We were born with noting but potential for growth and favorable predispositions for some talents. It’s one of nature’s laws that as living entities, job number one is to develop as much as we can the gifts that we were given at birth. That natural law says that an organism is either growing and expanding or it is withering and dying. There is no standing still in nature.

Human growth can be done through formal education, through interpersonal interactions or through lived experiences. For most adults, personal growth is done through experiencing and more specifically through the experiences of goals or objective seeking.

A perfect example of that would be someone who’s goal would be to have his own business. In the process of building that business, many challenges will have to be met, the unknown will have to be explored and ingenuity will be sharply tested. The person who started that project will have evolved tremendously by the time that it is up and running. That’s personal growth through the pursuit of goals or objectives.

It also stand to reason that the bigger the goal, the more difficult it is to attain, the more it will offer opportunities for personal growth and self-actualization. All the greats of this world knew that and used it to their advantage. If we study the way that they did it and emulate them we stand a better chance of going farther than we ever thought possible.

One of the most important distinction that the great minds and great achievers did was to attach their objectives to a cause. More specifically, to a cause that was larger and bigger than they were themselves. They understood that being involved in a cause that is bigger than you are will exponientally accelerate your growth and propel you beyond your wildest expectations.

Donald Trump was not only intent on making a fortune. He wanted, to use his own words, “To make a statement.” He wanted to change the landscape of New York City. Arnold Schwarzenegger did not only want to be the best bodybuilder in the world. He wanted to make bodybuilding a respectable sport that would be acceptable to all the levels of society and thus contribute to push the health and fitness ideal throughout the world.

Fighting for a cause that is bigger and larger than we are gives us wings. It sustains, inspire and motivates. It turns ordinary individuals into extraordinary giants. Serving a cause dwarfs personal and individual interests. People are at their best when they stand for an ideal.

Success is meaningless if it does not involve self-actualization. And the ideal way of acquiring both the success and the self-actualization is to amalgamate the personal objectives with a cause larger than self. It does require some imagination, some planning and some thinking outside of the box. But the rewards are phenomenal.

We come this way only once, so we must strive to make the most of it. We were placed on Earth for a purpose and that purpose is one that we get to chose and define for ourselves. Makes it a great cause. That’s what the greats of this world did.

Life is too short to be small. Aim for the sky and you may reach the stars. And, even if you don’t you will have achieved the noblest goal. To be all that you could be. That’s the ultimate goal.

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Contrary to popular belief, high level performance does not involve working harder but it does require working smarter and being more effective. How then can we optimize our performances?

The way that we perform depends on the state of mind that we are in the moment. States of mind run the entire gamut all the way from being depressed and disempowered to being energized with the feeling that we cannot fail and cannot do any wrong.

He who can learn to control his state learns, by the same token, how to control his level of performance. Mastery of state is more important than knowledge, it’s more important than hard work, it’s more important than any other attribute for anyone who seeks success.

Controlling the state of mind is not all that esoteric. It’s really quite simple and it is done through, 1) focus and, 2) body posture.

What we focus on has a powerful effect in determining the nature of our state of mind. If we focus on a bright and compelling outcome, the quality of the state will be raised and if we focus on the consequences of a possible failure, the state will take on a downward path. Focus on the good and the great and the state will follow. Focus on the bad and the ugly and be prepared for the equivalent state.

The second element that influences the state of mind is the body posture. The state mirror the posture. Standing in a slouching and depressed position will be reflected in the state of mind and so will standing in a confident and energetic stance. Both, the posture and the state are very closely intertwined. They are like twins. Follow one and you will find the other. Chose the posture and you will get the equivalent state.

Movers and shakers have all, either learned or discovered, the secret of state mastery. They use it well and they use it all the time. Has anyone ever seen a Tony Robbins, a Donald Trump or an Arnold Schwarzenegger slouching and focusing on possible failure or other negativities? Of course not. They stand and walk like winners and they think and talk the part.

Success is, above all, the result of attitude. To have the right attitude the right state of mind is required. And to have the right state of mind, two factors need to be controlled. How we stand and what we think about. That’s not rocket science and it’s highly effective.

If anyone doubts the veracity or the accuracy of what has been proposed here, all that is needed to convince you is to observe the world class athletes in action. These wonderful athletes know that in order to succeed they must reach down to the bottom of their soul to bring forth the last ounce of available resources. They will do it by concentrating on their body and the desired outcome.

Athletes do it, champions do it, mover and shakers do it, winners do it… so can anyone else. Take the stance, do the dance, walk the talk and keep your eyes on the goal. That how you get to stand on the podium, that’s how you reach the brass ring. Focus and posture. That’s the secret.

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That’s been going on since Benjamin Franklin, father and founder of the self-improvement movement, developed what he called a plan for regulating is future conduct three hundred years ago.

Most of these seminars, books, blogs, tapes and videos are very good and they certainly should not be discounted. But at one point, some order has to be made so that we don’t get lost in all these new programs and theories or worst yet, so that we don’t spend our entire life chasing the silver bullet that will solve all out problems and give us instantaneous success.

Personal Development is, above all, a specific skill that has to be studied, learned and practiced. And, like any other skill, the most important part is the basics. It’s upon those basic rules that the whole edifice of Personal Development is built. If our knowledge of the basics is shaky, no great edifice can be built, no matter how hard we try or work at it.

The question then becomes, where can we find the basics of Personal Development? There is not the shadow of a doubt that these can be found in the classic, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. That book has withstood the test of time and most of the modern techniques and theories on the subject are based on the writings of that book.

Think and Grow Rich is not a book that should be read. It should be studied, assimilated and learned. It contains all the essentials and all the basic rules of Personal Development and as such, it should be given the attention that it deserves.

James Alan has written a wonderful summary of all 15 chapters of the book for the blog, Ezine Articles, and can be found by clicking here. This description should be copied and reviewed regularly. It will help as a refresher on Hill’s wonderful material but, the bulk of the work, for anyone who is serous about Personal Development, should be in studying that wonderful bible on self-development.

Personal Development is skill that has to be mastered like any other skill and the best way to do it is by concentrating on the basics as found in Think and Grow Rich.

The great Jim Rohn said something to the effect that by working on your job, you will earn a living but by working on yourself you will earn a fortune. Jim is right. Working on ourselves will earn us a fortune and the best place to start that work is with the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

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The process is completely automatic but will color all the subsequent encounters that we’ll be having with that person. Our first impression will be a lasting one. That is why it is said that it’s impossible to make a second good first impression when meeting someone.

The question almost never arises as to whether that first impression was accurate or not. Invariably we will trust the initial impression and that can lead to faulty evaluations and great learning experiences missed.

No one will argue the value of having an open mind which would also mean that an inquisitive doubt is vastly superior to an indolent assurance. Whenever we are certain about anything, we no longer question it. Not a very wise thing to do if we consider that everything changes all the time. What was true yesterday might not still be true today.

A true scientist will never assert that anything is the truth. A true scientist will always allow for the possibility that some unknown factor might not have been taken in an equation and that what we see a the truth might not be so. Absolutes are not accepted by scientists and they should not be accepted by the rational mind.

Robert Pirsig said in effect that, some scientific truths seem to last for centuries, others for less than a year. Scientific truth is not dogma, good for eternity, but a temporal quantitative entity that can be studied like anything else.

So if scientific truths are temporary, it would stand to reason that opinions, notions and beliefs could certainly stand some questioning from time to time.

Knowing that we might not know is vastly superior and more accurate than holding an obstinate assurance. Certainty might bring assurance but it can also lead to a close mind and the inability to learn, expand and grow.

It is said that the only things that will not change are death and taxes. It may have been said in jest but there is certainly a lot of truth in there. At least… I think so…

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Laws, rules and regulations are so prevalent in our lives that it has almost become a cosmic reality. We have come to believe that what is right will be rewarded and what is wrong will be punished. That is where reality becomes distorted.

Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. That is a fact. That’s how life is and we must accept that reality even is it goes our sense of fairness and what we believe that justice should be.

Misguided people will do good deeds in order to be rewarded and when the reward does not come, frustration will occur. That is where the tragedy lies. Good deeds should be its own reward. There is no other cause and effect for goodness.

The sense that justice is built into the laws of nature is simply false and misleading. The most virtuous person will be treated by nature’s law with the same yardstick that will be used against the worst of villains.

The notion that good begets good and that wrongdoing is punished is prevalent in almost every story that we hear or read and in almost every film that we see, so, no wonder we have come to believe it.

Successful living depends very much on rational and logical thinking. Just because a notion is widely accepted does not necessarily make it true. Justice is served in courts of laws but not in every day living.

Living the good life for the sake of being a good person if fine but doing so in the hope of being rewarded by outside influences is just plain deceitful. Chances are that no reward will be forthcoming and that frustration will ensue.

It goes without saying that this is not an incitation to lead a selfish or immoral life. It is however a reality check. Living a life of sacrifices thinking that it will somehow be rewarded is illusionary. Chances are that it will not happen.

Good deeds, done for the right reasons is one of the secret of successful living. Good deeds done for the right reasons is the path to self-growth and self-actualization. And, that’s how it should be viewed.

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Emulating is the fastest and easiest way to shape whoever we want to become. Each and everyone of our heroes has left an indelible mark on us. Most of the time we were not even aware of it but the traits that we admired in these people were slowly but surely being imprinted into the very fibers of our DNA.

Emulating is not complex. It’s almost all done through symbiosis. We get to be like those we hang around with. Case in point, a psychological experiment was done some years ago in New York City. They took some good cops and placed them in a precincts staffed with corrupt cops. In less than six month, those stellar cops had become just as corrupt as those that they were working with.

The process works both way. Emulating can improve a person or it can leave a negative impact… depending on who is being emulated.

Now, in everyday life, we cannot chose to hang around the Tony Robbins, the Donald Trumps et all… but there is something almost as good that we can do. We can have pictures of our heroes in our working place where we see their faces constantly. And for an added touch, we can place our own picture with the group.

Having our picture near the ones of those people that we admire create an association that goes directly into the subconscious. Soon we get the feeling that somehow we belong to that elite group and, little by little we start to think and behave as they do.

Throughout history, dictators have used to power of pictures to influence people. Pictures of those dictators were omnipresent throughout the country where they could constantly be seen by the citizens. A mental association was then created and people would identify with even the most ruthless leaders.

The simplest and most effective technique that can be used to benefit from emulating is through visual association through identification. That is, by surrounding ourselves with the pictures of those that we respect and admire.

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In this Blog, I would like to address the fundamental and universal need for significance. Significance is having the feeling that we are somebody, that we matter, that we make a difference. For most people, the way that this need is met will determine to a very large extent which direction that they will take in their life.

Donald Trump fulfills that need by being one of the most outlandish and biggest real estate developer. Obviously the need for significance is very profound in his case and it has totally shaped his life.

On the other hand, Arnold Schwarzenegger needs to be first in order to fulfill his need of significance. That need has had him push himself to train harder than anyone else in order to become the number one bodybuilder in the world. It did not stop there. Successful bodybuilders have a history of becoming movie actor.
So he became one. And not only did he became an actor but he has also eclipsed all other bodybuilders as an actor. The need to be number one has defined who he was and what he did.

The history of all great people are the same. They had an intense need for significance and they became famous by fulfilling that need.

Now, each and everyone of us also has that need for significance. Yet, very few of us has taken the time to determine what we do to fulfill that need. And more importantly most of us don’t know if we are fulfilling that need in an empowering or disempowering way.

If you want to know how you fulfill most of your need for significance, simply as yourself the question, “What is it about me that attracts attention?” You might be quite surprised to find out what the answer will be.

Both, positive and negative traits will attract attention. Some people will attract attention by being successes, others will do it by being failures. Some people will fulfill the need in an empowering way, others in a disempowering way. Some will do it by being heroes, others will do it by being obnoxious. There are those who will do it by building people up. Others will do it by tearing people down.

We all have our own personal technique, our own personal operational system to achieve significance. We have to find out what it is and we have to find out if it is leading us to personal fulfillment, contentment and happiness or if it’s leading us down the path of misery and self-destruction.

The good news is that we are not stuck with something that does not work. We can change it. People who got their sense of significance by winning at all cost have found out that they could change and find the same significance by helping others to win, by contributing rather than by seeking exclusively their self-interest.

Significance plays a very important role in our life. We need to explore the way that we do it and, if need be, change it to a more rewarding path.

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