are, knowing where you would like to be and the action of bridging this gap is what I would call "Personal Development". Let's walk through the following example.

Currently:
House With Mortgage
JOB (Just Over Broke)
Small 3 Cylinder Car

Would Like To Be:
Mortgage Free
Self-Employed Owner
Of A Nice Mercedes

The above may not be your ideal situation but for arguments sake today let's say it is. As you can see there is quite a gap between today's situation and the one we would prefer. To actually get yourself into the preferred position of standing you need to develop your abilities accordingly.

Developing ones abilities involves tons of things. If you're a tennis player of fairly good ability but your goal is to repeat André Agassi's performance at Roland Garros in 12 months time. i.e. win the French Open then to bridge this gap you're going to need training, coaching, practice, error correction, dedication, persistence, diligence, staying power, strength, to maximize your fitness, to minimize your alcohol consumption etc. Basically you would be looking to increase your abilities in all aspects to give yourself a shot at the top.

Going back to our example. You want to pay your mortgage, leave the 9 to 5 grind and update to a suave Mercedes. A high goal? Maybe - but very achievable. In a nutshell all you have to do is become more valuable, develop your own product line and undertake total responsibility for your actions. What I've noticed since the inception of my ezine some 33 editions ago is that many people get caught up in the marketing of their product (or the marketing of products belonging to others through affiliate programs) without an overall plan.

Don't get me wrong I know and understand the value of marketing all too well and I am sure you do too but marketing is simply just a part of personal development. In our above tennis example marketing could be equated to training and coaching but there are still many components left to attaining our target that need to be taken into consideration.

Reducing the mortgage to nil and buying a nice Mercedes Benz are really just by-products of the second aspect; leaving one's job for self-employment and succeeding at the transition can eventually lead to the other two targets being accomplished.

This is a major transition. To leave ones job and the associated security is not a decision that can be taken lightly this is why personal development is all encompassing. Are you prepared for the transition? Are your targets real or just puffs of smoke? Will you stick it out??? Tons of questions with really only one answer. Personal Development is all about becoming better at what you want to do. If you don't want to do it then that's not development, that's pain.
This topic is so broad and my favorite as it involves a lot of self-understanding, patience and desire. As you begin to notice that you are bridging this gap you will gain a momentum that can only get stronger; thus your target in effect becomes easier to reach...

Before you embark upon something new you really need a successful attitude to make the most of everything in your business and personal lives.

It's really pretty simple: If You Want To Earn More - You Have To Learn More!

About the Contributor: Darren Roberts is the Publisher of "AAvenues 2 Your Success." He is a marketing consultant at the helm of Topliving Consultancy. Subscribe to Darren's popular "Success and Self-Motivation" Weekly publication, "AAvenues 2 Your Success". It's packed with this sort of material each week.

The Secret of Your Success in 2008 . . .

by Donald J. Trump

To make 2008 your most successful year ever . . . Think big!

When you were a child, would you have liked to keep crawling, when everyone else was walking? I don’t think so.

We all have to start with small steps, but the point is:

Get to the biggest steps you’re capable of taking.

Thinking small will limit your potential. Thinking big will take you places. Thinking big can get you to the top, and I can tell you, it’s not lonely up here.

Successful people like challenges. It’s our nature. Keep in sync with this basic premise, and you’ll begin moving forward with the momentum necessary for great achievement.

Striving from an early age is one secret to success. I learned to work hard from an early age, trying to catch up with my father who was a very successful developer. But you can keep striving no matter what your age or accomplishments.

These three concepts will guide you:

Ask yourself why your plans are so small. Then begin to expand your horizons.

Concentrate on managing your future, not your past. Learn from the past, but don’t stay there.

Look at the solution. Don’t focus on the problem.

The faculty and staff of Trump University join Donald J. Trump in wishing you the most successful year ever.

Donald J. Trump is Chairman of Trump University.

Dare To Dream Again

By Chris Widener

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." -- Teddy Roosevelt

Do you remember when you were a child and no dream seemed too big? Some of us thought we would walk on the moon; some dreamed of riding with Roy Rogers; others imagined stepping to the plate in a big-league game. Every one of us, when we were young, had a common trait - we were dreamers.

The world hadn't gotten to us yet to show us that we couldn't possibly achieve what our hearts longed for. And we were yet still years from realizing that in some cases we weren't built for achieving our dream (I realized about my junior year of high school that I was too short and to slow to play professional basketball. The dreamer is always the last to know).

Eventually we started to let our dreams die. People began to tell us that we couldn't do the things we wanted. It was impossible. Responsible people don't pursue their dreams.
Settle down, get a job, be dependable. Take care of business, live the mundane, be content.

Do you know what I say to that? Hooey! It is time to dream again! Why? Here are just a few reasons:

* Avoid regret. The facts are in, and someday we will all lie on our deathbed looking back through the history of our lives. We will undoubtedly think about what we wished we had done or accomplished. I for one don't want to regret what could have been, what should have been. So I am deciding today to pursue my dreams.

* The world needs people like you to dream of something great and then to pursue it with all of your heart. Maybe you belong to a business, school or organization that started out with good intentions but has settled into the same ole, same ole. Shake them up and remind them of how they could really help people if only they would dream!

* Personal and family fulfillment. One of the things that happens when we stop pursuing our dreams is that a little piece of us dies and we become disheartened, if only in that area of our lives.

Stepping up and pursuing your dream rekindles that passion and zeal that everyone has the capacity for and lets us experience fulfillment. Having a purpose puts the zip in our step and the zing in our emotions!

* Making the world a better place. All of the great accomplishments that have ever happened began with a person who had a dream. Somebody rebuffed the nay-sayers and said to himself or herself, "This can be done, and I am the one who will do it." And in many instances they changed the world for the better.

It isn't just the Martin Luther King's and the J.F.K's either. Think of all the people we have never heard of who have started things large and small that help people world- wide every day.

* Leaving a legacy. How will your children remember you? As one who sought all that life had to offer, using your gifts and talents to their fullest extent, leading the family with a zest for life, or as an overweight couch potato who could have been? Our children need to see that we dream; that we search for something better. They in turn will do the same!

So where do we start? Here are some ideas:

1. Reconnect with your dream. Set aside some time to let yourself dream. What have you placed on the backburner in order to live the status quo? Settle on one or two dreams that you can and will pursue. Don't come up with too many. That will only deter you further.

2. Decide that you will do it. This may seem elementary but many people never decide and commit fully to their dream. They simply keep "thinking" about it.

3. Tell others that you are going to do it. This puts you on the record as to what you are dreaming about. It makes you accountable. It will help you do it if for no other reason than to avoid embarrassment!

4. Develop a step-by-step plan. This is absolutely essential.

5. You must sit down and write out a few things:

- A timeline. How long will it take to the end?

- Action steps. Point-by-point what you will do and when you will do them.

- Resources you will need to draw from. What will it take?

6. Who will need to be involved for help or advice?

- An evaluation tool. You need to evaluate from time to time whether you are progressing or not.

- A celebration. Yep, when you are done you should already have planned what you will do to celebrate. Make it big!

7. I have found that there is no better time than now. So, set aside some time today to get started on your dream.

Follow the action plan and set your sights for the top of the mountain!

You will be glad you did!

Three Warning Signs of Poverty Mentality

by Randy Gage

When was the last time you gave any serious thought to your priorities, and where you expend your energy? Can you say with certainty that you are completely focused on ‘abundance’ and not on ‘lack’?

I don’t think people are born with an abundance mentality or a lack mentality. I think for many of us our priorities are the result of subtle, subconscious ‘programming’ that determines our approach to just about everything in life. Instead of being programmed for success, most people are programmed to avoid failure.

This programming controls how you react to hundreds of situations, each and every day. And the way you react reveals what your programming really is.

There are many different warning signs all around us that we are suffering from lack programming or a poverty mentality, but none of these red flags will be of any use until we open our eyes and start looking for them.

Like posted traffic signs and speed limits, these warning signs are there for our benefit, helping us raise awareness of our programming. Three of the most common warning signs I see are the following:

Warning sign #1: Constant Money Fixation What do you think about money? When you do think about it, are you concerned about how much of it you lack, or how much you can manifest? Have you ever thought about why you want to manifest money in the first place?

Most poor people spend all their time thinking about money (or more specifically, their lack of it). When I was younger and broke, that’s what I did. I was fixated on money. I thought about all the things I didn’t have and couldn’t get. And I was very jealous of the people who had them.

Warning sign #2: "I Hate Rich People!" Being jealous of all the things other people had that I didn’t help matters. Know where it led? Jealousy soon turned to hate. Soon I hated all rich people because they had what I wanted -- nice homes, exotic cars, expensive clothes. That’s when the real problems started, because as much as I hated rich people, I was working hard every day trying to become one! That set the stage for a whole bunch of internal conflict that I had no idea was going on.

I ended up surging forward to success, only to sabotage myself every time I got close. I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory more times than I can count.

I thought I was programmed for success, but was actually programmed for poverty.

Warning sign #3: Fear-Based Decision-Making Making decisions based on fear of loss or failure never leads toward prosperity.
In fact, fear-based decision-making can rob you of any sense of happiness or joy of success, and distort your behavior.

Have you ever seen someone experience more anguish at losing $10 than earning $100? Ever seen someone drive around a parking lot for 10 minutes to avoid a one-minute walk to the store?

These scenarios are fear-based, not prosperity driven. The decisions are not made on what the possible benefits are, but made in order to avoid a possible negative outcome.

How do you know what kind of programming you have? If you really want to know if you have prosperity programming or a poverty mentality, look for your answer in the previous scenarios. Do they sound familiar?

If you make decisions--particularly money and career ones--based on the "moving away from fear" model, you’ve got poverty programming. If your decisions are made based on a positive "move toward prosperity" model, then you have success programming.

What do you do if you test poverty programming?

You’re already doing it. Raise your awareness of your programming and recognize it for what it is. Of particular importance is regulating the influences you’re getting from the TV shows and movies you watch, books you read, etc.

I applied the principles of a prosperity mentality, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who has had a greater degree of turnaround. This only happened because I was willing to confront my weaknesses, discover and eliminate the insidious poverty mentality I had, and replace it with positive programming. To this day, I am ever vigilant, mindful of what I allow myself to watch and listen to, and the people I associate with.

The more you experience success and prosperity, the more you’ll start to realize how little they have to do with opportunity, chance, luck--or even training, education, or skill. It has everything to do with consciousness, beliefs, and even subconscious programming that you aren’t aware of.

You see, poverty is not an absence of money and things -- it is a mindset.

Prosperity is not an abundance of money and things--it’s also a mindset.

When I began studying the laws that govern prosperity, I had to get out of my comfort zone, face fears, and really examine my belief system. It was hard work, and sometimes still is, but the results are well worth the temporary discomfort. I share all of this with you in the hope you too will benefit from its truth. I want you to be healthy, happy, and rich!

--RG

After Growth - what is our wealth? Community.

Gregory Wendt, CFP

The premise of Bill McKibben's new book "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future" is that the economic axiom "growth is good" is no longer true.

In a recent article from Mother Jones he states:
"Growth no longer makes most people wealthier, but instead generates inequality and insecurity. Growth is bumping up against physical limits so profound -- like climate change and peak oil -- that trying to keep expanding the economy may be not just impossible but also dangerous. And perhaps most surprisingly, growth no longer makes us happier. Given our current dogma, that's as bizarre an idea as proposing that gravity pushes apples skyward. But then, even Newtonian physics eventually shifted to acknowledge Einstein's more complicated universe."

Well, then the question arises if growth is no longer desirable, nor even possible, then what is good? What is the measure of true wealth and well being for all of us?It's in Bill's title - the wealth of our interconnectedness, our community.

I find the analogy of a forest very helpful. You can have a monoculture agri-forest with one type of tree, and very few other species. With the same amount of land, water and sunlight an old growth forest has many, many species of plants. A whole community of beings interacting. The same amount of input of resources generates a community of interaction.

In the same way, if you go to a local Megamarket there are typically one or two convesations and interactions - "paper or plastic?", "credit or debit". On the other hand, a farmer's market provides the same amount of groceries, yet you have interactions with many farmers, neighbors, children, and you're supporting a local food system.

Josh Mailman, a serial eco-entrepreneur and massive sustainable business instigator speaks on his views on the matter.

"I'm much more sanguine about the impact that we've been able to have, but I don't want to discount the small acts. We have a need for small acts, and I consider the things I have done small acts, hopefully compassionate acts. To the extent that I've been able to make a contribution, it's been out of a desire to build community, realizing that I'm no more important - and I think in many ways less so - than some local activist. The real leaders are the people that are in there day after day, slugging it out, who have chosen something other than monetary gain, who are there because they are fed by the experience of community that they have."

Barbara Marx Hubbard said "If you do a planetary scan, you'll see that communities are forming everywhere, and these communities are each holding the collective coding as well as the blueprint for a specific mission. I think these communities as separate yet interactive organs in the social body. And the potent interaction of these organic communities assure that the larger social body will be far greater than the sum of its parts."

Our community is our greatest wealth, I would add. And we are the leaders of this movement. Each and every one of us.

As I reflect on my life, I see that my life depends on a vast network of people 99% who I don't event know, literally. Just think of the number of people it took for you to have your daily cup of tea or coffee, or piece of toast, or oatmeal, or electricity... and that's just people. Add layers of animals, plants, earth, energy, air and water, and the community you live in expands exponentially!

Think about that today.

Six Sure Fire Ways To Become Wealthy

By Louie Frias

People in general, seem to fall into two groups when it comes to choice of action. They either act on impulse or on self-discipline. Knee-jerk reactions to any particular situation tend to lead to a life that veers out-of-control. Self-discipline is not a part-time endeavor. You need to be consistently focused: dabblers rarely stick with anything long enough to ever see results; which is why they're always on to "the next big thing". They're looking for success in all the wrong places. Success lies within. It's achieved NOT by hitting a home run, but singles, doubles and triples every time you're up to bat.

I'm going to share with you six ways to beat the odds and heavily load luck in your favor.

Following these time tested universal "rules" will allow you the success you deserve.

1. Eliminate negativity from all around you. Mental roadblocks are a major obstacle to people taking actionable steps to success. Here's a great example: Have you ever noticed when you have something the other party wants, your phone rings off the hook. BUT, if you need cooperation from the other party for anything necessary to make the deal happen, you're lucky if they ever take or return a phone call.

The point is clear: the more you have on the line, the more it's up to you to make things happen. Even if that means resorting to stepping up your degree of unpleasantries. Remember, the deal, your deal, is only important to you.

People are also going to bombard you with negative mental darts. These "bad seeds" make it very difficult to not think, "Maybe they're right. Maybe I can't or shouldn't be doing this.. It's a vicious cycle; the more you hear negative words, the more self-doubt you harbor. The more self-doubt you own, the easier it will be for you to just give in and give up. If you buy into this cycle, failure is imminent.

2. Accept failure as a stepping stone to mega-success. Don't misunderstand, you WILL fail. We all do. The secret however, is to fail fast. But remember, the law of averages is on our side! If you ever wanted a friend to stick by you through thick or thin and wouldn't judge or criticize your efforts, and then REWARD you for keeping on, it's the law of averages!

3. Live in "today." Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, but today is a gift. That's why it's called "the present". Who slighted you last week or last year, the possibility of prices going up next week are all irrelevant. You can't change the past but you can create and command YOUR future. How you respond to adversity and success determine how you will handle your life. What you do with each minute of each day of each week of each month of each year creates the report card of your life. While it's not necessary to get all "A's", it is a requirement to do the work.

4. Cultivate your Human Relationships. Regardless of what you think, to get rich in the world, you need "other people". Whether that means a web designer, a marketing expert, a lawyer (yeech: IMHO they're a necessary evil in our society) or just someone to bounce ideas off. It's impossible to be an expert in all things relating to your business: it IS possible and advisable to have a working knowledge of all things so you don't get taken advantage of. (Ever know someone who hired a "expert" then it turned out the so-called "expert" was useless?) Best small piece of advice I can offer here is to live by KARMA...what you sow, so shall you reap.

5. Add enormous value to yourself. If you feel you're not an "expert" on any particular topic, BECOME ONE. Today. Right now. Take immediate stock of yourself. Write down all the qualities you have to offer. More importantly, be completely honest with yourself and write down all your weaknesses. (Concentrating on improving your weaknesses will assure you of adding value to yourself.) Once you've added value to your self; give it away. You heard right. Keeping something valuable to yourself is a moral crime. You must build others with your knowledge. The more you give away, the more is returned. It's a universal law. Once you see someone benefit from what you've taught them, you'll then understand.

6. Take action. Self-doubt is the number one obstacle to overcoming adversity. To achieve success, you must endure and conquer adversity. Like building muscle, work comes before results. In order to carry on in the face of adversity, you must have a clear and worthy goal. It must be challenging enough to cause you great effort to achieve. Once you achieve it, self-confidence starts growing muscles. Now that muscle needs to be challenged everyday to promote growth and stave off disease; (negativity).

Also very important to realize, taking no action is also an action.

Why Stories Matter

By Ellen Moore

"That's the story of my life," said the young woman as she slammed the file on the table and ran out of the meeting. Accustomed to such behavior from her, we resumed without comment. Wherever she went, trouble followed.

"If that's the story of her life," I thought, "Then maybe she needs a new story."

On that day, I began thinking about the ways stories teach and form us. Whether we realize it or not, we each have a core of stories we live by. Stories determine the ways we see ourselves and the world, and the principles by which we decide to act. Our internal stories set our intentions, since what we look for, we tend to find. Stories give us purpose and direction.

"To tell a story is to construct a life," wrote Deena Metzger. In other words, we are the stories we tell ourselves.

The world is made up of stories, and so are we.

Stories shape our experience; at the same time we put our experiences into words and stories.

Stories and experiences reinforce one another in a circular fashion. We've been given those stories by our culture, our teachers, our religious leaders, our families. Almost everything we know was taught to us in the form of a story.

Stories serve as foundations for our lives.

We take the stories our families have handed us, and at an early age we begin to live out those scripts. With help from our parents and others around us, we start to shape ourselves and our environments to fit the story. In a sense, we choose the costumes, props, and sets for our story, then set about hiring (and firing) the actors to play out the parts we've "written" for them. Seen in this light, we may blame others less. Ever notice how a succession of "actors" will fill the same role over time?

Stories give shape to our experience.

Even the name of a story has power because it focuses our attention and provides a meaning and framework for the story. Titling a story involves intention, judging, and interpreting as we go. We tend to find what we're looking for, so a story directs our search, however unconsciously. When we write or say to ourselves, "This is a story about..." we choose a direction for the story to take. If we begin to give an account of our victimization, for example, we select details to support that construction. But if we set out to tell a story of empowerment, liberation, or redemption, our attention will focus on facts and events to build toward that conclusion. In telling a story, we must choose the elements that comprise it.

Stories bear witness to truth.

Without witnesses and their descriptions of their experiences to create documentation, our personal and cultural history would be lost. Letters, journals, chronicles, documentary films, even fiction accounts preserve metaphorical truth. Since stories have the power to touch hearts and consciences, it has the power to help bring about change, to correct injustices.

In Victorian England, Charles Dickens' novels exposed the abysmal living conditions of the lower classes and the harsh treatment of children working long hours in dangerous mills and factories. He managed to convey truth so vividly that his readers could put themselves emotionally in his characters' places. By bringing those horrible conditions to the public conscience, he brought about political change: Because of his novels, the Poor Laws were repealed and new laws were created for free and compulsory education for all children.

Stories help us understand one another.

In listening to the narratives of others who have gone before us, we find we travel in company, not alone. We learn that others have traveled similar paths. We discover common threads and universal themes. As more and more people write their confessions, memoirs, and autobiographies, we see that all our stories are more alike than different. Shared stories give us community that transcends time and space.

As we know the power of stories in our lives, we learn to tell them deliberately to shape our lives and our world. By telling stories, we create our truths, our foundations, our communities, our world, and we create a future in which we can bring possibilities to fruition.

Moving Forward

In order to use stories to move forward with your life, you might want to try one or more of the following suggestions:

* Tell the stories you live by, the stories you grew up with.

* If you haven't already begun, try writing short pieces of the story of your life.

* Consider writing a "timed autobiography" of your entire life. Start with a 30-minute story, a five-minute story, then a 30-second story. Notice what insights appear as you are forced to choose only the most important elements.

* Look at the collected photographs of your life and family. Pretend to be an anthropologist from the future to see what clues and insights you can gain by keen observation. What stories do your pictures tell?

* Try making a visual representation of your life story in a map, drawing, sculpture, collage, or painting.

* Ask yourself about your purpose in life.

* Consider becoming the author of your own life.