Events

1715Louis XIV dies; Louis XV takes French throne

1748Montesquieu publishes The Spirit of Laws

1751Diderot publishes first volume of Encyclopdie

1759Voltaire publishes Candide

Although the first major figures of the Enlightenmentcame from England, the movement truly exploded in France, whichbecame a hotbed of political and intellectual thought in the 1700s.The roots of this French Enlightenment lay largelyin resentment and discontent over the decadence of the French monarchyin the late 1600s. Duringthe reign of the wildly extravagant Sun King Louis XIV (reigned 16431715),wealthy intellectual elites began to gather regularly in Parisian salons (oftenhosted by high-society women) and complain about the state of theircountry. The salons only grew in popularity when Louis XIV diedand the far less competent LouisXV took over.

Gradually, complaints in the salons and coffee shops changed fromidle whining into constructive political thought. Especially afterthe works of John Locke became widespread, participants at the salonsbegan to discuss substantive political and social philosophies ofthe day. Before long, cutting-edge thought in a variety of disciplinesworked its way into the salons, and the French Enlightenment wasborn.

By the early 1700s,coffee shops, salons, and other social groups were popping up allover Paris, encouraging intellectual discussion regarding the politicaland philosophical status of the country. Moreover, members of thesegroups increasingly clamored to read the latest work of leadingphilosophers. These nontraditional thinkers came to be known asthe philosophes, a group that championed personal libertiesand the work of Locke and Newton, denounced Christianity, and activelyopposed the abusive governments found throughout Europe at the time.As varied as they were, the leading French philosophes generallycame from similar schools of thought. They were predominantly writers,journalists, and teachers and were confident that human societycould be improved through rational thought.

A large part of the philosophes attacks were focusedon the Church and its traditions. In matters of faith, many of theprominent philosophes were deiststhey believed inan all-powerful being but likened him to a cosmic watchmaker whosimply set the universe in autonomous motion and never again tamperedwith it. Moreover, they disdained organized religionand the Churchs traditional idea of the chain of being, whichimplied a natural hierarchy of existenceGod first,then angels, monarchs, aristocrats, and so on.

The philosophes also raised objections against the decadentlifestyles of leading Church representatives, as well as the Churchs persistenceincollecting exorbitant taxes and tithes from the commoners to fundoutlandish salaries for bishops and other Church officials. Whatthe philosophes found most appalling, however, was the control thatthe Church held over impressionable commoners by instilling in thema fear of eternal damnation. The philosophes may have had mixedfeelings about the common people, but they had very strong feelingsagainst the Church. As a result, they provoked the Church by challengingdoctrines such as the existence of miracles and divinerevelation, often disproving specific tenets with simple science.The Church, in turn, hated the philosophes and all they stood for.

Complementing and enabling the socially and politicallyactive atmosphere was the dramatically improving literacy ratein France. Beyond just talking about revolutionary ideas, more andmore French people, especially in Paris and its surrounds, werereading and writing about them as well. A symbiotic relationshipdeveloped as readers anxiously awaited more literature from thephilosophes, and in turn the response that the writers receivedcompelled them to write more. The scholarly atmosphere at the timealso provided women of French societyalbeitstill within traditional roles as salon hostesseswithan opportunity to contribute to the conversation.

Originally posted here:
SparkNotes: The Enlightenment (16501800): The French ...

Business Development: The Activity Fallacy

Every sales manager faces periods when results just aren't what you need them to be. A big customer leaves. Your market hits a slump. A new competitor shows up. Suddenly youre scrambling to make your numbers. And if you dont make the right moves, you could find yourself making a bad situation worse. In this Quick Take you will learn why increased sales activity isn't always a good thing, the impact of increased activity on the size and profitability of sales, and metrics that will help your reps stay focused on their best opportunities in good times and bad.

Sales Leadership Credibility Part 1: The Confidence Base

What does it take to be a credible sales leader? Is it charisma? Raw intelligence? Some intangible trait that some people are born with and others are not? The fact is, credibility often boils down to one key factor. In this program youll discover what that is and learn: Why 'leadership skill' is NOT what gets people promoted into management, the number one source of credibility for sales leaders, the key to increasing, and sustaining, your credibility as a leader and just how fragile credibility can be.

Why Praise Can Backfire And How to Do It Right

Experts tell us that we should deliver praise to our employees as often as possible. Recognition is one of the most powerful tools available to improve productivity, moral and loyalty. But giving praise isnt as simply as it seems. Delivering it the wrong way at the wrong time can actually serve to de-motivate workers. In this Quick Take you will learn: 1) Examples of situations where 'praise' isnt about praising at all, 2) An especially dangerous misuse of praise that could erode your credibility as a manager and, 3) The secret to ensuring that praise delivers the motivational message you intend it to.

The ABC Method: Handling a Bad Attitude

In every organization you have a few people with really BAD attitudes. The guy who has trouble dealing with authority the woman who shows up late all the time or the average performers who put in minimal effort but continually complain about their mediocre pay and lack of advancement. You could just terminate these employees. But lets assume theyve got skills you need and you decide theyre worth saving. This training module will show how to confront 'bad-attitude' employees the right way, and maximize the odds that theyll change themselves and become better team players.

Coaching Reps Through a Slump the Power of Explanatory Styles

Salespeople have at least one thing in common with pro baseball players. Slumps. All major leaguers even .300 hitters go through extended periods where they cant get a hit. Pressure builds. Confidence erodes. As a sales manager, your job is to coach reps out of their slumps. But the problem is deeply psychological and youre no psychologist. So how do you do it? In this Quick Take, you will learn why failing reps literally talk themselves into failing, how managers can use the theory of explanatory styles to turn failure into success and the L.E.A.D. Model for helping reps bust out of a slump.

How to Conduct Effective Exit Interviews: A Technique for Finding the REAL Reason Employees Leave

Reflect back on some exit interviews youve conducted. When the person walked out of the room, were you ever thinking: I still dont have a clue why the person REALLY left and that was a complete waste of time. Clearly, thats not your goal. Youd like your exit interviews to reveal useful information you can use to improve your company and your retention rates. In this Quick Take, youll learn: The one type of employee that will give you the most useful info. The #1 obstacle to getting meaningful input. And, a simple questioning technique that will transform the way you conduct exit interviews and get far superior results.

Handling Online Leads: The Five-Minute Window

Its inevitable: For most companies, more and more business will be coming from online leads. And yet many companies are struggling to make these leads pay. The question is, what can you do as a sales leader to maximize the value of this increasingly important lead source? In this Quick Take, you will learn the results of a study that show why online leads are so different from other leads, three techniques for managing online leads that can vastly increase their value, the 'Taco Stand' rule a key concept that will help your sales force connect with more online leads and how to align your sales force to succeed with online leads.

Salary Talk: How to Discuss Pay So Employees Feel Theyre Treated Fairly

Most managers hate discussing salary with employees because money is such an emotional topic. When the manager and the employee have different ideas about whats fair, salary review meetings can quickly go south. Fortunately, theres a way to talk about money without the drama, tension or destructive emotions. The secrets to mastering salary discussions are covered in this program.

A Four-Point Model for Leading High-Performance Teams

There is one thing all successful leaders get that failed leaders dont. They know they cant achieve breakthrough organizational results by themselves. That wisdom is often hard-earned because most leaders started their careers as individual high performers who moved mountains all alone. But they figured out at some point that the key to their success as a leader was their team. But not just any team. They needed an A-Team. This program will give you a proven 4-point model for building and maintaining a high-performance team that consistently delivers extraordinary results.

The Power of Predictability

The #1 job of the human brain is to predict what will happen, so that we can be prepared. But managers can unintentionally create a work environment where unpredictability reigns. When that happens, employees feel stressed, anxious and demotivated. In this Quick Take you will learn how the brain creates 'predictive models' that are designed to tell us whats going to happen, why we feel good when our predictions are right and bad when theyre wrong and how you can use the principle of predictability to create a more productive and positive work environment for your people.

The Triangle: How to evaluate the success of sales contests

Sales contests can be a great way to motivate your sales team. But when you considered all of the effort and cost, are contests really worth it? Maybe. Maybe not. The only way to tell is to conduct a proper ROI analysis. And that's where so many sales managers fall short. In this Quick Take you will learn: Why the most common metric for sales contests often underestimates true ROI, the importance of 'The Triangle' that can make or break a contests effectiveness, and the best way to accurately measure a contests success or failure.

Sales Leadership Credibility Part II: The Fallibility Paradox

Leadership credibility takes a long time to build but can be destroyed in seconds. The question is, how and why does it happen? What should sales managers do and never do to maintain a strong reputation as a trustworthy, reliable leader? In this Quick Take, you will learn: One of the most common, and most preventable, mistakes sales leaders make that destroys their hard-earned credibility, what we mean by the Fallibility Paradox and why its the key to maintaining credibility over the long-term, and what caused one leadership success story to end in abject failure.

Sales and the 80-20 Rule

In this Quick Take you will learn the truth about the 80-20 rule in sales and what it means for sales managers, where youre most likely to get big performance increases from your salespeople and how to structure incentives to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Six Managerial Styles You Need to Lead Effectively

Some managers limit themselves to a single management style because theyre comfortable with it and because it worked in the past. But relying on just one style can limit your ability to get things done through people. In this Quick Take youll learn that great managers master a repertoire of six managerial styles, and know how to deploy the RIGHT style depending on the situation. Youll also understand why mastering these styles is the key to earning top management respect, achieving results, and no small thing getting the promotions that one-trick ponies only dream about.

New Manager Pitfalls: How to Avoid Them and Succeed in a Leadership Role

So you just got promoted. You probably got singled out for management because you were a strong performer, a producer who achieved excellent results. Now youre in charge of a team, and your job is to get OTHER people to be strong performers. But thats easier said than done. Its so difficult, in fact, that most people want nothing to do with it. Of those who take the challenge, many underestimate the complexities of management, and fail. In this Quick Take you will learn the steps you must take to get started in the right direction.

Lead Follow-Up: How Much Is Enough?

Following up on leads can pose a real dilemma for salespeople. On the one hand, you want to be sure you exhaust every opportunity to convert those prospects into new business. On the other, you dont want to waste valuable time chasing leads who have no real intention of buying. In this Quick Take, you will learn what a massive research study reveals about how much follow-up it takes to find real buyers, the follow-up 'sweet spot' the number of calls that yielded the best return on time and effort for most salespeople, how much effort salespeople really devote to follow-up, versus how much effort they think they put in, and how to create an optimal follow-up strategy for your sales team.

The C.A.R.E.E.R. Model: The Ultimate Retention Strategy for Managers

Every experienced manager knows the feeling. A valued employee walks into your office and says, 'I found a new job. Im leaving.' Youre stung. You feel betrayed. And youre asking yourself, 'Did I do something wrong?' The bad news: You probably did. The good news: In this Quick Take youll learn how to keep your good employees on board, energized and loyal.

Hiring Salespeople: How to Smoke Out Impostors Who Will Get Mediocre Results

The cost of a bad sales hire is huge. Most obvious are the hard losses the ads, the interviews, the training, the lost sales, etc. Not so obvious is the damage you do to your credibility as a leader when you repeatedly make hiring mistakes. This Quick Take will show you how to 'smoke out' the impostors who look good on paper and know how to interview, but wont get the job done. Youll learn the most dangerous attitude a sales manager can bring to an interview with a job candidate, the preparation oversight that gives Impostors an opening and how to ask questions that will expose Impostors every time.

Why 80% of Sales Training Doesnt Stick

This Quick Take will show you the number one reason why star sales managers get extraordinary results from their sales reps. If you often feel that youre constantly drilling your reps on time-tested selling techniques, but that your message just isnt sinking in, the reason is that youre not following the simple practice outlined in this program. Less than seven minutes from now, youll know the secret, and it will transform the way you train your sales force.

Handling Disruptive Star Performers: How to Tame a Tiger

Every sales team has its superstars. They are often the most valuable members of your team and often times they know it. You love the results they deliver but their 'prima donna' attitude can be a serious disruption to everyone around them. Fortunately there is a way to keep them in check. In this Quick take you will learn a common response to a disruptive star performer which fails miserably every time, an often-overlooked fact about stars that gives you far more power than you might think, and the S.T.O.P. Model for getting disruptive tigers to change bad behavior without driving them away or turning them into pussycats.

Performance Talk: Conversations That Get Your People to Goal

Too many managers and supervisors fail to deliver performance talks to their workers as often or as effectively as they should. Why? They either see such talks as low priority or they avoid them because giving performance feedback can be uncomfortable. The good news is, managers and supervisors can develop the skills and confidence needed to deliver on-target performance talks that get results. This training program will show them how to get it done.

Sales Compensation: Get and Keep Top Talent Without Breaking the Bank

Its always a challenge to strike just the right balance in your sales compensation plan. You want to attract top performers but theres only so much money to go around. So how do you spend it wisely? How do you know whether youre paying reps too much, too little, or just enough? In this Quick Take, youll learn: A technique to optimize your commission structure to get the results you need, how to head off the greatest pitfall of changing your comp plan, and the key trap that promotes mediocre sales results.

How to Get More Reps Selling Like Your Top Reps

In this Quick Take, you will learn why its so hard for experts to explain what they do to non-experts, why its better to focus on teaching behaviors rather than knowledge or insights, and a new way to use role plays in sales training and why it works better than the way youre probably using now.

See original here:
Online Sales Training Programs and Resources - Rapid Learning ...

Collective Evolutionis a conscious media and education company focused on helping to shift our world through two key avenues:

News Media reporting on world events through a truly neutral lens, and exploring the role these events play in the evolution of human consciousness.

Consciousness Education Providing viewers with the solutions and tools necessary to build self-awareness, expand consciousness, connect with self and be an integral part of shifting our world.

Founded by Joe Martino 2009, CE has grown to become one of the worlds most popularconscious media outlets that provides readers and viewers an opportunity to expand their consciousness, unlock their potential and reshape their everyday way ofbeing.

CEs unique formula merges consciousnessand spirituality with all aspects of life and events we experience on a regular basis.

CEs content ranges from articles, to videos, to podcasts, to live events, all of which share one common goal: to raise awareness about how our world functions, and to encourage conscious change that moves beyond it.

All CE content is brought into conscious existence by an awesome, (but not too awesome) dynamic (but not too dynamic) community of writers, filmmakers, editors, speakers and other phenomenally creative minds but not too phenomenal.

To contact CE for radio or media appearances please use our contact form found byclickingthe contact menu button.

Joe Martino talks about the journey of creating CE during his TEDx talk.

Joe MartinoAlanna KetlerDulce Ruby

Adrian RicciLinda Martino

James McDougall

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About Us Collective Evolution

Hi, ImJulieCreffield the no bullshit Life Coach. I am a mum to a gloriously mischevious 5-year-old, author of 8 books, owner of 2 thriving businesses, international speaker, and marathon runner.

Now reading that you might be thinking I am one of those super annoying overachievers in life who literally turns everything they touch into gold, if only.

My life hasnt always been an easy one.

I was a little shit at school for a start, I got in heaps of trouble in my teens and well into my twenties, Ive had some shocking relationships, battled with depression, had business ventures that didnt quite make it, I wasmade redundant 4 times in 10 years, and then 4 years ago I found myself a single parent of a child under 2, unemployedand about to lose everything.

I think the worst thing I lost during that time though was my confidence.

I completely forgot who I was, and what I was capable of.

I know what its like to feels like what you want is out of reach, to think that theres no way that you have the time, the energy or the resources to make any changes in your life. To feel like you need a new reason to get out of bed in the morning aside from making breakfast and clearing up after other people. What happened to all those dreams you had? What happened to that sense of adventure?

If you said yes to any of the above I get it, I have been there, done that. In fact, thats why I am here sharing this with you.

Heres the thing I know for sureIf I can do it, so can you!

Originally posted here:
Julie Creffield - Life Coach & Motivational Speaker

Daniel Pea is the founder of Quantum Leap Advantage (QLA), the revolutionary method for super success with over 25 years of proven track record that have produced over $50 Billion of equity/value, since 1993! Pea with his mentees and devotees have created an unprecedented level of super success, producing from 7 figures to 11 figures wealth creation in various industries around the world! Pea's principle instrument of success is his QLA Mentor Program used in conjunction with the step by step QLA Methodology that he personally used to create $450 Million! Together with laser beam focus, Pea has mentored and coached countless to achieve their dreams.

He was also retained as a consultant to bring QLA methodology to one of the top 25 companies in the world, where Pea mentored for 10 years Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld who became President/CEO of Siemens; Former Chairman/CEO of Alcoa; Former Chairman/CEO of Arconic. Dr. Kleinfeld is also former CEO of NEOM, the biggest deal on the planet worth $500,000,000,000 building the next megacity of the future.

He has been a lecturer for the Continuing Education for CPAs program and has taught pro bono a yearlong course to business students on entrepreneurism at his alma mater, California State University, Northridge. He also volunteered his time to Rebuild LA subsequent to the devastating riots near his childhood home in East Los Angeles and served at the request of the Mayor on the Executive Committee for The Alliance for a Safer LA.

Mr. Pea is an extremely dynamic and powerful speaker, motivator, and grand master entrepreneur. His Quantum Leap Advantage high performance, business success seminars have been in demand in the United States, Canada and Europe. His seminars and talks have been sponsored by various US and foreign universities, including Oxford University and US Naval Academy. In addition, corporations such as Dell as well as The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the Black Ties Association, Toronto, Canada and BOND TV - Brotherhood Organisation of a New Destiny, Los Angeles.

In recent years, since retiring, he has given free keynote addresses, interactive workshops, seminars and conferences on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific on building businesses exponentially and has been recognized, by equity created, as a super success high performance business coach and mentor.

As a quantum growth strategist, Mr. Pea was the principal speaker at the prestigious Center of Entrepreneurial Managements annual management course. Mr. Pea was also the speaker at Success Magazines First Annual Conference on entrepreneurism. He was asked to articulate his methodology on Managing Growth and Diversification as well as Growth Strategies. He has also articulated his methodologies on How to Achieve Explosive Growth to the YPOs (Young Presidents Organization) North and South America International Resource Convention. In addition, Mr. Pea has written a column on Explosive Growth Strategies for Agora Publishing, one of the largest financial newsletter publishers in the world. Agora Publishing researched, produced and distributed the highly successful financial instructional product Financing Your Dream where Pea walks you through a step by step methodology to achieve your Dream.

Pea has been a major benefactor (through The Charlie Soladay Award, named after his deceased partner and The University of Texas graduate, J. Charles Soladay) to the Moot Corp.s International Entrepreneurial Challenge at the University of Texas, at Austin.

Pea also participated as keynote speaker in the launching of The Entrepreneurs Club by the Grampian Enterprise Board for the regional government in Aberdeen, Scotland, near his home, Guthrie Castle.

He has also been keynote speaker at the prestigious De Amstel Club in Amsterdam and The World Trade Center Clubs both in Rotterdam and Amsterdam where his topic was Explosive Growth. Mr. Pea also led The Executive Studies (London) series Chief Executive Program featuring the 21st Century Boardroom and Quantum Growth. He was also retained as a consultant to bring QLA methodology to one of the top 25 companies in the world, where Pea mentored for 10 years Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld who became President/CEO of Siemens; Former Chairman/CEO of Alcoa; Former Chairman/CEO of Arconic. Dr. Kleinfeld is now, heading the biggest deal on the planet worth $500,000,000,000 building the next megacity of the future, NEOM.

Many other known mentees have been even more successful under his mentorship, such as the following:

Mike Dusi Pizza Boy Turned Director/Movie Producer Brian Rose Host of London Real and London Live Matt Pocius Youngest, Highest paid Internet marketing consultant in the world Michael Pilarczyk Personal Performance Teacher Thelma Box Creator and founder of Choices Seminar Shaqir Hussyin- DOT COM MULTI- Millionaire and Top marketer for MOBE Dan Lok Serial Entrepreneur and Millionaire Mentor Ron LeGrand Former Auto Mechanic Turned Real Estate Millionaire Shawn Casey Lawyer Turned CEO Turned Internet Marketing Guru Josh Kim Former Teenage Phenom Kid and now Multimillionare

Read more from the original source:

The Official Website of Dan Pena. Founder of QLA Methodology ...

If youre looking for ideas that can support you in your personaldevelopment journey, practical advice to guide you in your self-improvement and inspiration for your personal growth, then read on

Perhaps youre looking to build more confidence within yourself. Or perhaps youre wanting to discover a greater sense of purpose and deeper meaning to your life.

Or maybe youre starting to feel that the demands of a hectic lifestyle are creating stress for you and you are searching for ways to find greater peace-of-mind.

Self-development requires that you occasionally hit the pause button. You need to take some time to reflect on how youre living your life the choices you are making, the way you are feeling and the way you are behaving.

As you develop a deeper level of self awareness. you will find within you the keys to gaining a greater sense of control and direction in your life.

Some people do find that to further their quest for personal development and becoming a better person, they need to think about their past, and reflect on how some of their early life experiences may have shaped how they behave now.

Many of us carry different types of inner demons that feed self-doubt . Some of these demons arise from past experiences where our self-confidence has been seriously bruised and its left us feeling unsure of ourselves.

Self- development begins when we recognise that these past experiences which may have been painful at the time, carry within them the seeds of lessons that have the potential to make us a wiser person.

We do not have to re-live our past. Any mistakes we may have made in the past do not need to define who we are today. With improved self-understanding, we can free ourselves of unproductive patterns and instead start creating the life that we dream.

I would warmly invite you to have a look around our wide range of personal development pages, and maybe you might just find the inspiration and insights you need ..

Inspiration uplifting quotes, music and speakers

Self-Motivation great ideas on how to energise yourself

Self-Motivation Tips Ideas for overcoming procrastination

Building Self-Confidence developing self-belief

Mental toughness developing mental strength and stamina

Personal Leadership taking charge of your life

Assertiveness Tips stop being a people pleaser

Developing Assertiveness by building your self-esteem

Stress Management Tips dealing positively with stress

Interview Tips present confidently at the job interview

Seven Success Habits the popular Steven Covey book

Life Purpose the search for meaning and purpose in life

Career Planning what sort of job do you want in the future?

Focus the ability to concentrate on what needs to be done

Self-esteem self-worth as your foundation for being happy

Business Management thinking of starting up a smallbusiness?

Personal Change when you say enough is enough

How to Flourish and Be Happy what positive psychology can teach us about wellness

Habit Change how to change an unhelpful behaviour youre doing on auto-pilot

Here are some powerful words from Steve Jobs, a courageous pioneer in technology who of course became a giant in the world of business

Your time here is limited, so dont waste it living someone elses life. Dont become trapped by narrow thinking or youll miss seeing the exciting and endless possibilities that are all around you. Dont let the noise of other peoples opinions drown out your own inner voice. What is most important, is that you have the courage to follow your heart and listen to your intuition. Because, somehow deep within, you already know what you are truly meant to become

Personal development requires that you be open to new experiences; be willing to learn from past experiences and that you value the knowledge and skills you have gained from your life experience so far. And on the theme of self-worth, I would like to share a brief story

There is a story told about the master- painter Picasso. He was sitting at a cafe enjoying the warmth of the morning sun one day, when a rather pompous lady came up to him and abruptly requested that he sketch a portrait of her. He looked at her curiously for a while before he agreed and then he began sketching her in his drawing book.

Within a matter of minutes Picasso had finished the drawing of his subject, and turned the page to show her. She was delighted with it. He then scribbled down on a table napkin the price required for her to purchase the portrait. She exploded! You cant be serious, asking for that much! .. It only took you 3 minutes to draw my portrait!

Yes Madam Picasso calmly replied with just the hint of a smile, but it took me more than 40 years to learn how to draw such a portrait in 3 minutes.

It is you who ultimately determines the value you place upon yourself and your experience. For some people, personal development is about re-affirming their sense of self-worth and discovering an inner contentment that comes from learning to appreciate who they are and what they have to offer.

You may be familiar with the personal development book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey . One of the messages in the book is the theme of exercising choice in how we respond to events in life

Here is the original post:
Personal Development & Self-Improvement

2014/02/19 3:54 PM

The quality of your relationships with others, your happiness and success in life and even your bank account is nothing else but the measure of time you invest in personal development.

Now you have the opportunity to invest your time wisely in reading this article and you can finally solve the dilemma about what personal development is and why it is so important.

I would say that people who dont invest time to develop their personality can never grow. And if they dont grow they stay small.

Same as a plant need water to grow, people need personal development to grow as a human beings.

If you dont grow, you die. If your relationship is not growing, it is dying. If your bank account is not growing, its dying.

To grow you need to learn. How much time in your life have you spent learning how to improve your character?

Please keep reading as some of the life lessons that I will share with you can open your eyes.

How hard is it to go through life if you have big obstacles in your way? Its hard.

If you imagine that the obstacles in your way are big walls, then personal development is a way to break these walls and clear the space in front of you so that you can go through your life easier.

If you have a clear space in front of you, you can just flow through life and you dont have to struggle anymore and feel stuck behind big walls that seem too big to pass through.

Personal development is not just a way of solving problems in your life; it is a way of growing. It is your way to a better life, to become an improved version of yourself.

If you think that you dont have to work on yourself, than you definitely do need to!

On the contrary. Only the best people in the world keep working on themselves all the time.

By deciding to step into the world of personal development you are on the right way to the top!

If you are reading this, it means that you are curious to know more about personal development and you should be proud of yourself for that.

The most successful people in the world always invest time to work on themselves. Even if they have millions and billions of dollars, they still continue to learn.

Paul C. Brunson who worked with two billionaires (Oprah and Enver Yucel) said that both of them dedicate a significant amount of time to personal development.

If Oprah thinks that she still needs to learn new skills, you probably need to as well.

In fact, your whole life will never be enough to learn everything you can learn and thats why you can never say that you already know everything.

All successful business coaches that I have personally met said that they dedicate at least 30 minutes of their time every day to personal development. Some of them dedicate even much more time.

And all of them are super busy and super successful, but that is exactly the reason why they are successful because they dedicate their time to personal development.

They said that they need to feed their brain with positive things and new information.

And since every day is a new story, they continue feed their brain each new day.

That is the same reason why you should feed your brain with positive and educational things every day.

The result of this would be that you are happier, you are motivated, you are inspired, you have more energy, you have better quality relationships, you are not complaining anymore, you dont worry anymore, you inspire others, etc.

There are so many benefits that come as a result of constant learning.

Since I started to learn new things every day, I am more inspired than ever before. I have more ideas and I understand myself better.

Personal development is a way to better understand yourself, your unique personality and potentials, your strengths and weaknesses, your aspirations and your talents.

It is a way to improve every aspect of your life. It is a way to realize so many different possibilities and to achieve more than you ever thought was possible.

But there is one condition you need to have ambition!

If you have ambition to learn new things, you will find a way to learn them! If you are open minded that means that you can learn anything you want.

If you are reading this article, it already means that you have the ambition to learn new things. Thats why I want to teach you some of the powerful things I have learned and experienced about personal development.

If you are a beginner in personal development, there are few things that you need to understand first.

1. The more you learn about yourself, the better life you will be able to create.

To understand yourself, you need to be able to know why you are doing the things in your life. One of the life-changing things that Ive learned from Tony Robbins is that all humans have 6 basic human needs.

Four of them are personality needs and two of them are spiritual needs.

Personality needs include a need for certainty, need for variety, need for significance and need for connection and love.

Most people live life meeting these 4 needs. But the last two needs are the one that will determine your success in life.

These last two needs are spiritual needs the need for growth and contribution.

I believe that the only way to grow is to develop our character and thats why personal development is the key to success in life. It is our spiritual need and ability to contribute beyond ourselves.

All humans will fulfill 4 basic human needs during their life, either in a positive or negative way, but those who fulfill these last two needs are the ones who change the world.

When you understand these human needs, you can decide what kind of person you want to be.

2. For everything that you are doing in your life, there is a reason why you are doing it.

Once you understand your needs, you will understand your actions, and if you understand your actions, you will understand your habits.

Important part of personal development is to get rid of any negative habits. To do that, it is essential to understand:

3. Any problem in your life that you keep gives you some hidden benefit of keeping it.

One of the greatest life-changing truths that I discovered learning about personal development is that we keep our problems because we have some hidden benefits for keeping them and usually by keeping small problems we avoid to solve bigger problems in life.

Problems are part of life, but we need to choose how to deal with them.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional!

Personal development and self-introspection can give you the answer on all questions and problems that you have.

We are very often stuck in our minds when we have a problem and are not able to find the solution. Thats why we need to educate ourselves to get a completely new outlook on our own situation.

By reading personal development books, not only have I found the answers to my questions, but I have also learned how to create better questions.

I have completely improved every aspect of my life health, relationship, career, happiness etc.

If you are new to personal development and you want to start to develop your personality and character, you might not know where to start.

It can be difficult to choose where to start because you have so many options. Usually when we have too many options, we dont choose any.

Personal development is a huge industry and has a lot to offer, from online courses, books, yoga, fitness and meditation programs to life coaching and individual counseling.

Start small. It is better that you start with something then nothing.

You should start by deciding to begin every day with something positive.

You can follow Mind of a Winner on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest. We will put something inspirational, motivational and educational on these sites every day.

On MindOfWinner.com you can learn how to change your mindset and how to achieve success in your personal and business life.

If you spend at least 15 minutes every day learning something new, that means that you are investing time in yourself. Good investments have returns. The return of this investment will be a better quality of life.

Another important thing what you will need to work on during the process of personal development is to learn how to overcome your fears.

The biggest human fear is the fear of public speaking. Its greater even than the fear of death.

If you are one who is terrified of public speaking, you should speak more during public events so you can learn how to get rid of this fear.

I had a fear of public speaking, thats why I decided to go to many events where I was forced to speak on stage. During one event to get out of our comfort zones, we had to sing on the stage for 1 minute. If you have experienced public singing, public speaking doesnt seem so terrifying anymore :).

Another thing you can do to get rid of the fear of public speaking is to join the Toastmaster club. I was a member of Toastmaster in different countries and its very likely that there is Toastmaster club close to where you live.

You can also learn more about public speaking by reading about it, but the only way to deal with this fear is to go and do it. The more you practice, the better you become.

The more difficult thing that you can do to learn more about personal development (from my experience this is the best thing you can do) is to go to a live event.

There are 3 main reasons why I think live events are better than anything else:

I will usually try to go to business events, but during every business event, you spend most of the time learning about changing your mindset. Mindset of a Winner is essential for any business success.

For example, you can check on Meetup if there are live events or workshops about personal development near where you live.

Now when you have general idea about what personal development is, I would like you to give me feedback.

Was this article helpful in getting you to understand what personal development is?

Maybe you are already familiar with personal development, is there something that you would like to add?

Please leave your comment below this article.

Eva Lu is an ex engineer who decided to give up her successful career and dedicate her life to inspire and motivate others to find the best in themselves.She founded the Mind of a Winner website because she strongly believes that success is a skill developed by persistent people and her passion is to motivate others to become persistent enough.Her inspiration and her mentors are self-made millionaires who helped thousands of people to change their lives and who managed to build careers with their passion and vision towards doing something what they love.She also helps young entrepreneurs with business advices and encourages them not to give up on their dreams. She teaches them how to turn dreams into clear visions and ideas, and ideas into actions and results.All posts by Eva Lu

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What is personal development | Mind of a Winner

Dining out vegan can be tricky, but at Panera, we think it should be easy for you to eat the way you want. (Valid 1/7/194/2/19.)

Here weve gathered a collection of our already-vegan options, plus some choices that can be made vegan with just a swap or two. Our definition of a vegan item is a food with no animal sources: no meat, fish, shellfish, milk, egg or honey products, and no enzymes and rennet from animal sources allowed.

Of course, all of our menu items (vegan and non-vegan) are prepared in the same kitchen, so while were happy to make your order just the way you want, we cant guarantee that there will be no cross-contact between ingredients.

One more thing to note: new items are added to our menu all the time, and some items are available only on a regional, test or seasonal basis. The list below will be updated periodically, but for the most up-to-date information, be sure to call or visit your local bakery-cafe and ask to speak to a manager, or check the nutrition information available at PaneraBread.com and on our mobile app.

Enjoy these items as-is:Bakery- Plain, Blueberry, Cranberry Walnut and Sesame Bagels- Black Pepper Focaccia, Sea Salt Focaccia, Country Rustic, Rye and Sourdough Breads- French Baguette

Breakfast- Steel Cut Oatmeal with Strawberries & Pecans- Steel Cut Oatmeal with Apple Chips & Pecans- Seasonal Fruit Cup- Peach & Blueberry Smoothie with Almond Milk

Salads- Seasonal Greens: Try it with avocado and quinoa!

Soups- Ten Vegetable Soup

Broth Bowls- Vegan Lentil Quinoa Bowl- Soba Noodle Broth Bowl with Edamame Blend

Sides- Apple- Banana- French Baguette- Kettle Chips- Pickle Spear

Try these with just a few customizations:Salads- Fuji Apple with Chicken: Order without chicken and Gorgonzola.- Greek: Order without feta.- Modern Greek: Order without feta.- Asian Sesame with Chicken: Order without chicken and wontons.- Spicy Thai with Chicken: Order without chicken and wontons.

Sandwiches- Mediterranean Veggie: Order without feta and switch to one of the bread choices listed above.

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Eating Vegan

Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created the spiritual practice of dynamic meditation. He started the Rancho Rajneesh commune in Oregon in the 1980s.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as "Osho," was born December 11, 1931, in Kuchwada, India. After graduating from college and claiming to have found enlightenment, in 1970, he introduced the practice of "dynamic meditation," became a spiritual teacher and began to attract a significant following. When his controversial teachings put him repeatedly in conflict with Indian authorities, Rajneesh and his followers fled to a ranch in Oregon, where they attempted to establish a commune. Conflicts with the local community there resulted in Rajneesh and members of his group turning to crime to achieve their ends, however, and in 1985 Rajneesh was arrested for immigration fraud. After pleading guilty, he was deported to India. He died on January 19, 1990, in Pune, India.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (n Chandra Mohan Jain)was born on December 11, 1931, in Kuchwada, India. He lived with his grandparents during his early youth and then with his parents and was an intelligent but rebellious child. In 1951, Rajneesh graduated from high school and started attending Hitkarini College in Jabalpur but was forced to transfer to D.N. Jain College after his disruptive behavior put him at odds with one of his professors. In 1953, after taking a year off from his studies to soul search and meditate, Rajneesh claimed that he had achieved enlightenment. He returned to school, however, and after graduating with a bachelor's degree in philosophy, he went on to pursue a master's in philosophy at Sagar University. Following his graduation in 1957, Rajneesh accepted a position as an assistant professor of philosophy at Raipur Sanskrit College, but his radical ideas soon put him at odds with the institution's administration and he was forced to find work elsewhere, eventually becoming a professor at the University of Jabalpur.

Concurrent with his teaching at the University of Jabalpur, Rajneesh traveled throughout India, spreading his unconventional and controversial ideas about spirituality. Among his teachings was the notion that sex was the first step toward achieving "superconsciousness." By 1964, he started conducting meditation camps and recruiting followers, and two years later he resigned from his professorship to focus more fully on spreading his spiritual teachings. In the process he became something of a pariah and earned himself the nickname "the sex guru."

In 1970, Rajneesh introduced the practice of "dynamic meditation," which, he asserted, enables people to experience divinity. The prospect enticed young Westerners to come reside at his ashram in Pune, India, and become Rajneesh's devout disciples, called sannyasins. In their quest for spiritual enlightenment, Rajneesh's followers took new Indian names, dressed in orange and red clothes, and participated in group sessions that sometimes involved both violence and sexual promiscuity. By the late 1970s, the six-acre ashram was so overcrowded that Rajneesh sought a new site to relocate to. However, hismovement had become so controversial that the local government threw up various roadblocks to make things difficult for him. Tensions came to a head in 1980, when a Hindu fundamentalist attempted to assassinate Rajneesh.

Facing ongoing pressure from government authorities and traditional religious groups, in 1981 Rajneesh fled to the United States with 2,000 of his disciples, settling on a 100-square-mile ranch in central Oregon, which he named Rancho Rajneesh. There, Rajneesh and the sannyasins started building their own city, called Rajneeshpuram. Disapproving neighbors contacted local officials in an attempt to close down Rajneeshpuram, asserting that it violated Oregon's land-use laws, but Rajneesh was victorious in court and continued to expand the commune.

As tensions between the commune and the local government community increased, Rajneesh and his followers soon turned to more drastic measures to achieve their ends. including murder, wiretapping, voter fraud, arson and a mass salmonella poisoning in 1984 that affected more than 700 people. After several of his commune leaders fled to avoid prosecution for their crimes, in 1985, police arrested Rajneesh, who was himself attempting to flee the United States to escape charges of immigration fraud. During his subsequent trial, Rajneesh pleaded guilty of immigration charges, realizing that a plea bargain was the only way he'd be allowed to return to India.

After pleading guilty, Rajneesh returned to India, where he found the number of his followers had significantly decreased. In the coming months, he searched unsuccessfully for a place to reestablish his ashram. He was denied entry into numerous countries before returning again to India in 1986.

During the next few years he continued to teach and renamed himself Osho, but his health began to decline. On January 19, 1990, he died of heart failure at one of his few remaining communes in Pune, India. Following his death, the commune was renamed the Osho Institute, and then later the Osho International Meditation Resort, which is currently estimated to attract as many as 200,000 visitors a year. Osho's followers also continue to spread his beliefs from one of the hundreds of Osho Mediation Centers that they have opened in major cities across the globe.

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Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - Death, Movement & Oregon - Biography

When Noa Maxwell was four, his bohemian upper-middle-class parents, disillusioned with London, bought a farm in Herefordshire, where they began to live self-sufficiently harvesting by horse, slaughtering pigs, curing bacon, making butter while trying to find time to paint.

One day in 1976 they received a letter from a friend who was in India where he had found the meaning of everything. So Noas family parents plus three children went out to visit the ashram in Poona where the controversial guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho, was preaching his mix of eastern mysticism, western philosophy and free love, raising the consciousness and promising utopia to his orange-clad international followers.

Rajneesh, who died in 1990, and his sannyasin movement, have found themselves in the public eye again in recent weeks thanks to the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country. The much talked-about series focuses on the community they established in Oregon after they were forced out of India in 1981, and how they got on with the locals. (Short answer: not well.)

My meeting with Noa, now 46, at a cafe in Notting Hill, west London, has come about because of the show. I wrote a positive review of it. Its an extraordinary story of mistrust and misunderstanding, power and politics, fear and loathing that escalated to attempted murder, terrorism and chemical warfare exhaustively and objectively told. But I wanted to know more, about life in the cult, particularly for the children who can be seen running around in the background of shots. Noa tweeted me. He was one of them first in Poona, then Oregon.

In Poona, Noas family soon agreed that this was their new life. After returning to the UK to sell the farm, they came back to India, Noas parents, Noa and his younger brother. His older one has a different dad and didnt come, which would cause a lot of pain to his mum.

Noa remembers visiting Rajneesh to be given new sannyasin names and other kids running up and asking: Whats your new name? He couldnt remember and had to ask his mum. Noa Maxwells new name was Swami Deva Rupam.

Soon Noas mum was living in one place in the ashram, his dad somewhere else, and Noa was in the kids hut. We had been a tight, 70s middle-class family, and within a very short period that family unit was ripped up, he says.

The childrens hut was an octagonal bamboo structure with bunks. Noa and the other kids from Australia, Germany, America were pretty much left to their own devices. There was a school, run by this crazy English hippie called Sharma with long blond hair and a guitar and we would sing We all live in the orange submarine. I dont know how much it mattered if we were in school or not. When I eventually did get back to this country when I was 10 I couldnt read anything or write anything, or do two plus two.

He did learn how to smoke. And at the age of six he got accidentally stoned by eating hash cake.

The most shocking bit of the Netflix documentary is a clip of a film taken by a German inside the Poona ashram of what seems to be a violent orgy inside a padded room. Noa never saw this type of thing but he did witness some freaky behaviour and emotion. Laughter was a way of saying Im OK with my feelings, and one night thousands of people suddenly started laughing hysterically, crying with laughter. Noa was certainly aware of the sex. You could hear people having orgasmic sex all the time. All night, like mating baboons, gibbons.

And he knew his parents had different partners. Was that upsetting? I never showed upset. The narrative particularly from my dad was: this is fantastic, youre fantastic. So I showed fantastic. I know my mum was struggling. She has said since she was already massively questioning what wed done. They were notionally still together but we werent living as a family unit.

In some ways the independence Noa had has stood him in good stead, he says. But if you have no boundaries in your life the world is quite scary. Boundaries or lack of them is something that comes up again and again.

He says he can understand the appeal of Rajneesh, the aura of the man, the extraordinary voice, his charisma. But I think without doubt he was deeply culpable, guilty of neglect of his people and did massive damage to many of them.

He doesnt like seeing pictures of him. And he has fundamental problems with the message. For me, the meaning of my life is about family, family relationships, and that was blatantly disregarded in the idea that these kids are just going to be happy growing up in this wild place.

In some ways its hard to connect this engaging, articulate man sipping a macchiato in Le Pain Quotidien with the tearaway hippy child running wild, free of shoes and boundaries, in India. But there is something in his eyes, a look that says: yeah, weve seen a bit, in our time.

After Noa and his family had spent about four years in Poona, and amid increasing tension between the ashram and the Indian authorities, Rajneesh and his followers moved to the US and set up a commune on a ranch in Wasco County, Oregon. This is where Wild Wild Country picks up the story. The star/villain of the Netflix show is Rajneeshs personal assistant/lieutenant, Ma Anand Sheela, who was instrumental in the rapid creation of Rajneeshpuram, a new city in the middle of nowhere and an extraordinary human feat.

Noas memory of Sheela is that she was confident, funny, cool. But I also knew, because I would hear from my parents, that she was ruthless, and I think it was clear the power she had.

His dad had a run-in with Sheela over chickens, after which he was immediately taken off farming duties (which he knew a lot about), and put on fire-tower watch. Noas mum looked after cows. Neither of them were part of Sheelas inner circle.

Noa remembers the crazy, fevered work that was being done. And the elements, being colder in winter than he had ever experienced, and brutally hot in summer. Again, he lived with the other kids, running wild, trying to jump on to ice blocks floating on the river, killing snakes, putting spiders and wasps into cassette boxes to see which would kill which. In many ways it was brilliant.

He has one sad memory. There was one night when we got hold of a barrel of beer and we were just necking the beer on and on, and suddenly for the first time I got really drunk. If you think about it, aged 10, its a bit early. Then I just started wailing for my mum and dad, I just wanted them.

He says they the kids were probably a little bit more advanced with sex, too. Not madly, well it depends who, but I think we probably were a bit further ahead. We were further ahead with everything.

Much of the documentary centres on the antagonism between the sannyasins and the Wasco County locals. They were the enemy, Noa says. Stupid, conventional, conservative people.

The sannyasins thought they were better than everyone else, and that comes over in the documentary. Noa was amazed, when he did get out, meeting a friend of his mums for example, that she could be articulate and emotionally intelligent. I thought unless you were a sannyasin, that was impossible, you would just be a kind of drone.

He thinks the series focuses too much on the conflict between sannyasins and rednecks. That is interesting, but the inside story is more interesting of how you end up with lots of intelligent middle-class people like my family going into where they got to, the heart of darkness. How does that happen? Its like an ideal is bigger than reality and can make you lose your sense of justice and whats right in the world.

Noa wasnt aware at the time of the scandals that feature in the series an immigration fraud that involved sannyasins going off to get married in various parts of the country so that they could stay in the US, the poisoning of 751 people in the town of The Dalles, through contamination of salad bars at local restaurants, and another shocking episode where they bussed in a load of homeless people in order to win a county election. In fact, Noa had left by the time these events had taken place, although he did remember seeing the homeless people at the ashram, on the other side of a chainlink fence, on a visit back to see his father.

Why would he know what was going on? He was a kid, and this was his life. But he noticed the increased tensions and power struggles and that there were more and more guns about the place. By that time, you kind of knew it was cranky; everything was cranky, there was massive paranoia about Aids and about the world coming to an end.

My parents said: 'What do you want to do?' And I said: 'I want to go to school and learn things'

In 1986, Sheela pleaded guilty to attempted murder and electronic eavesdropping within the commune, as well as her part in the immigration fraud and poisoning incidents, and was given a prison term along with two other leaders.

When, in 1993, Waco happened, and the compound of cult leader David Koresh was stormed by the FBI, leading to 76 fatalities, it affected Noa profoundly. He suddenly realised that something like that could have happened to them.

Noas mother ended up wanting out she had been uncomfortable even in Poona. They had come back to Britain, the marriage was over; she was going to stay in Norfolk, his dad was returning to Oregon and Noa and his brother were given a choice. I remember sitting in the back of the car and they said: What do you want to do? I said: I want to stay and go to school and learn things. Noas brother made the same decision.

That has been Noas response to his weirdo childhood, to go diametrically opposite to everything he experienced. I wanted to as be normal as possible, I made a lot of choices that would give me something solid.

He says it was a good thing he got out when he did. If Id stayed longer I think the disengagement with the real world would have become more accentuated. Thats the sense I get from kids who stayed longer. I imagine it was hard to assimilate back and a lot of them ended up deeper in that kind of fringe world.

It wasnt easy, going to the local comprehensive. He still went by the name of Rupam, which he didnt change for a long time, out of loyalty to his dad. But he was good at fitting in, adapting. He said his Indian name was because his dad had farmed in India. No mention of ashrams.

There had been press reports about the sex cult, the guru with all the Rolls Royces. Noa began to realise how weird it was, and he didnt want to be associated with that. But he was way behind, and he was getting into trouble, not because he was rebellious but because he was finding it hard to exist in the real world.

His grandmother then paid for him to go to a hippy vegetarian private school, which encouraged Noas desire to become an actor. One day, the headmaster called a special assembly because there were some very dangerous people coming to town, a sex cult called the sannyasins. A warning video was shown, and guess what the opening shot was? A closeup of Noas face. Thankfully, because of his wild hair and the fact that it was taken a few years before, no one recognised him.

The sannyasins carried on, in various locations, in various factions, after the end of Rajneeshpuram and after the end of Rajneesh. His father is still very much involved with them. Noas mothers feelings about it are dominated by pain and guilt.

And Noa? Its a strange mix of both resentment and gratitude. Hes done his fair share a massive share he says of different sorts of therapy to deal with a childhood with no boundaries, how scary that is, how power can be abused and how emotions can get out of control. And hes very wary of gurus.

Yet he says he acquired a good deal of understanding about people from his time in the cult, which has been invaluable. He did become an actor, using the name Rupam Maxwell his last role was in Emmerdale, where he played racy young aristocrat Lord Alex Oakwell from 1997-98.

Then he went into coaching. He now advises clients on personal impact, teaching them to harness their natural strengths for pitches, presentations and media appearances. Again, he says he likes the linear structure of working with law and accounting firms, with their boundaries and rules. He says the basis of what he does is about authenticity, and however misguided it was, thats what the people in Poona and Oregon were after, too. After our coffee, hes going to Geneva for a meeting.

He is married. His wife is from a really good Irish Catholic background, and I love that. They have three children, aged 17, 16 and nine.

What kind of father is he? Not as good as I think I am. My older kids now tell me about times I was too angry with them when they were young and all that kind of stuff. But that, for me, is first and foremost in my life: family, being supported by your mother and father in a way that says Im there to help you grow into this world.

He has talked about the ashram with them. He feels relaxed and able to now, and says they are understanding, insightful, balanced. Now theyll probably go and join a cult, he adds.

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Growing up in the Wild Wild Country cult: You heard people ...