This Month's Featured Program:

Be the CEO of your life!

- Chart your journey to personal satisfaction in work and at home.
- Accept the power in empowerment
- Develop your own Board of Directors to enrich your life

Lynn has been helping teams and individuals cross their 'goal lines' for 15 years as a top training coach. She enjoys working with rookies and veterans alike in personal 1-on-1 coaching sessions. 

Feature Article

The Journey of Self Development

Growth must be intentional – nobody improves by accident. The poet Robert Browning wrote “Why stay we on earth except to grow?” Growth requires change and most people are reluctant to change. But in fact without change growth is impossible. The only way to improve the quality of your life is to improve yourself. To do so requires a realistic look inside and an evaluation of whom you really are. As Napoleon Hill said “It’s not what you are going to do, but what you are doing now that counts.” Growth takes effort. The “someday” approach doesn’t work. Or as you’ve heard many people say, “One of these days I’m going to …“ typically one of these days means none of these days and therefore no achievement.

The best way to keep from being satisfied with your current same old… same old… status is to strive for continual learning. The only way this happens is if you carve out time to do so and make it a commitment. This means developing a plan for growth, a plan that requires a minimum of an hour a day five days a week for personal development. The common excuse is I don’t have time. If one is commuting 30 minutes a day to their job and simply listens to motivational tapes or educational data their hour has been completed. If we make the commitment we will find the time but it must become a habit. Just as we commit to important activities such as going to the gym or reading to our children, time needs to be set aside for personal development. Confidence is the key to credibility and credibility is the key to influencing people. If people respect you they want to listen to you and if we in turn listen to them the growth is multiplied many times over.

Be teachable. This means welcoming new ideas and a willingness to learn from anyone who has something to offer. It’s really all a matter of attitude. The first step in “teach- ability” is being willing to listen. As Henry David Thoreau wrote “It takes two to speak the truth – one to speak and one to hear.” Being a good listener helps us to know people better, to learn what they have learned and to show them that we value them as individuals. Ask good questions with a genuine interest. “Zip it” and be a good listener. As you go through each day remember that you can’t learn if you are talking. As the old saying goes “There’s a reason that you have one mouth and two ears.” Listen to others, remain humble and you will begin to learn things everyday that can help you expand your talent. Look for teachable moments. Keep a journal and refer to it often. Follow these easy six steps:

1. Make learning your passion. Don’t worry about having people teach you. As the Greek philosopher Plato said “When the pupil is ready the teacher will appear.”

2. Value people. If you value people you will be open to learning from them. If you don’t you won’t.

3. Develop relationships with growth potential. Everyone has something to teach us if we open our minds. We need to seek out people who are especially likely to help us grow, experts in a field of interests or creative thinkers.

4. Identify people’s uniqueness and strengths. Make this a goal and actively identify friends, business associates and family members that you can learn from.

5. Ask questions. There is no greater way to learn then by simply asking questions. The person that asks the right questions learns the most.

6. Choose a mentor to help you grow. Combine the right attitude, energy and desire and find a mentor who you can model and you are well on your way for personal growth.

Here’s wishing you success and an enjoyable journey….

Lynn Giuliani, CSP

get your our own custom program

Contact Lynn at 360-319-6776 to schedule your custom designed program.

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