Polished

Your brain is like a sponge. When you feel you’re in the most receptive mind-set, you have to start listening, reading, and watching those things that inspire you. Instead of having a brain dump, pour information into your brain and spirit so you can learn as much as you can during those receptive moments. Keep whoever or whatever inspires you close to you so you can gain knowledge. It’s important to know yourself so you can take advantage of those times when you know your brain is ready to receive. It’s imperative for the information to be positive. You’ll want to absorb the positive rather than the negative because it will help you reach your next level. Make sure the information is next-level information. Information that will push you to go for it! “It” is whatever you want to attain in your life, career, and goals. Sometimes that information may be something you’ve already listened to, read, or watched. Repeating information is great. I reread books all the time. Sometimes you miss things due to your current mind-set. Or maybe it wasn’t your time to receive it. A book that is an annual read for me is Napoleon Hill’s Outwitting the Devil. As I said in the first volume of Polished, that book holds a lot of keys to success. Stay away from negatives, including people, places, and things. You don’t want to waste the time on the negativity when your mind is in receptive mode. I’ll touch on that more in the chapter titled “Be Careful What You Allow In.” Invest in yourself. Set a budget for how much money you can afford to put away for personal development. If that means not going to Starbucks or Burger King every day to save some money, do it. What I typically do when I have the urge to for a Starbucks grande soy caramel macchiato is this that $5.49 gets transferred from my checking account to my savings account. Or if I have the urge to drive to work instead of taking public transportation because I’m being lazy, I transfer that fifteen-dollar parking lot fee from my checking to my savings account. Because I was going to spend it anyway, I might as well put it in my savings account. That money will add up over time, as long as you discipline yourself to do it regularly. I know it’s hard to go cold turkey on certain things, but it’s worth it in the end. We are talking about your personal growth here. Go to seminars. Find local multilevel marketing (MLM) organizations. They have great speakers and weekly meetings packed with inspiration based on people’s stories about their growth. You don’t have to sign up for what they are offering. Simply pay your entry fee to hear the success stories of those who are working their way to the top. The backstories people in MLMs tell are always inspirational. You will hear from people who were already successful in their careers but wanted something different so they could retire early or live lavishly. You’ll also hear from people who started with much of nothing and got sick and tired of not having anything, so they took their last bit of money and invested it into the startup fee it took to build an MLM business. That’s an idea that I’m sharing with you on finding cheap personal development opportunities. You simply have to find them. Here’s a warning: people there will notice you and will try to get you to sign up. If you know you have no intentions of signing up, stand firmly with your no, but have compassion. You can tell them why you are there if you choose to. That may eliminate people asking you to go forward. You know you are there for the inspiration and motivation to push you toward continuously working on your goals. While you’re there, definitely take that as an opportunity to grow your network. Most people there are working full-time jobs and are in various industries. Be sure to have business cards on hand every time you attend. You will see the same people most of the time, but you are guaranteed to see new people every time you attend. Find out who does what, see whether you can help them in some way, and build relationships. You never know. You might meet someone who can help you get to your next level. Find a career or life coach to help you along your way to your desired place of success. Read books. Talk to people who’ve done what you want to do. Get mentors for different areas of your life. Develop yourself. You know what you don’t want to be or do, so change. Break those old habits by creating new habits. Over time, you’ll notice those old habits don’t exist anymore. Break away from your comfort zone. That place should become uncomfortable to you once you’ve started down your path of becoming successful. Once you get a taste of success, you won’t want to go back to that life once lived. Only you know what your success barometer is. For some, it’s money. For others, it’s losing the ten pounds they were working off. The bottom line is that success is anything you worked for and manifested. It’s always tangible. Personal development will help you get to your success. Personal development is not only for your career moves. It’s also about mind and body. Prepare your mind for what is next in your life. Some people need to take time to mentally prepare for change. Others can make a decision to get up and go and deal with change on the fly. Personally, I need to prepare for change over which I have control. I need to think things through and make sure it is what’s best for me.