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