The personal development industry is an
important one and yet, many people don’t recognize the need for it
in their life. Maybe it is the perception they have about personal
development or maybe they just are not aware of the possibilities for
themselves. These are both true for some people. It seems though, the
biggest misunderstanding people have is the affect personal
development has on our life… on every aspect of our life. Luckily,
as you read further, you will never have this misunderstanding again.
From the beginning of your life,
development has been key to your growth and accomplishments. When you
were a newborn, brain and thought function was developing. Then as an
infant, it was your hand eye coordination in development. The
development of the muscles and bones allowed you to walk as a
toddler. The process didn’t end there though. Around 5 you began
the process of developing your social skills in school.
This is completely natural. In fact,
anyone that doesn’t go through these stages of development has what
society refers to as a “physical or emotional handicap.”
Development is a fundamental part of your life. Life itself is
growth. All things living are growing; plants, marine life, insects
and humans. If you are alive (and if you’re reading this, we know
you are so don’t deny it) you must develop.
If we know that, it’s not surprising
that we are all wired with the desire to grow and progress. We are
often asked, “What is the best way to be happy or fulfilled?” The
answer is simple … grow and progress. That doesn’t mean you have
to be perfect or all the way to your goal to be happy and fulfilled;
it means you have to make progress.
In your own life, isn’t this true? If
you are 50 pounds overweight and you do nothing about it you
obviously are not happy about it but you don’t have to lose all 50
pounds either. You begin to feel happy and proud the moment you get
yourself to take some kind of action. If you manage to take
consistent actions the emotions intensify don’t they? Let’s say
doing this gets you to lose 25 pounds over 3 months. How do you feel
about it? Pretty darn good, huh?
But there are still 25 pounds of fat
hanging over your waist line!!! You’re still fat. What the heck are
you happy about?
You are happy because you made
progress. You grew as a person by being consistent and committed. You
have every right to be happy. Actually, you should be celebrating
more because you are growing and progressing … you are living!
When we become adults though, something
very strange happens. We believe that our mental development can or
should slow. Some believe when we graduate school, mental development
is over. This idea is counter to the design of life yet it is
something that huge numbers of people believe and it’s no wonder so
many people do not feel happy or fulfilled with their life.
This consciousness sets the scene for
something equally bizarre. When we hear someone talking about a book,
audio program, educational series, or seminar we immediately label
that as “woo woo”, “weird”, “a scam” and often we
belittle the people trying to go through this process. We must make
sure this process is “wrong” because if we don’t, then
the spotlight is on us for not participating.
This process of seeking out information
and people who can help us grow is commonly known as personal
development. It is through personal development that we can grow and
progress. If this development is found in a course that is offered by
a school we call it “continuing education.” If the information
comes from a source outside of an accredited school, we call it
“personal development.” Is there a difference?
YES there is and it’s an important
difference. Both are useful and have value but if you have to choose
between the two, pick … personal development! Does that surprise
you? We were surprised too when we first understood this because we
didn’t realize one important fact:
Teachers/professors go to school to
learn information that they are going to then teach to others. There
is no necessary application involved in the process. As educators,
they are not graded on how well their students perform in life
because once the student leaves the school, they are on their own.
Yet, in the personal development industry it is quite different.
There are countless programs and experts. These experts should have
experience in applying what they are teaching (one of our personal
requirements for anybody we learn from). They build their business by
helping people take things to the next level. When you choose to
learn from one of these individuals (after some research) you are
sure they know the topic, have applied it successfully in their own
life, know how to teach it and their students are getting real
results in life (check testimonials and review sites).
What topics can you find help with in
the personal development industry? Everything you can imagine. You
may want to develop a more positive outlook, expand the love in your
relationship, be better at communicating, sharpen your leadership
skills, create inspiration in your life, learn real estate investing,
master paper asset investing, become a more effective sales person,
improve your time management skills, learn a particular trade or
skill, learn how to utilize the internet for your business, stop
smoking, lose weight … the list literally could go on forever.
Here is the really amazing part. No
matter what area you pick to develop, all the other areas of your
life will be positively impacted as well. You cannot become a more
effective leader without also becoming a better parent, business
person, and spouse. It isn’t possible to learn to be more positive
and inspired each day without becoming a better sales person and
helping others to do the same.
At the end of the day you are the
single most common constant in your life. It only makes sense to
develop you every day!
By,
Michael Bloxton,
President &
CEO
OneMYnd, LLC