Why is Personal Development Important?

Sometimes, when our doubts, fears and insecurities overwhelm us, we tend to think, “I wish I was somebody else.” More often than not, we think and believe that someone or rather, most people are better than us, when in reality the fact is most people are just as worried and insecure.

You spot a totally eye-catching girl sitting by herself at a party, casually sipping on a glass of bubbly. You think to yourself, “She looks so perfectly calm and confident.” But if you could read her mind, you might find thoughts like, “Are people talking about why I am sitting here alone?... Why don’t guys find me attractive? …I don’t like my ankles, they look too skinny… I wish I was as intelligent as my best friend.”

We look at a young business entrepreneur and say “Wow… what else could he ask for?” He stares at himself at the mirror and murmurs to himself, “I hate my big eyes… I wonder why my friends won’t talk to me… I hope my parents can sort out their problems.”

Isn’t it funny? We look at other people, envy them for looking so outrageously perfect and wish we could trade places with them, while they look at us and think the same thing. We are insecure of other people who themselves are insecure of us. We suffer from low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and lose hope in personal development because we are enveloped in quiet desperation.

Sometimes, you have an irritating habit like biting your finger nails, chewing your lip, and you are probably the last to know.

I have a friend who never gets tired of talking. In most conversations, she is the only one who seems to be interested in the things she has to say. So all of our other friends tend to avoid the circles whenever she’s around and she doesn’t notice how badly she became socially handicapped – gradually affecting the people in her environment.

One key to personal development is to LISTEN and TALK to a trusted friend. Find someone who you feel comfortable with talking about personal matters. Someone you know will be brutally honest rather than tactful. Ask questions like “Do you think I am ill-mannered?”, “Do I always sound so argumentative?”, “Do I talk too loud?”, “Does my breath smell?”, “Do I ever bore you when we are together?”. In this way, the other person will obviously know that you are interested in the process of personal development. Lend your ears for comments and criticisms and don’t give her answers like “Don’t exaggerate! Yes but…!” Open up your mind and heart as well. In return, you may want to help your friend with constructive criticism that will also help her improve her self.

One of Whitney Houston’s songs says “Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.” True enough. In order to love others, you must love yourself too. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have.

Before telling other people some ways on how to improve themselves, let them see that you yourself are a product of personal development. Personal development makes us better people. Only then can we inspire other people and the the rest of the world will follow.

Stop thinking of yourself as second-rate beings. Forget the repetitive thought of “If only I was richer… if only I was thinner” and so on. Accepting your true self is the first step to personal development. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others only to find out at the end that we’ve got ten more reasons to envy them.

We all have our insecurities. Nobody is perfect. We always wish we had better things, better features, better body parts, etc. But life need not be perfect for people to be happy about themselves. Personal development and loving yourself is not a matter of shouting to the whole world that you are perfect and you are the best. It is the virtue of acceptance and contentment. When we begin to improve ourselves, we then begin to feel contented and happy.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen and his friend, Jack Canfield, had an idea to write a book of short stories that would touch the souls of many people. After the book was written the title seemed to be not quite right. So he went into meditation and asked for guidance about a title. He wanted the book to be special, to captivate the imagination of the public, so the title was critical. He went to bed each night with the phrase in his mind: “Mega bestseller”.

What Do You Do When You Are Turned Down 134 Times?

After a few days, Hanson woke up with the phrase “Chicken Soup” in his mind. He didn't understand until he remembered that his mom had always made him chicken soup when he was sick. After more contemplation, the final title was born: “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. Everybody he shared this title with got goose bumps almost instantly.

However, even though a major breakthrough had been achieved with the title, bills were piling up, and his spouse got more nervous with each passing day. The title was there but the book was not selling. How could they continue to promote the book to publishers when real life was intruding so heavily?

Hansen received over 33 rejection letters even though he was not an unknown in his field. In the following weeks, he was turned down by 134 more publishers. Finally, a small printing company agreed to take on the project if the authors agreed to buy the first 20,000 copies!

Well, what are you going to do if this is your dream? You just keep the faith and keep on doing it. Hansen and Canfield agreed to buy the first 20,000 copies themselves, and the book hit the market in 1994. It did not make it to the first bestseller list until 14 month later. During all that time, the two men ceaselessly promoted the book by their own efforts.

Guess What Happened Next?
The book became the greatest top-selling success story in the history of non-fiction books with over 100 million books in print and over a billion dollars in combined sales!

Your Dreams - The Source Of Infinite Power

If you love what you do, you can never fail! Why? Because you will never run out of juice. You will always be motivated. During the inevitable times when you are discouraged, you will find a way to simply acknowledge the state you find yourself in, take a break, and the juice will be back in no time. If you live your talents you will be empowered by the universal source — a source that is beyond your wildest imagination and it is of infinite supply.

No argument can make you stop doing what you love to do. Many people have wonderful reasons for what they do and for what they want to accomplish. These reasons are as varied and personal as anything in the universe. If you take away these reasons and ideas, people fall into a black hole because there is then no longer any substance behind their reality—their dreams have been cut off at the source.

If there is only one important thing in your life, then surely it must be this: to find and live your dreams. Don't waste any more time doing things you don't like. Yes, you are taking a risk, but you will never want to go back once you have made this choice.

Just in case you have not discovered the marvellous "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book, you can find it here at Amazon.com along with the books in the series:


or from Amazon.co.uk


They also make great presents.

Jim Rohn Excerpts from the Treasury of Quotes

I am a huge fan of Jim Rohn, the silver haired American business philosopher. He speaks such wisdom, inspiring and challenging with his words.

Here are some Jim Rohn quotes:
"Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom."

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

"To become financially independent you must turn part of your income into capital; turn capital into enterprise, turn enterprise into profit; turn profit into investment; and turn investment into financial independence."

"We can have more than we've got because we can become more than we are."

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure."

"There is no better opportunity to receive more than to be thankful for what you already have. Thanksgiving opens up the windows of opportunity for ideas to flow your way."

"Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

You might be familiar with The Jim Rohn Excerpts from the Treasury of Quotes, which broke the 2,000,000 in sales mark last year. Its huge demand is based on the fact that it is an extremely elegant booklet (gold foil on burgundy leatherette), it is very high in content (it contains more than 130 quotes on 21 specially selected topics from the original Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn) and it makes an excellent gift for family, friends and colleagues; yet it sells for less than a dollar each when purchased in multiples.

Also, each Jim Rohn booklet has a special TO and FROM section along with space to add a personalized note. There is a dedication:

"I wish for you a life of wealth, health and happiness; a life in which you give to yourself the gift of patience, the virtue of reason, the value of knowledge, and the influence of faith in your own ability to dream about and to achieve worthy rewards."

Think of the impact on someone when they receive such a positive heartfelt wish from you. They make an excellent stocking filler or business gift for clients - much better than yet another pen or calendar - and will be referred to time and time again. Brilliant idea!

The wide range of topics in this little booklet means that it really will speak to everyone:

Personal Development
Leadership/Management
Activity/Labor
Desire/Motivation
Knowledge/Education
Results/Success
Goals/Plans
Time/Time Management
Lifestyle
America/Government/Politics
Business/Career/Marketplace
Resolve/Belief/Asking
Skills/Fundamentals
Choice/Change/Decision
Fear/Doubt/Negativity
Influence/Association
Communication/Persuasion
Kids
Finances/Wealth
Relationships
Motivation

Click here for The Jim Rohn Excerpts from the Treasury of Quotes.

On the same site you can also subscribe to Jim Rohn's ezine so regularly receive his pearls of wisdom in your inbox.

Fall In Love Again

In my last post I urged you to be CELEBRATED, not tolerated. Very important.

Think about the people you admire who have created excellence in their life. No doubt the desire for what they do came first, they persisted on their chosen path and were ultimately rewarded with wealth.

Think about top people and household names like golfer Tiger Woods, TV presenter & businesswoman Oprah Winfrey, film producer and household name Steven Spielberg, real estate king Donald Trump.

They could have led ordinary lives, focussed on paying bills, complained about not having enough money or time but instead they had a dream, a goal, a desire and they lived and breathed it. They put it out to the universe. They told others, they enrolled others in their dream. They worked when everyone else was sleeping. They read books, they studied mindset and ultimately they became the person they wanted to be.

Can we all do this? Can we really?

I believe when we fall in love with what we want to achieve, we focus on it all the time. Can you remember being head-over-heels in love with a boyfriend or girlfriend, so besotted that you could hardly eat or think about anything else? Well so it is with finding your life's passion and being so determined to bring it to reality that nothing will stop you. Oh yes there will be obstacles, rocks along the way, and setbacks, even heartaches but if we stay focussed and driven, the only outcome can be success.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

I know Oprah had to overcome a childhood of abuse and rape and could have become like any other poor, black girl in the south but she didn't. She read, she studied others and she developed dreams and ambitions that she hardly dared to voice. The first black woman with her own TV show, she has become an inspiration to millions of women (and men!) worldwide. Appearing on her show becomes a springboard to fame as people trust her endorsements. She has now become the first woman billionaire, the first black billionaire and thus the first black woman billionaire. In so doing, she has created the wealth to allow her to give in so many ways, including her Angel Network. As well as her TV shows, her website www.Oprah.com is a source of inspiration and information on a variety of subjects. This all came about by her love for her work, her enjoyment of people and her dedication and ambition.

As part of my training with Christopher Howard, I will learn the process of Cognitive Re-Imprinting which is a technique to discover the mindset, values and beliefs of achievers then install them in ourselves. Choosing to model the best of the best.

I encourage you to read and watch biographies to find out what inspires achievers.

“It isn't what the book costs; it's what it will cost if you don't read it.” - Jim Rohn

©Antonia Harrison 2008 from Personal Development for the 21st Century

You Can Do Anything

"You can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak.

Stand up and express the divinity within you. Stand up, be bold, be strong.

Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny." - ~Swami Vivekananda

The question is what future do you want to create? Do you know where your destiny lies or are you just floating from day to day to "see what life brings"?

If you are reading this, I choose to believe that you are one of life's doers, wanting to create a difference for yourself and others. You do not accept a life of mediocrity. You want and know you can have, be, do so much more.

Mediocrity is the enemy of greatness.

Discover what truly lights you up, something which is so inspiring that you will want to get out of bed in the morning to get started or stay up late. Work can be a burden if it is not what you are meant to be doing but I am talking about finding your true destiny so that you know that your life has a purpose. If you light up when you talk about it, you will attract others who want to join you, buy from you, invest in you.

Instead of people's eyes glazing over when you tell them what you do, be CELEBRATED, not tolerated. Very important.

On a training course in platform skills, I listened to the half-hour presentations of various people. Some people were so in tune with their subject that they made me believe in their cause, their business. One woman talked about cold calling techniques for salespeople of a particular truck and for a while, I even felt like one of those truck salespeople. Her passion for such an everyday subject really came across.

If you are still unsure where you are headed, I recommend a very challenging exercise. Take time over this. Take blank paper and write a description of your life in ten years time - the work, the people, the home, the lifestyle. Include as much detail as you can.

A variation is to write the tributes people are giving you at your 80th birthday party as they celebrate the amazing life you have had and all the people you have touched.

Once you see your life in the future, you can start working backwards to bring it to fruition. Start becoming more valuable to others. This precedes massive success.

Start becoming an example to your kids of what is possible in life. Encourage their ideas and self-belief. All too many children grow up discouraged by their parents' limiting ideas based on the mediocrity they have accepted as the norm.

Be aware of who you call friends. They say that our income is the average of the five people we spend the most time with. I have a natural tendency to want to help people, usually the people who need it, rather than those who deserve my help. So I have invested far too much time in people who are stuck and yet not prepared to make any changes. They are comfortable in their uncomfortable zone.

I stopped spending time with the wrong people and now choose my friends and influences more carefully. I want to be with positive people, people who are creating without limits.

Make your choices carefully.

©Antonia Harrison 2008 from Personal Development for the 21st Century

Somebody Needs You

I received this email today. Just fill in (YOUR NAME) and soak it in.

Many people devalue their God given gifts.
Many people under appreciate their worth.
Many people laugh off their natural strengths.
Many people have a tough time taking in appreciation.
Many people take lightly their assignment in life.
You see, we were all born to solve a problem.
Dentists solve teeth problems.
Phones solve communication problems.
Cars solve transportation problems.
We forget how important we really are to SOMEONE, somewhere.
"Mike, what do you mean?"

We were born to be a reward and blessing for a person or group of people.
Look around you, everything was created to solve a problem.
You get RICH, both personally and financially when you solve problems for people.
You see, every generation needs its great entrepreneurs, its great athletes, its authors, and its role models.
If you look at 25-50 year periods of times, each generation has its OWN STARS.
Today we have Steve Jobs, Oprah, Spielberg, Tiger and others. 50 years ago, there were other names.

(YOUR NAME) you were born to be a STAR in this generation.
You were.
Maybe it's business, family life, being a great listener,there's some PROBLEM you were born to solve.
There's somebody who needs you right now. There is. There's somebody you can bring joy to.
Will you be there for them?

The problem you were born to solve in life isn't so much a 'creation', as it's a discovery. Your discovery.
Many times your gifts are so close to you, you undervalue them and can barely see them.
What do you love doing?
Where are you naturally strong? (writing, reading, listening, speaking, etc...)
What bothers you?

We must correct the injustice of people spending their lives doing work they can't stand. This kind of work helps nobody.
It hurts them, their family and those they were born to help.

(YOUR NAME) Be the reward you were born to be.
(YOUR NAME) Add 1% more enthusiasm to your life.
Your gifts, talents, and abilities were given to you for a reason. Use them.
Love yourself. Serve others. Create value for others.
Get rich, financially and personally.
Great things usually take time. Go slow to go fast. Patience amigo.

Somebody is hurting today. Somebody needs you today. Awaken to this idea.
You can and WILL make somebody's day.
Focus on bringing more purpose and meaning to your life.
The fastest way to get what you want is to help someone else get what they want.
You're a problem solver for someone. This is your ticket to great riches.

(YOUR NAME) the thousands of people reading this right now believe in you.
Just like you believe in their abilities, they believe in yours.

We were ALL born for greatness. Start seeing that in others and they'll start acknowledging it in you.
As a group, we're much more powerful together than as individuals.
Believe in someone else's greatness today.

Love Ya! You're The Best!

Source: Mike Litman

Don't Steal by Not Sharing

Do you realize that you have a GIFT, a strength, a passion that can help people and by you not sharing it, you're STEALING from peoples' lives?

Think about that.

I have just been to a powerful seminar to help people develop Leadership and stop playing small. One big strong African man admitted that by playing small, African children are dying daily because he is not teaching them a better way to live.

If you have a passion and vision to make a difference, you need to do whatever it takes to attend Christopher Howard's "Breakthrough to Success" seminar. It runs in the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia and New Zealand and people travel all over the world to be there. Don't let time or money stop you.

Take my offer of TWO FREE TICKETS to attend this life-changing seminar.

When I went to "Breakthrough to Success" my vision was small and very limited. Five months later, I am growing so fast, learning the skills I need to fulfill my mission and impact thousands of lives.

Don't play small.

“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.” - Mercedes Lackey

Antonia Harrison at Personal Development in the 21st Century and The Secret and Law of Attraction .

Are You in the 2%?

Why are some people successful and millions are not?

The difference between those who are successful and those who are not is simple. Successful people do what unsuccessful people do not. It all starts and ends at your self honesty. When you set promises to yourself do you follow them or do you let them go?

Successful people don't focus on what's required to be done. Success mindset focuses on the result of the actions not on the effort.

Successful people make decisions fast and change their minds slowly. Success can easily be summed up in one word - action. If you are constantly moving forward - even in the wrong direction you will make more progress than standing still.

When you don't go - you don't grow!

Is Fear Robbing you of your Dreams?

Sometimes fear of success can be the most demobilizing fear of all. Let fear sneak in and note that you do anything rather than take action even when your instincts tell you to do so. It can cost you more than you are willing to admit.

The lesson I learned was that choosing inaction (through fear) gives your fears the green light to move forward and your dreams to dwindle and fade away.

Dreams are attained through action not inaction. When I have a gut feeling I move boldly in that direction and do not allow that negative dream stealing inner talk to influence me.

Back to your question, "What would I do if I weren't afraid?"

Turn the question round to one that can empower and inspire you:

If God came to me and said, "I will assist you in accomplishing, doing or having anything it is that you tell me you want to be, do or have. All the things you need to make it happen will be done through my guidance and will. What is it that you choose to be, do or have?"

If God guaranteed that I could & would accomplish anything I desired what would I choose?

Are you clear what your answer would be? At least put it another way, "I know you don't know the answer, but if you did, what would it be?"

I hope that by reading this you will stop being caught up in the moment or in the drama of a problem and seek the solution to overcome that adversity.

In the meantime, be grateful, "The more you can be grateful for the things in your life now, the more you will have to be grateful for tomorrow." (no matter how 'bad things may seem)

No matter where you are in your life, there are thousands of things you could choose to be grateful for. Are you focusing on those or are you focusing on the little things which 'annoy' you?

In life you get more of what you focus on. Focus on gratitude and you will have more to be grateful for. Focus on worries or problems and you will have more worries and problems. Focus on solutions and you will find more solutions.

Web Designer Wanted

There was a study done by Harvard Business School using the USA Today Publication. They did a test where two ads were placed in this newspaper.

Ad One Read: Web Designer Wanted
Full time, Full Benefits, 401k
Salary: $120k to Start
Fax Resume to: 222.222.2222 Only 12 People Responded!

Ad Two Read: Web Designer Wanted
Full time, Full Benefits, 401k
Salary: $18k to Start
Fax Resume to: 333.333.3333 A Whopping 200 People responded!

The ironic thing is that the ad was for the same exact position for the same exact company in the test!

Do you now see how people through their own limited beliefs, fear, doubts & skepticism cut themselves out of so much opportunity in their lives? Are you one of them?

The power of self-hypnosis can help you rid yourself of these unwanted limiting beliefs, fears and doubts once and for all. Just visit www.downloadhypnosismp3.com to find out how you can start your new future today. Hypnosis is relaxing and totally natural. We all go into trance state when watching a good film, becoming engrossed in a book, driving long distance. Hypnosis has helped millions of people to a better future and can help you too.

Antonia Harrison 2008 from Personal Development in the 21st Century and The Secret and Law of Attraction .