For things to get better, you have to become better…. Personal Development When embarking on a new journey in the Network Marketing industry, you MUST be prepared to learn. There is an old saying, “If you aren't prepared to learn, no one can help you. If you are prepared to learn, no one can stop you.” When you learn new skills and knowledge and actually apply them, this is where you will start to see a big difference in you and your business. To have more than you’ve got, become more than you are. The marketplace is a demanding place. There is plenty of opportunity, but you’ve got to get ready for it and prepare for it. To do this you NEED to take ownership. One of the best tools in Network Marketing…….A Mirror. Personal development is a push. It’s a struggle. It’s a challenge. There wouldn’t be any winning without a challenge. That’s what life is all about. It’s the struggle and the challenge to develop ourselves and our skills to see what we can create in the way of value in the marketplace. Life is all about creating skills and value and taking those skills and value to the marketplace and what it will return for you. Now it also has a social part, a spiritual part as well as a physical part, and we’re going to talk about some of those parts in this section of the App. New habits don’t come easy, but they can be developed. Sometimes when you develop a lot of momentum in one direction, it’s not that easy to change but it is possible. It isn’t easy, but it’s possible. Somebody once said, success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. You’ve just got to read the books, learn the skills, put yourself through the paces, do the mental pushups and get yourself ready. Recommended Books “The Four Year Career” “Beach Money” “The Game Of Networking” “GoPro” “How To Build Network Marketing Leaders” “The Slight Edge” “How To Win Friends & Influence People” “Think & Grow Rich” Inspiration is fine, but inspiration must lead to discipline. It’s one thing to be motivated, but it’s another thing to be motivated sufficiently to take the classes, do the reading, do the repetition, go through it over and over, until it becomes part of you. And those are challenges. They’re not easy and if you've read this far, you have already made it more than most people. People are lazy by nature and you have to push that laziness out of the way. So to show me you're a serious player, Tag me on Facebook with #TheMLMentor #SeriousPlayer so I know who you are. But these are all challenges that if you win and develop and grow, that’s what determines your place, your return, your equity, the worth you get from the marketplace. Top Tips To Develop Yourself Daily LOOK AFTER YOUR BODY The mind and the body work together, so we’ve got to give some attention to both. Development of mind and body. On the physical side, you’ve heard the phrase that says treat your body like a temple. A temple. Not a bad word. Something you would take extremely good care of. Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed, right? A temple. Take good care of it. Do some daily exercise, eat well and up your game in the way you look after yourself. After all no one else is going to look after it for you. Take care of your physical appearance and always show up. ENSURE YOU HAVE A DAILY ROUTINE You run the day, don’t let the day run you. You have all heard that so make sure you stick to this. Read 10 pages a day of a book, listen to 30 minutes of an audio a day and STICK TO IT! Stretching your mind, developing good thinking habits, good study habits, pursuing ideas, and trying to find ways to apply them to human behavior and the marketplace. All of that takes mind-stretch and mind-exercise. Part of it is stretching yourself in reading habits. You can’t live on mental candy, so you’ve got to have the full range of mental food in order to grow. We call that mind-stretch. CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE AND WAY OF THINKING Your attitude ultimately shapes your life. If you adopt a CAN DO attitude and look at things positively throughout daily life, you will find yourself living a fuller more enjoyable life. Stretch your mind, develop good thinking habits, good study habits, pursue ideas, and try to find ways to apply them to human behavior and the marketplace. All of that takes mind-stretch and mind-exercise. Part of it is stretching yourself in reading habits. You can’t live on mental candy, so you’ve got to have the full range of mental food in order to grow. We call that mind-stretch. SUMMARY TIPS Make your own development your number 1 priority. Spend more time developing as a person than developing as a manager. Imagine you had to make the case to yourself regarding the development you need. What would it take to convince you to invest? Give yourself a self-appraisal. (see our article: self-performance appraisal for some useful questions to ask yourself) Choose how you want to develop, rather than conform to whatever an organization might tell you to do. In some cases they may be one and the same – but the difference is that you choose to do it! Spend much more time on getting better at what you’re good at, than struggling to improve your weaknesses. Identify some specific strengths you have and commit to getting even better at them. What do you aspire to do/be? Make the “ordinary” part of your development – what happens in your normal day’s work that can help you to develop? Choose something you do, then try to do it to the best of your ability. Take real pride in something that you do. Take on an ordinary project and find something extraordinary in it – try to make a real impact. Vary your learning diet. Experience bite-size learning, the small learning snacks just when you need them. But make sure you also experience the breadth of learning from a longer, more measured, “learning” meal taken regularly. Cultivate a healthy dissatisfaction with how things are. If you are to improve you need to have some dissatisfaction with your current abilities. Be careful that your motive here is to improve, not to become frustrated or cynical. Learn more about what you really enjoy doing.