Achieving personal development success has been a 20 year challenge for me. I was introduced to the concept of personal development when a company I worked for sent me to a seminar. A gentleman by the name of Mort Utley spoke, and it was something else! I was totally inspired to become a go-getting, top selling, life of the rich and famous success story. Of course, that enthusiasm ended abruptly at the first door I had to knock on for that company. Motivation gone.
Since that time I have had times of unstructured personal development, like when I got one of the first copies of Steven R. Covey’s 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People. What a great book! Things I learned in that changed me forever. But then I went through another long stretch of sporadic self growth.
The turning point came when I heard Chris Hughes speak about Jim Rohn, and everything came together for me. Chris is a big Jim Rohn fan, and talked about the “habits” of personal development, which are:
1. Read 10 pages of a good book every day.
2. Listen to 20 minutes of a good audio every day.
3. Attend a self improvement seminar every 90 days.
Wow! When I heard that I realized that was the missing link for me. I liked personal development, it helped me be more positive and optimistic, more organized, a better husband and father, and over come negative thinking; but I had never made a habit of it. The really powerful part of this simple plan was the realization that I could do it. It sounded easy. I realized that I could easily fit that simple program into my life.
Once I understood how easy it is to do personal development every day, I got on that track and haven’t gotten off. Since then I have read many books, and listened to a lot of great programs and pod-casts. I now have a fantastic library of personal development books, including:
You Were Born Rich- Bob Proctor
Think And Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill
As A Man Thinketh- James Allen
The Attractor Factor- Joe Vitale
The Dream Giver- Bruce Wilkinson
Seeing Is Believing- Wayne Dyer
I also love biographies, and have a growing collection. I have read the life stories of Andrew Carnegie, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Lance Armstrong, Buddha, Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, and others. Each of these has inspired and helped me in every area, spiritually, mentally, socially, and in my health and wealth.
So hopefully these three simple concepts inspire you the same way they did me, and you can make a simple habit of personal development that will endure and make a daily difference for you. Some people complain that “motivation” wears off, and that’s true. Kind of like taking a shower, it’s not something you can do monthly! It has to be done daily to really work.
