by Greg Geralds

Personal development is another key component to achieving true life balance. Mortimer Adler, the American philosopher says,

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”

By continuing to learn, we can continue to develop as a person, growing into different stages of our lives. Have you ever run into someone that you went to high school with and thought, “They haven’t changed a bit.” Do you want to be that person? The one that is just as they were in high school? Of course you don’t. The only way to keep that from happening is to continue to develop as a person.

Life balance is not a state that you achieve and then can forget about it and do what ever you want. Maintaining life balance means constant growth in all areas of your life. You have to continue to grow and change from the person that were to the person that you are to the person that you will be. If you are not willing to work on your personal development, it will be very difficult for you to grow into a new person.

Here are three things that you can start today that will get you growing into the person that you are going to be.

Read a non-fiction book – It has been said that if you read three books on one subject that you are now an expert in that subject. If you don’t know what to read just go to the bestseller list online and start from the top.

Take a Class – One of the great things about being a grown-up is that we can learn whatever we want! We don’t have to learn something just because someone says we need to know it (um..geometry, Chemistry…those things). We can now take classes at the local art center or business school just for the simple fact of learning something new. Really, we don’t even have to be worried about a grade, we just have to go and learn. Find something you like and learn more about it or, take a glass blowing class, those look like fun.

Join a club – There are clubs and organizations for everything. If you have an interest, check the local paper or look online and I’ll bet you can find a club that you could join. The great thing about clubs is that you get to meet new people and they will have new ideas for you to explore. If you think you know everything that there is to know about a particular subject, you are wrong. Somewhere someone knows something that you don’t. Join a club, meet new people and learn new things.

Personal development can be fun. Sometimes people get caught up thinking they have to learn how the stock market works or how to fill out their taxes in order to grow intellectually. Neither of those things are bad, but growing as a person should be fun. It should be based on who you are and who you want to be. Start growing and you’ll be amazed how much close you will be to achieving life balance.

Click Here to start taking control of your life today. Find out more at http://www.thevocationagency.com

Article by Laurie Knight

I was listening to a teleseminar the other day and the gentleman on the phone said, “the best way to be interesting is to be interested”. It really struck a cord with me because isn’t that the truth? Aren’t the most interesting people you know people that are fascinated with something or people that are really into something they are doing? Aren’t these the type of people that are genuinely curious or interested in talking about something more than just themselves. Granted, this can become an obsession if one particular topic is all they discuss, but typically an interested person is indeed interesting. Wouldn’t you agree all those Star Wars obsessed folks are interesting? Star Wars may not be my style, but they are interesting nonetheless. They don’t care what other people think, they are interested in their thing and they are happy and loving it!

Next time you find someone or something fascinating or interesting make a note about what it is that made you have that feeling. Study what you like about that person, thing, event, etc. If it was a person that caught your attention focus on the qualities you like as they are likely qualities you’d like to develop further in yourself. Comparing by itself can be deadly, because it often results in feelings of envy, jealously, and self hatred. Yet with the proper focus on what it is you’re studying and how you’d like to apply certain things in your life, the person you admire can become a role model for you. Allow people and things to inspire you to live life more fully.

Decide today you want to be interesting, therefore get interested in something. Study your environment, not just other people. Think about the things in your life, think about what you do and why you do it, think about what you eat and pay attention while you do it. Spend time wondering and daydreaming to get the juices flowing. Whatever it takes, find things that interest you. Getting into routines and not being interested in the things we take for granted everyday can result in disaster. Even though you see the same thing everyday, start to question it, start to study and appreciate it. Start asking questions. Without trying to impress anyone else, you automatically become interesting because you became interested in the people and things around you and no one even knew what you were up to. The quote below speaks to this perfectly.

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” – Henry Miller

Interested in learning more about ways to pursue your true life passions? Life Coach Laurie Knight offers a free ezine, THE DIVA DIRECTION, that includes helpful tips/ tools/ and lots of FREE resources to help you Organize and Simplify so you can stay inspired, motivated, and on fire about life. Sign up today at http://www.GoingDiva.com

Personal growth and development is an individual responsibility. It is a continuous process that ends in death. It is an indisputable fact that maturity does not go along with age. It is amazing that there are many people who don’t show signs of growth and development in their character and conduct.

Let me share with you 12 ingredients for personal growth and development. I hope you will find these ingredients of great help to you. They are as follows:

1. Passion

Personal growth and development is a journey that has to start with the passion within an individual. Every great thing starts with a desire or passion. You must develop a passion within you to grow and develop in the areas of your life.

2. Self-awareness

You start with passion and the second thing that you need to do is to identify areas in your life where you are strong and areas where you are weak.

The process of self-awareness demands you to let people close to you be honest with you in terms of giving you a feedback about your strengths and weaknesses. Be honest with yourself and admit that there are weaknesses in your life that need to be taken care of.

3. Commitment to change

After you have identified areas of strengths and weaknesses, you must commit yourself to changing those weak spots. You must be willing to break those old bad habits you have developed over the years.

It is not an easy thing to go through the process of change. Change is both painful and uncomfortable. It takes commitment for change to take effect in our lives.

4. Vision

Many people are so mistaken that they think it is only companies, businesses, governments, leaders and other organizations that must have vision. You must have a vision for yourself as an individual. Vision will challenge and stretch you. It will enable you to broaden your horizon. You will see beyond where you are now because of it.

Vision will inspire and motivate you to work hard in order to get where you are going. It will undergird you to overcome obstacles until you reach your goal.

Write your vision down, look at it everyday and you will stay inspired and motivated by it.

5. Goal-setting

The process of personal growth and development demands you to set goals for growth. Success in life comes as a result of having clear objectives. Set of goals becomes a map for you to follow so that you can grow and develop.

When you set goals for growth, you need to make your goals clear, simple, measurable and attainable. Follow them through until you achieve them.

6. Willingness to take risks

You are going to take risks if you want to grow and develop. If for example, the goal that you have set needs you to change a career, you must be willing to take a risk of studying something that you have never studied before.

Successful people have taken risks to be where they are today. Leadership guru and author, Steven R. Covey, asserted, “The greatest risk of all is the risk of riskless living.”

7. Personal-organization

Organized people have a sense of purpose and direction. If you want to grow and develop in all areas of your life, you need to be organized. When you are organized, you walk along and do your job with confidence.

When you are organized, you set your priorities, you do your projects one at a time, you plan your day, week, month and your year accordingly. Organized people expect some unexpected interruptions in their lives and they decisively deal with them as they come.

8. Good association

The people closest to you determine your growth and development level. If you keep company of people whose character is flawed and dubious, you will end up being like them. It really matters most who you associate with.

Associate with people who are effective and successful in their personal lives. Surround yourself with people who will add value to your growth and development. Negative association leads to negative growth. Be careful who you associate with.

9. Listening

If you really want to experience growth and development, you need to be a good listener. Give people a space to express themselves. When people share their ideas and their views with you, listen to them. When they advise you concerning a particular issue, listen to them. Don’t undermine people’s advises and suggestions. They will help you in decision making.

10. Willingness to learn

Growth and development is possible when there is a process of continuous learning. Successful people don’t stop acquiring new skills. You will grow and develop when you commit yourself to learning new things and to acquiring more information and knowledge. Knowledge is power; it enables people to make informed decisions.

The process of personal growth and development requires you to put a certain amount of money aside to spend it on good books and good tapes. You must also be willing to spend money on attending informative seminars, workshops and conferences.

Don’t be lazy to further your studies. Enrol for other short courses so that you can acquire new skills. Learning process will surely challenge and stretch you towards growth and development.

11. Hiring a mentor or a coach

Hiring a mentor or a coach who will help you set clear goals, identify your areas of strengths and weaknesses, is of utmost importance in personal growth and development. There are life coaches whose job is to help people who need to succeed in their lives. You can also get someone experienced whom you admire so much to mentor you in your personal growth and development endevour.

You can also get a coach or a mentor in the form of buying and reading his or her books; buying, listening and watching his or her tapes.

12. Execution

The most important factor in personal growth and development is the ability to translate your vision, goals and all that you have learned into action. You must add action to your goals. Execution is what makes things happen. You have to be an action person if you want to grow and develop in your areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Conclusion

Personal growth and development is a journey that demands your energy and commitment. The 12 ingredients that I have provided you with need to be embraced, and nourished and you will live a successful life that will ultimately add value to other people’s lives.

Happy personal growth and development!

Copyright©2007-2009 by Gerald Mohlabe. All rights reserved
http://www.goaldrivenconsulting.com

Gerald Mohlabe is a leadership consultant, outstanding motivational speaker, relationship expert, the founder and president of Goal Driven Consulting Company, an international company. He works with business owners, managers, leaders and executives who want strategies to excel and win in leadership. His passion to make a difference in people’s lives, in leaders and organizations drives him to excel in an admirable way.His outstanding style of communicating issues to people, organizations and leaders leaves them mesmerized and seeking for more. He is popularly known as “a man of knowledge and wisdom.”

He has authored a hot selling E-Book titled, ” The leadership ladder: Discovering how to move from one rung to the other in leadership”. His understanding and knowledge of human and organizational behaviour transcends human understanding.

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Are you a working professional who wants to start or finish a degree? Working professionals have added time commitments of work responsibilities and family responsibilities which make it difficult to add college to an already busy schedule.

Most corporations (about 87%) offer some type of Tuition Assistance Program for employees to finish a degree, certificate and group of classes. However, only about 7 – 10% of the employees in those corporations take advantage of that reimbursement benefit. Does your company offer tuition reimbursement for your degree?

Why do you and other working professionals not finish the degree if the company is paying part or all the tuition costs? Here are some common reasons why.

• You think it will take too long. However, with all the new options to gain life/work experience credits (using military courses, licenses, certificates, corporate classes for credits) and the accelerated formats of many colleges, the total time to complete a degree may be shorter than you think.

• You don’t have hope your former college credits will transfer. Some schools have cut-off times to transfer old credits. But many of the “adult friendly” colleges will transfer in credits, even if they are 25 -30 years old. If one school requires you to “start over”, look at other schools.

• You are unsure of the results of the degree. You may realize that it will take several years to complete the degree and you may have money out-of-pocket (if your tuition reimbursement does not cover all the costs). You see some graduates in your company not getting the promotions and advancements and wonder if college is worth it. Make sure you attend the schools recommended by your company and take the major and degree needed for those promotions and advancements.

• Your families are against you returning to school. This is a difficult roadblock to overcome. If you family does not support you returning to college, they will sabotage your study time and you will not succeed. Showing your family how the degree will help those personal and family goals may help them see the need for this sacrifice.

• You don’t want to put the cost of tuition on your credit cards. Not all Tuition Assistance Programs reimbursement 100% of the cost of a degree. Most companies average $5000/year. Private school tuition is around $1500 – $2000/class and you can only take 2 – 3 classes/year with this policy cap. State university tuition is much less expensive, and you might be able to stay within your company’s tuition cap. Instead of credit cards, some working professional students take out student loans from their credit union or get Financial Aid from the college.

• You don’t want to take admission tests, such as the Graduate Management Admission Test or Graduate Record Exam. Not all graduate programs require an admission test. Some colleges will admit you if you have a high Grade Point Average from your undergraduate degree. Others will require essays instead of a test. Others have no admission test requirements at all.

No matter why you are hesitating making that first step towards your degree, you need to write down your top reason why you have not started or completed this degree. Then answer the question: What is different now? How will that roadblock be cleared? Until you know how to overcome your roadblocks, you will have difficulties moving forward with the first steps.

Even though only 7 – 10% of working professionals with Tuition Reimbursement use their companies’ benefit, there are still thousands of working professionals who are able to take that first step towards a degree. In the end, they can join the 27% of US population with an undergraduate degree or 7% of the US population with a graduate degree. Will you be among them?

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