The idea of personal growth for me has gone 360º in my thinking about how it relates to business.Let me explain why. I am a “READY GO” person so in the early days of my business I felt that the personal growth component was not a priority.

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. Income producing activity needs to take at least 80% of your work week. 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 (www.thesecret.tv)

- 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. Early in this work, Hill suggest how to master self-confidence. This confidence piece is one of my favorites. 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. Joseph Murphy’s The Power of the Subconscious Mind opens a bright new way in which you use your 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 in high regard 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.

There are 3 basic element to change your life, you need to ask, believe and receive the new life, you also need to live your new life, just don’t imagine it but really believe and feel that your life has changed, you should set specific goals, create plans, but the most important is to always stay positive and be grateful for the things you have. This science proves beyond any doubt that what the success scientists of the 20th century were teaching us is absolutely true. These experts coach and educate those who want to become a success in life and those who want to become a success in business.

When you create your life’s new plan remember it is a journey and you need to act like you are living this journey using your thoughts and imagination, and see the vision as if you are there in this new life. To stop the negativity you need to think of something positive quickly, think of a pet, listen to music, start thinking of the opposite of the negative thought.

When planning a personal development plan you need to alter your life style and career path. Defining a personal development plan would mean altering the career path life cycle. If you develop a personal plan and believe in it, and practice this and see yourself in this new plan it will be only a matter of time before in comes in reality. will be only a matter a time. A good plan will also act as a performance assessment tool and a blueprint of all your day-to-day operations.

The personal development plan will only work if you truly are motivated and believe in this new life. Without the unpredictable variable such as luck, coincidence and the like, to rely on an emotional impulse such as motivation to drive us forward is like waiting for food to appear in your cupboards without going to the store to buy it. And the most convenient source of motivation comes from these books and seminars.

The problem is 99 percent of success psychology can’t provide the guarantee that 95 percent of the population needs in order to be convinced it works. These experts coach and educate those who want to become a success in life and those who want to become a success in business.

Everybody has one or another personal aspect to improve and better and hence a personal development coaching business could be a good idea as not only will you be making money, you will be helping so many individuals develop and improve their skills.

There are lots of self declared gurus on the internet as well as in the book stores who want you to follow such rigid routines and they are not actually interested in helping you but want you to continue following them so that you become dependent on them and thus, be able to use you as a predictable source of income. Oh sure, I liked to believe that I was in control of myself, but why then was I not able to motivate myself if I did indeed have so much control. The speaker is able to tap into your emotions.

You get so caught up in “what if” that you end up not doing anything. Furthermore, they have the nerve to complain and cry about it when they are doing nothing to try to better their situation.

Making a Habit of Personal Development

By Justin Popovic 

It can be a rather amusing task to sit back and analyze some of the daily rituals we perform, often without giving any conscious thought. I believe this is a good thing because we would accomplish very little if we had to stop and think about every task we perform.

Just today, I was making the short drive from my home to the library where I do most of my writing, when I noticed I had been completely engrossed in thoughts about the book I am writing. I had to look in the back seat to check if I even brought my laptop and writing materials. I then became aware of all of the other things that had to take place just to make this short trip. Among other things, I had to put on my shoes, put on my jacket, walk from the house to the car, unlock the car with the keyless entry, place my bag in the back seat, sit in the driver’s seat, fasten my seatbelt, start the car, and so on.  The entire time this was happening, my thoughts were directed towards my task for the day.

This got me thinking about some of the other habit patterns in our life that we consciously decide to do without really asking ourselves if the task is really the most important thing on our list. For example, many people choose to watch a number of hours of television each day. I personally know people who spend an unusual amount of time daily cleaning their home or randomly browsing the internet. The point I am trying to make is that most of us can probably uncover at least one hour of time each day that we give to meaningless tasks.

The interesting thing is, if you ask most people if they are happy with all of the results in their life, the truthful answer is often no.

My goal is to encourage people to dedicate some time every single day to personal reflection and self development. If you are unhappy with a certain situation, you have the ability to change your thinking, and ultimately your behaviour, so that you can improve that particular circumstance. Instead of watching a daytime drama or indulging in excessive dusting and mopping, you might want to consider picking up a book or audio program that forces you to examine your results.  

From my personal experience, this simple action produces an internal reaction. Because you are examining your own personal results, you quickly realize that you are the only one who can change them. Unfortunately, in our society today, people are fixated on producing immediate results and having tangible evidence in their hands the minute they ask for something. With personal development, the true benefits can only be realized when we incorporate the ideas into a habit.

Think about it this way. If you were to make a firm commitment to read or listen to personal development educational programs for even 30 minutes a day for the next two weeks, what kind of positive impact could this have on your life? What if you did it for two months? Similar to unconscious activities such as getting dressed or brushing your teeth, you would start to create a new habit and become the kind of person who automatically takes action on ideas that move you in the direction of improved results.

From personal experience, I can attest to the fact that this kind of self study works. It really is a never ending process because it is part of our nature to grow, expand and develop and ultimately, it provides an excellent opportunity to make positive life changes. As you become more involved in personal development, you will start to notice areas of your life that are working well and other areas that require improvement. This kind of education will help you harness ideas that will improve your results while at the same time, overcome all of the inhibitors standing in the way of you achieving your aim!

A common question I hear is, “Where do I start?” There are so many good authors, philosophies and ideas on this topic that you can never really say which style will work. The best advice I have ever received from this perspective is to study and learn from those who are producing results that you would like in your life. It’s a pretty basic lesson but a very important one. Seek out the people who have already achieved what you would like to achieve and learn from them. Success often leaves clues and it is up to you to find those clues and act on them. With a daily commitment to personal improvement, you will quickly become a master detective you will transform each clue into a tangible action that will lead to a more fulfilled life.

Justin Popovic

justin@igniteyouressence.com

www.igniteyouressence.com

Justin Popovic is the founder and key speaker for the personal development education company, Ignite Your Essence.