It may be fundamental, but often the fundamentals are missed. In personal development, you have to know where you are in relation to where you want to go in order to make progress. How you get from “A” to “B” is where the growth comes. As the late Jim Rohn often said, “If you want more, you have to become more.” The true goal of all personal development is not that we check off the goals we have set for ourselves, but rather that, in the process, we become more.
What does that mean? In essence, the process of striving toward something is what makes us worthy of that thing. If you have a goal to become wealthy, are you becoming the type of person who can manage wealth? Or, if you attain wealth, will wealth manage you?
In the end, as usual, it comes down to action. For example, what are you doing to become a leader? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing and you will have the power.” In other words, do the sorts of things that leaders do and, voila, you will become a leader. How did you learn to ride a bike? By riding a bike. How do you learn to become a leader? By leading!
In your pursuit of personal development, make an effort to “do the thing” so you can become more.
An Amazing Opportunity….Read More
By Mark Brown
I was recently asked, “what is your recipe for success?” If success is a recipe, then it may also be true that constantly repeating that recipe will lead to stale leftovers. As we pointed out in that post, once you master the basics of the recipe, it’s time to “improvise and explore.”
In What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, Marshall Goldsmith makes a similar argument, but with a lot more evidence.
Goldsmith is a highly regarded executive coach, commanding six-figure fees for helping C-level professionals alter their behavior. This book shares what he has learned from those coaching jobs, while conveying what he teaches his clients.
The first section of the book focuses on “the trouble with success.” How can success be equated with trouble? The problem arises when we allow success to make us blind to our shortcomings. Goldsmith also outlines how past success can lead to “superstitious” behavior. “Superstition is merely the confusion of correlation and causality,” he writes. “Any human, like any animal, tends to repeat behavior that is followed by positive reinforcement. The more we achieve, the more reinforcement we get.”
Section Two is dedicated to the “twenty habits that hold you back from the top,” including:
Adding too much value (i.e, always feeling you have to contribute to every discussion)
Speaking when angry
Withholding information
Failing to give proper recognition
Playing favorites
Not listening
Passing the buck
Happily, Section Three is focused on “how we can change for the better,” which is what personal development is all about. Goldberg lists feedback as the most useful means for change. Another tool is to “advertise,” or telling people you are trying to change. Both of these imply a healthy dose of humility. Section Four wraps up the book with advice on “pulling out the stops,” which helps readers apply the lessons with a few final “rules.”
As Goldsmith states, “The higher up you go in the organization, the more you need to make other people winners and not make it about winning yourself.” That’s good advice for any kind of organization…including a family.
An Amazing Opportunity….Read More
