Personal Growth & Transformation Archives - Page 50 of 54

A 7 Step No-Waffle Plan for Real World Success

Working in the personal growth niche, I am unfortunately subjected to a lot of waffle masquerading as professional advice.

Some of these wafflers may be better business people than I am – some certainly charge others big dollars to see them waffle – but regardless, they are blatantly spouting waffle and it’s just about criminal in my opinion.

For example, the other week I was visiting the office of a company I do some work for, and I happened to walk into the middle of a staff meeting. There was a consultant there who after looking very pensive and listening intently with a furrowed brow (ok he probably used his ears to listen, but let’s not get technical) eventually spoke up to tell the employees who he was and what he was there to do.

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5 Daily Practices to Help You Keep Your Edge

By David B. Bohl / 10 Comments

You may or may not think you live in a competitive world. But if you look around you in your personal and professional lives, you will see there is competition on many levels. Personally, you compete for resources, material goods, time, attention, and energy. Professionally, you compete for jobs, promotions, clients, customers, recognition, and dollars.

Where do you find yourself in competition on a daily basis? Is it in finding a good parking space at the post office? Or getting a good starting time on the golf course? In business do you find your competitors cutting prices to compete for your customers? Do you see new businesses opening that compete with you by having more current technology and products?

In our personal lives, merchants compete in a cutthroat race for our business. Ads on television and in magazines and newspapers tell us what we should buy. In two hours of prime time TV you might see ads for two to three different brands of cars. In grocery stores, there are no less than 50 different breakfast cereals competing for space in your shopping cart. And when you go into a bookstore, don’t you feel like every book is competing against the others for your attention?

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The Winding Path: How I Started a Lifetime of Personal Growth

By Ali Luke / 19 Comments

Update from Last Month: I told you last month (when writing about “How to Grow Outside Your Comfort Zone”) that I was going to send out five magazine pitches every week. I’m happy to say I’ve done it, though I’m going to take some time now to try to build up a portfolio of printed clips from student press, as the response rate to my queries wasn’t very high.

I’ve also made a real effort to be less shy in my first couple of weeks at Goldsmiths; I’m going to a graduate event this afternoon which I’m a little nervous about, but I’m already starting to feel more confident striking up conversations with strangers!

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How to Design Your Own Life

By David B. Bohl / 17 Comments

There are no guarantees that life will turn out the way you want… but you have a better chance of it turning out how you want if you know how to design your own life.

I like the image of an architect designing a building by first laying out the blueprints. Or a writer outlining a book starting with the table of contents. The ability to create from scratch is a powerful feeling. The house emerges from a sheet of drawings. The book takes shape from the imagination of the writer.

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How Your Darkest Secret Can Empower You

By Christopher R. Edgar / 22 Comments

Throughout much of our lives, instead of following our bliss, we’re busy trying to avoid being seen a certain way. Perhaps we’re designing our lives to make sure we aren’t perceived as selfish, arrogant, weak, incompetent or something else. Whatever way we don’t want others to see us, the compulsion to make sure others don’t think of us like that feels overwhelming. Our anxiety about being viewed the wrong way can be so intense that it’s almost as if we’d be hurt or destroyed if others ever learned the “awful truth” about us.

We don’t want people to hold these beliefs about us because, on some level, we’re convinced that those beliefs are true. We’d have no reason to fear someone calling us incompetent, for instance, if we didn’t have a deep-seated conviction that we actually are. Not only that—we believe, consciously or otherwise, that if people discovered our “dark secret,” no one would want anything to do with us. We’d be left completely alone and helpless.

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The Strongest Desire Always Wins

By Eric Hamm / 21 Comments

Yesterday was a day like any other. I met with clients and helped them resolve their issues, did some invoicing and then went for my evening jog. I was a little tired, but made myself change my clothes, grab my iPod and head out the door.

About halfway through the jog I started thinking about my recent dedication to some key areas of my life. I’ve completely dropped desserts, started getting up at 4:30am to work on my blog and almost never miss a day of exercise. Why is this? What changed? It wasn’t too long ago that I drudged through my work day and only attempted to squeeze in a jog or bike ride once or twice a week. The thought of getting up before 7am was something I never even considered.

By now my jog is almost over and I almost let the thought go unfinished. But as I started heading up the last big hill and was really feeling the burn, it hit me. What changed was the strength of my resolve. My desire to be successful, live healthy and make the most out of every day had suddenly become stronger than the rest. When a temptation to give in came my way, it was suddenly weaker than my drive to hold true to my current heading. At this point it all become very clear.

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How to Realize Your Dreams

By Stephen Cox / 22 Comments

We all have hopes and aspirations for our lives. Fulfilling or walking the path to fulfillment of just one of our dreams can infuse our lives with deep meaning and happiness.

The subject of this article is a strategy that is as powerful as it is simple. I call this strategy “compartmentalization” and it is something you can use daily for the achievement of your wildest dreams no matter their size or scope.

It was Thomas Carlyle who expressed the following wisdom:

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Will St. Peter Call Your Name?

By Alex Blackwell / 17 Comments

“For some reason I can’t explain, I know St. Peter won’t call my name. Never an honest word but that was when I ruled the world.” – Chris Martin (Coldplay), from Viva La Vida

Christians believe St. Peter, who was one of the twelve original Disciples of Christ, stands in front of the gates to heaven and is charged with the responsibility of announcing, upon our deaths, who is entering heaven and who is not.

The belief is we are not guaranteed a spot in heaven – we have to earn it. Only upon hearing our names called, are our souls allowed to enter into a blissful eternity.

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Getting Back on the Right Life Path

By Ali Luke / 46 Comments

Do you sometimes wonder if you’re on the wrong path through life – but can’t see any way to rework your footsteps and join a different one?

After I graduated from University, I wrote in my journal:

“It is exciting to have my whole life ahead of me and know that I could do pretty much anything I put my mind to. It’s daunting but exhilarating to stand at the summit of 16 years’ full-time education and gaze out at the land around me. I could go anywhere from here.”

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Keeping a Journal Can Change Your Life

By Ali Luke / 50 Comments

Have you ever started keeping a journal – perhaps starting on a particular milestone like your birthday, or January 1st – only to give up after a few days or weeks? Like many projects which we’re initially enthusiastic about, writing daily or even weekly in a journal can all too quickly become a chore. After all, what difference can it make to write down words that no-one but you will see?

There are several ways for keeping a journal to change your life, and I’ll show you how to achieve each in just ten minutes a day. Still think it’s not worth it?

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The Power Of Admitting Where You’re At

By Christopher R. Edgar / 12 Comments

One of the most significant breakthroughs in my personal growth happened when I admitted to myself that I felt like an impostor.

I’d been practicing law for around two years. My colleagues and clients consistently told me how much they appreciated my work. However, I was constantly plagued by a nagging suspicion that all the praise wouldn’t last. Eventually, I’d make a major mistake, or people would learn something embarrassing about me, and the image they’d formed of me as smart and competent would fall apart. It was as if I was an impostor—a fraud posing as a good lawyer—and sooner or later I’d be found out.

When this anxiety arose, my usual approach would be to deny it and insist to myself that I was the real deal. “No, that’s not true,” I’d tell myself. “I’m brilliant, hardworking, and all-around awesome.” Sometimes, this would temporarily pick up my mood. But invariably, the sinking sense that I wasn’t actually good at what I did, and that eventually my “deception” would be discovered, would return.

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