Firming Plan

Join the Club! Firming Plan Membership does have its privilegesand getting a sleek, super-sculpted body is one of them! Heres how to make that monthly fee really pay off ByJanet Lee; photography by Randi Berez Join the Club! Firming Plan A gym gives you support, tons of exercise options, and a change of scenery from at-home workoutsthree things that can help you bust boredom and plateaus. But all those tools and machines can be intimidating! So to get you started, Michelle Lovitt (trainer to stars likeCourteney CoxandLauren Graham) designed a total-body toning routine that incorporates the most effective gear in the club. Slip on [more]

How to Start Biking

How to Start Biking If you're ready to shape up, have fun and burn as many as 900 calories an hour (yes, please!), check out Health's right-now guide to biking. 3 Ways to bike stronger "Muscle imbalances increase your risk of back, neck or knee pain and decrease your efficiency on the bike," notes celebrity trainer Michelle Lovitt. These moves strengthen your body and help boost your biking ability. Do 3 sets of 15 reps of each, 3 times a week, on days when you're not cycling. Start with a light weight (5 pounds) and build up. Jason Lee Gear Up!:Seven essentials for your next [more]

Metabolism Guru

A Hollywood Trainer's Secret For A Flatter Belly After 40 You know your belly won't be walking the red carpet anytime soon, but if you're going to work out, why not give it a little makeover? Metabolism guru Michelle Lovitt will show you how. ByBARI LIEBERMANJUNE 12, 2014WRITE A COMMENT PHOTO BY LEELA CYD The sun was just breaking over the LA horizon as Michelle Lovitt kicked off another early-morning workout with her new client. On tap was an intense, 45-minute strength-training session that involved seemingly endless burpees and squat jumps. It was grueling, but this clienta charismatic and likable overachiever in her 40swas [more]

Get A Superstar Body

Get A Superstar Body When looking good is part of your job, fitness becomes a high priority. We asked top trainers how they help Hollywood celebrities stay in amazing shapeand how you can do it, too. Getty Images/Ramon Gamarra Stars aren't like us. Yes, they crave cheeseburgers, struggle to take off baby weight and evengasp!get cellulite. Buttheycan throw money at the problem, spending upward of $300 an hour on the best trainers to transform their bodies. Not to mention, an A-lister's paycheck often hinges on her staying in peak form. "Celebrities have motivation, determination and, most importantly,pressure," notes Los Angeles trainer Michelle Lovitt, who [more]

Chia Seeds

We all hear of those new trendy foods promising to keep our waistlines lean and our brains at peak performance, but are they really worth the hype? Chia Seeds Here is a little experiment; get a glass of water and toss in a spoonful of Chia seeds, letting it sit for about 30 minutes. Like magic, youll come back to a glass filled with an almost solid gelatin, due to the soluble fiber found in Chia. Why is this important? Researchers hypothesize that this event also occurs in the stomach when the fibers are eaten. This effect allows a physical barrier between [more]

50 Clean Eating Super Foods

If you have recently started a clean eating plan, or if you have had one for a while, but feel that you need to add some variety to your clean eating diet, the Gracious Pantry has posted an article that you need to take a look at. The post lists "Clean Eating Super Foods" that are affordable and that definitely need to be on your next grocery list! Click here to read: 50 Clean Eating Super Foods We have links on the site to two other others from the gracious pantry: The Beginners' Guide to Clean Eating Grocery Shopping What Weight [more]

Your complete personal development resource featuring resources for: leadership, success, mental toughness, goals, and productivity.

The content is broken down into those categories, and you can access the articles in each category by clicking on the links above.

See the original post:
Personal Development Toolbox

Whether you are looking at change or just considering your options this is the site for you. At the Personal Development Institute we recognize that no one individual is the same and the need for change effects us all in different ways, whether its a new job or new relationships you will find resources, links, articles and information to help you make those important decisions you are now facing in a professional way.

The following FREE sampler resources provide invaluable feedback about you and where you are starting your personal development journey.

The key to Personal Development is self-knowledge. The Free Personality Profile is often our starting point for Coaching and Mentoring.

If you are exploring what truly motivates you, the Free Personal Potential Assessment will help you identify your natural motivations, interests and talents for work.

Once you have completed the free personality profile and the free career potential assessment then you are ready to Build Your Free Mission Statement. This is where you will start building your path to personal development.

Next, it is time to set Your Goals for Success with the Free "Achieve Your Goals" eWorkbook. This Complete Goals Management System puts the purpose and practice of setting goals into perspective. You will emerge with a clear action plan and the tools and techniques to stay motivated to achieve your goals.

The Law of Attraction is the Secret of Success that demonstrates how we create the things, events, and people that come into our lives. Our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions produce energies which, in turn, attract like energies.

For continued Education please view our Top 50 of the Greatest Self Help, Success, Spiritual and Personal Transformation eBooks ever written. Where you will also find another Free Personal Development eBook.

We hope you enjoyed your visit with us. Please give us Your Comments and Suggestions.

Your FREE eBook just for Visiting, "The Reality of the Unseen." by William James. It posits that individual religious experiences, rather than the tenets of organized religions, form the backbone of religious life--studded with richly concrete examples--documents and discusses various states on consciousness. James was the first to define Spirituality as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine."

If you did your Profile, Assessment and Mission Statement, you worked very hard. Congratulations, now go here and relax for an important message and Interview.

Additional Resources on the study of Human Potential and Personal Development.

If you are interested in starting your own PDI chapter. We can put you in touch with your nearest PDI Adviser, who will take you through this easy process step by step. Click here for more information.

Over 50 of The Greatest Self Help, Success and Spiritual eBooks ever written. Now Available for $1.99 each or less than $1.00 when you Buy the Entire Personal Success Library Collection! Earn Money - Become and Affiliate - It's Free!

Donald Carty is one of the best presenters of Personal Development information in the world. But he is also a man with a mission, to bring this key information for achieving success to the individual person who needs it most. A step by step workbook guide for anyone interested in Success full of tips, questionnaires, self analysis, and exercises. Presented through a collection of Donald Carty's very best tried and proven first hand personal development action plans.

Free PDF Preview

Please click on Book for Free Preview and Release information.

Original post:
Personal Development Institute - Home Page

Human development is a lifelong process. People are capable of growing, learning and improving throughout their entire lives, and the ability to do so has an impact on many areas. Personal growth is necessary both in the workplace and in relationships. There are various components of personal development, including responsibility, learning, behavior and attitude. Striving to improve these areas will lead to greater opportunities in the workplace and healthy relationships.

Workplace

Personal growth and development are relevant to the workplace. Employers want employees who are learning and growing. People who are becoming more knowledgeable and adept at their positions are more valuable than employees who remain stagnant. An ideal employee will be capable of handling and understanding more than one position, as this allows for greater flexibility within the organization.

Relationships

Relationships often require work and effort on behalf of the individuals involved. When a person is able to grow and develop, it helps to foster healthy relationships. Additionally, having a significant other to offer support can be immensely helpful when one is looking to develop potential and grow into a more complete person.

Responsibility

One area for personal growth is responsibility. Being responsible is a trait often identified with adulthood and maturity. The ability to accomplish and take on new responsibilities is especially important in the workplace. Employers evaluate their employees on how well they do at completing tasks. Beyond just meeting tasks, employees who seek out additional responsibility are more likely to be rewarded with greater compensation and the opportunity for better positions. Developing the ability to be responsible helps enable one to grow in her career.

Learning

Humans grow and develop by learning new skills and acquiring additional knowledge. One way for a person to develop is to further his education. Education is a valued commodity in the business world, and institutions of higher learning provide ample opportunity for an individual to grow. Colleges and universities promote critical thinking. By using this resource, an employee can take steps towards developing his career.

Attitude

By developing and growing, one's attitude can change for the better. Self-confidence will be improved with the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. The more one comes to respect herself, the more respect she can, in turn, offer others. An improved attitude can lead to further growth and development and help one achieve her full potential. The better an attitude one has, the more she is able to accomplish. Employers will notice those workers who have great attitudes and get a lot done. Employees like that are the ones who become promoted and reap greater financial benefit.

Personal Growth

Personal growth is a process that produces personal change and progress. And it starts from within you. Personal development will happen when you make a firm decision to...

Understand yourself

Improve your awareness

Work on your attitude

Believe in yourself and your potential

Develop your skills

Set your goals

Begin with the end in mind

How to Create Your Personal Development Plan

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.

I don't much care where said Alice.

Then it doesn't matter which way you go.

Do you know where you're going? Where do you see yourself in a year, five years and perhaps ten years down the road? In the years where I have planned out what I wanted to accomplish, I invariably achieved what I set out to do and it has consistently been more than in the years when I didn't plan.

So from my personal experience, it's true if you don't know where you want to get to, it doesn't matter which way you go.

Do you have hopes and dreams you're chasing? If you do, but aren't sure which way to go perhaps a personal development plan will help you figure that out, and help you get there.

Why Put Together a Personal Development Plan?

He who fails to plan is planning to fail.

Winston ChurchillYou may have previously read this discussion on writing down your goals, where I point to research showing that it has a measurable effect, increasing the likelihood of success. In addition to the research, three big reasons I like having a personal development plan include:

■Clarity. Knowing what I am trying to accomplish gives me a clear idea of what I'm working on.

■Define The Why. Oftentimes, along the way I'll come across tasks and situation that I simply don't enjoy doing. Having a personal development plan shows me why I'm doing what I'm doing.

■My Compass. I'm a very driven, ambitious person but if I don't have a plan of what I'm trying to accomplish, I end up expending energy in many different directions. A personal development plan keeps me headed towards consistent goals.

What Do I Put In A Personal Development Plan?

Success requires a wel-articulated goal. It is not a product of wishful thinking.

7 Simple Steps by Jonathan Wells

The answers to this question are varied. For me, the broad answer is this: I write down what I want, and I write down how I plan to get there.

That's the overarching purpose, but I'll give you some specific examples of what to include in your personal development plan as well. Some of these items I added after recommendations from my mentors. One thing to note though is there are no hard and fast rules your personal development plan is all about you, and what you want to accomplish.

Personal Development Plan Example Sections

■Your Life Purpose. What were you born to do? What is the meaning of your life? Unsurprisingly, this is the first module in my free course, Personal Development 101.

■Your Dreams. Those far reaching thoughts and hopes that inspire you to action.

■Short, Medium and Long Term Goals. Some people like weekly, monthly, others like yearly and beyond. I like to have a mix of them, but at any given time I like to have at least some goals I can accomplish in the span of a few months. This lets me see that I have measurable progress towards my goals.

■Your Beliefs and Values. What do you stand for? And perhaps, what do you wish your actions showed you stand for?

■Your Ideal Self. I like to write down Ideal Sid. I have a description of the type of person I want to be the way I act around people, the way I spend my days, and I have some specific things such as how ideal Sid responds to criticism, how ideal Sid deals with negative people, and how ideal Sid deals with failure. I don't always act the way I idealize I should, but it gives me something to shoot for and most often, this section is not accomplishment or achievement driven. It's mostly about my interactions with people.

■Mistakes and Lessons. Very often I'll make mistakes along the way. I don't write them down to beat myself up over them I write them down because we learn so much from our mistakes.

■Success and Milestones. Just as I note my mistakes, I also celebrate my successes.

Personal Development Plan Template for Goals

One of the areas many people struggle with is setting goals. That is a whole other article in and of itself on how to effectively set goals, but lets talk specifically in the context of a personal development plan. How can you get a good overview of the direction you want your life to head? Once you've settled on your life purpose and your big dreams, you should sketch out some goals in the most important areas in your life, at regular intervals. I like to go ten years out, but three or gives years is great too. A very simple personal development plan template for goals might look like this:

Goal Area One Year Three Year Five Year Ten Year

Career

Finances

Physical/Body

Social

Personal

For each box, answer these questions:

■What specifically do I want to accomplish?

■Why?

■Who can help me?■How do I get there? (What actions do I need to take?)

Personal Development Planning Tools

In addition to the information above, consider other tools to help you with your personal development

■Events. Especially for career and education goals, are there seminars you can attend? Conferences? Meetups where people similar to you gather?

■Classes/Books/ Educational material. Sometimes the first step is finding the resources we need. You may want to start by checking out some of my personal development product reviews.

■Mentors and Supporters. Who can you reach out to that can help you with your goals? For many of my personal goals, I've formed individual mastermind groups towards a specific purpose. I also have a lot of favorite blogs I read that inspire me. In addition to this one, you might enjoy:

■Litemind Exploring ways to use our minds efficiently

■The Skool Of Life

■Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life

■Aliventures

■Advanced Life Skill

Free Personal Development Planning Course

If you're looking to dip your toes in, and want a pre-laid out set of exercises to help you with your personal development plan, I recommend signing up for my free personal development course, personal development 101. It includes a series of instructions, exercises and worksheets, most of which take less than 15 minutes each to do. You'll learn a lot about yourself, your life purpose, your dreams and can immediately start seeing results in your life.

For a very thorough treatment of a step by step plan for personal development, you can check out my review of 7 Simple Steps A Life Transformation Guide. It approaches personal development from the perspective of who you are, your internal values, and leads you step by step forward to create a plan for the outcomes and success you desire.

My Secret For Personal Growth and Change: How To Change Yourself

The First Question: Do I Want To?

More important than anything else is considering what my goals are, and the expected end result of a particular project is. If this is not something I desire, then why am I doing it? For this reason, before I spend my time on anything, I ask myself:

Do I want to make this change?

Some of the things to consider when I am asking myself this question are:

Is this the direction I want my life to go?

Are the activities involved the way I want to spend my time?

Are the end results consequences I desire?

The Second Question: Can I?

Before embarking on a serious life change, it has to be something I truly believe I can do or I'm already set up for failure. So once I've decided I want something, the next question to myself is always:

Regardless of whether other people think I can accomplish something or not, it's important for me to believe I can.

Can I make this change?

Here I am asking myself:

Do I have the ability to make this change?

Do I have the necessary tools to make this change?

Do I have the time available to make this change?

Do I have the support I need to make this change?

I must be able to completely, unconditionally answer this question with a Yes. If I say no, then I dig deeper:

Why don't I believe I can do this?

Is there something about the situation I can change so I can accomplish this?

Who can help me?

What sacrifices can I make, and what commitments can I break to make this goal feasible?

Regardless of whether other people think I can accomplish something or not, it's important for me to believe I can. If the answer to this question (Can I?) is yes, I then need to consider:

The Third Question: Will I?

Will I make this change?

This question sounds similar to the first, but it's more a question of personal determination:

Am I willing to make the sacrifices needed to make this change?

Am I willing to work without encouragement or glory to make this change?

Link:
What Is Personal Growth & Development? - MDJunction

Career Resources >> Browse Articles >> Management

Career Resources >> Browse Articles >> Promotion and Advancement

I help a lot of leaders create individual development plans using some variation of this process. This time of year (January) is always especially busy.

Although every leader I work with is unique, it seems like the development goals end up being somewhat common from year to year.

To help you get a head start on your 2010 leadership development plan, heres a list of development goals that may apply to you too. Id recommend picking no more than one and really working at it for at least 6 months. Do not attempt to work on all 12, just because there are 12 months in a year.

For 2010, Id like to improve my:

1. Strategic thinking. Improve my ability to see the big picture and take a longer range, broader business perspective. Learn to step back from the day-to-day tactical details of my business and focus on the why, not just the what and how.

2. Listening. Learn to pay attention and demonstrate to others that that I value what they have to say. Use active listening, open-ended questions, body language, and eliminate distractions that get in the way of my ability to listen.

3. Coaching. Shift my leadership style away from always directing and telling and learn to guide and develop my direct reports. Work with each of my direct reports to create their own individual development plans.

4. Financial acumen. Learn how to understand, interpret, and use the numbers to improve my business.

5. Cross-functional knowledge and perspective. Learn about other aspects of the business other than my own functional silo.

Originally posted here:
Top 12 Development Goals for Leaders - MediaBuzz

Update: The Top 100 Self-HelpBlogs for 2015have just been announced!

Its that time of year where we announce the Best Personal Development Blogs for 2013in fact, we bring you the Top 100!

With 2013 just kicking off, now is the time to start creating what your year is going to look like and ensure it is the most successful year you have everhad.

Every year is another opportunity that we have for progressing towards our goals and our ideal life. Each year progresses on the next. This year is set to be the best year yet!

Spending my life in the career and personal development industries, Im constantly looking for the latest and greatestinformation on success, motivation, results and happiness. I regularly dealwith people from within the industry as well as those looking to gain valuable insight and information.

One thing Ive noticed is that there are so many people in this world that are after a full list of resources for helping them achieve what they want to achieve in life. The good thing is the internet has provided so much access to the information that previously only those attending $5,000 courses would be able to have.

Ive decided to put together a list of the best personal development blogs of 2013. In fact, this list represents the top 100 personal development blogs for 2013.

The tricky thing is these lists are always quite subjective. Ive found that the longer the site has been around, the more visitors the site gets and therefore the more comments and more votes e.t.c. Although we had only been around for 4 months, The Start of Happiness was recently recognised as the 3rd best personal development blog for quality. To me, thats what its all about.

However, because of the subjective nature of measuring quality, the top 100 personal development blogs for 2013 is different. What I have provided is a list of personal development blogs that rank from the biggest with the most traffic to the smallest. This list will provide you a clear indicator of how large a website is and its relative importance.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that the larger the site does not necessarily indicate that the site is of better quality. Generally, you will find that the larger sites have been around for longer and many of them have multiple contributors. In saying that, the top sites have lasted the test of time and continue to have strong readership so they must be doing something right.

There are a tonne of awesome websites here, in fact, there are 100 of them. If they were not awesome, they wouldnt be listed here.

If youre looking to make 2013 your best year yet, youre going to drown if you try to read all 100 of these blogs.

My suggestion is to go through them all at least once. Try finding 2 or 3 blogs that really resonate with you. Which blogs are most closely aligned to what youre trying to achieve in your life? Which ones are providing you the right information to help you now and into the future?

Blogs and websites can change over time. If you feel youre after something different,pop back to this list and check out a couple of others.

Over the past few months, Ive got to know quite a few of the personal development bloggers on this list and I can say that Im highly impressed with what they aredoing and where they are going.

As I mentioned above, this list ranks the personal development blogsfrom the biggest with the most traffic to the smallest.

There are two primarytools for doing this.

Firstly, you have Alexa rank of the website. Alexa provides a relative ranking of each website based on the number of visitors it receives. A rank of 1,000 would mean that the site is the 1,000th most visited site on the internet. Just so you know, Googles rank is #1, Facebook is ranked #2 and YouTube is ranked #3. The Top 100 Personal Development Blogs are ranked by Alexa scores (asof January 2013).

Secondly, you have Google Page Rank. Google Page Rank is one of the tools Google uses to determine a sites relative importance. This is done primarily by how many quality backlinks the website has. Generally, a score of 4 or higher represents the site is of relative importance. The Top 100 Personal Development Blogs are not ranked by Google Page Rank, however I haveincluded thePageRank of each for you to utilise if you wish (you can filter by this).

The accuracy of these tools has alwaysbeen questionable when it comes to the detail, however when comparing more generally the relative size of a site they are veryuseful indicators.

Want to know whats really cool? The Top 100table is dynamic, meaning you can search for your favourite blog and see what its ranked and sort by any column, such as page rank or alphabetical order. This is your list. Make it so!

Without further ado, let me introduce you to the Best Personal Development Blogs for 2013!

Along with the Worlds most comprehensive list of PersonalDevelopment Blogs comes the Worlds most comprehensive life planner the Change Your Life program is your guide to gaining clarity on your purpose in life andcreating clear strategies and plans for making it a reality.

If your blog is one of the Top 100, you have the honourof displayingone of the following badges on your site. This is the most comprehensive list of personal development blogs currently on the internet and Im honoured to have you as part of this! Please pick a badgethat suits your theme and simply use the code provided to add it to your site. (you may need to replace the inverted commas on your own site for the image to work).

The Launch Your Life Academy is reopening its doors soon! The last time we opened the doors it sold out fast. The Academy is jam-packed with expert video training, expert interviews, exercises, guides and resources to help you live your passion and stay focused, motivated and disciplined in achieving nothing but massive success.

Make sure you join the Waitlist to reserve your spot, get priority access and some bonus free content youll love.

Do you know of a blog that you think should be on this list? Let me know!

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Heres to making 2013 your best year yet!

Brendan

P.S. Do you know of someone that would love to see this list? Please share it via the buttons below!

I started this project with the intent of having a repository of resources for future coaching sessions and workshops. Now, this website has become one of the most visited personal development blogs on the internet. Please, join in and connect with me, I'd love to get to know you: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

Read the original here:
The Best Personal Development Blogs of 2013

Principles, concepts, strategies, and techniques essential for building an extraordinary life.

The following ideas are distilled from $100,000-worth of the best personal development books, courses, and seminars, and further refined with personal experience. My goal is to find the biggest leverage points for changing the quality of one's life. This is it!

If you're unhappy with any area of your life, we can trace it down to one of these root causes.

Click the headings for videos and in-depth discussion of each concept.

Have a Life Purpose Commit to a life calling. Immerse yourself in deeply meaningful work that channels your creative energy and gives you a sense of contribution.

Live Strategically Make methodical, long-term plans for your life. Analyze your life and have your actions lead to some ultimate objective. A quality life is designed, it doesn't happen spontaneously.

Understand the Process of Mastery Understand what it takes to master any area of life. Choose what you're going to master, embrace the mastery process, learn to love the plateau, and practice for practice-sake.

Just Do It Action is essential to all results and trumps thinking, talking, or planning. Shortcut a lot of mental-masturbation, debate, and self-help theory by simply taking consistent action. Action tends to self-correct.

Have a Personal Mission Statement Write out your personal mission statement and spend 5 minutes reading it every morning, no matter what. Live your mission statement every day.

Be Prepared for Resistance Your brain creates resistance to change and growth. Be prepared to encounter serious resistance when you undertake any creative project that taps into your highest self. Be ready to wrestle and negotiate.

Understand How Happiness Works Most of us don't understand what will truly make us happy. Happiness is living with integrity. It's living your top strengths and values every day, consistently. Happiness is not about acquiring tangible or even spiritual "things".

Articulate How You Want to Feel Identify which feelings are most important to you and make them your ultimate goals. If you're going to chase anything, chase feelings, not material or spiritual things.

Articulate Your Top 10 Values Identify and articulate what's most important and meaningful to you in life. Keep refining and prioritizing your values over time. Align your actions with your values.

Be Patient Be patient with large, ambitious life goals. Lack of patience is often the only thing that stands between your success and failure. Patience creates a sense of groundedness and peace.

Use Vision to Generate Motivation Motivation can be consciously created and sustained by using your imagination to come up with a compelling vision of the future. The best kind of motivation is positive and internally grounded.

Know Your Potential as a Human Being Your actualized self is your ideal self, the greatest possible you. Get inspired by just how much personal growth is possible for you. Commit to self-actualization as a life-long pursuit.

Master Your Inner World We live simultaneously in two worlds: the inner world of thoughts and feelings, and the outer world of physical things. Take control of your inner world to create the outer world you want.

Commit to Living a Charged Life You will live one of three types of life: a caged life, a comfortable life, or a charged life. You only have one life. Commit to living a charged life. Commit to being all that you can be despite the challenges.

Practice Deliberately Design concentrated practice sessions that train you faster. Apply deliberate practice to important areas of life that you've committed to mastering.

See Failure as Good Acknowledge that failure is an essential part of the learning process. Train yourself to think about failure in an empowering way. The most successful people are the ones that failed the most. Adopt an explorer mindset.

Raise Your Level of Consciousness You are a puppet pulled by strings. You are far less conscious than you think. Start to notice just how many of your actions are actually unconscious, automatic reactions; take back control.

Be a Positive Thinker Develop the habit of thinking constructively. Stop thinking about the things that distress you. Think about the things you want to create in your life and teach yourself to let go of the rest.

Tame Your Gremlin You are constantly limiting yourself with automatic negative thoughts. Develop a habit of spotting your inner negative self-critic, and learn strategies for managing this negative self-talk.

Develop Emotional Awareness and Range Emotions have various levels of meaning that must be understood. Learn to identify and manage your emotions so they don't control you. Expand the range of emotions you feel.

Be Principle-Centered Live your life according to deliberately-chosen principles. Ground your happiness and success in your ideal values, not external circumstances. Do not ground yourself in family, work, church, material possessions, or pursuit of pleasure.

Be a Creator See yourself as someone who creates. In whatever you do, be a creator and artist. Take your work personally. Seek to contribute something new to the world.

Be Proactive Take control your circumstances and show initiative. Make decisions that increase your agency over your external environment. Do not be passive. Do not be a victim.

Be Honest Be honest with yourself and others even when it's costly. Honesty is powerful, attractive, and creates an unshakeable foundation for success in your business and personal life.

Live Your Top 5 Strengths Identify and align your life with your top 5 strengths, especially the top two. Live your top strengths ever day at work and at home.

Live Your Zone of Genius Identify your zones of genius, excellence, competence, and incompetence. Commit to living in your zone of genius even though you are comfortable in your zone of excellence.

Eliminate Addictions Toxic, addictive behaviors keep you from living a charged life. Eliminate negative addictions like: TV, food, alcohol, shopping, internet, porn, drugs, gossip, worry, and negative thinking.

Take Full Responsibility for Your Life Take full responsibility for everything in your life, even those things that are seemingly outside your control. Own every aspect of your life and believe that you have the power to change it all.

Create More Flow Experiences Design your life so that you're "in the zone" more often. Do not multitask. Focus on one task at a time and develop technical mastery so you can easily become absorbed in the moment.

Set Reasonable Expectations Set reasonable expectations for yourself by studying the process and results of others. Know what you're getting into and how much time and effort it will take. When you feel down, check back with your expectations.

Commit to Being World Class Strive to be world class in your career or business. If you're not going to be world class, why even bother? You're leaving the peak experiences off the table! Dedicate yourself to excellence.

Commit to Investing 10,000 Hours Realize that it takes 10,000 hours to become world class at anything. Prepare yourself for the long-haul. Commit to and focus on mastering 1 or 2 things. Then, practice, practice, practice!

Eat Healthy Food Take control of your nutrition. Stop feeding yourself low-grade, processed garbage. Eat whole foods that makes you feel clean, keep your body healthy, and optimize your brain function.

Exercise 5 Days Per Week Take control of your body. Exercise daily to keep your body and mind strong, keep your energy up, and stay attractive for the opposite sex. Join the gym and do a combination for cardio and strength-training.

Always Take Right Action Do what is necessary even when you don't happen to feel like it. Be religious about this. Imagine how great your life would be if you followed through on everything you know you need to do every day.

Commit to Constant Improvement Baby-step your success. Build your life up with steady, incremental improvements. Stop trying to sustain knee-jerk, dramatic changes.

Get Quality Sleep Take sleep seriously. Get 7-8 hours of sleep every day no matter what. Your body and mind need high-quality sleep to function at their peak. Design your life to give you sufficient sleep.

Read Every Week Read high-quality, non-fiction books every week, and take notes and implement ideas. The life-changing potential contained in a good $12 paperback is mind-blowing! The answer to any problem can be found in some book.

Eliminate Extrinsic Motivation Don't do things for the sake of others. If it's truly important, make it a part of you. Either ground it intrinsic or shed it entirely. Extrinsic motivation is not strong enough to make you truly happy or competitive.

Monitor Your Information Intake Cut out all sources of low-grade, mindless, negative information. Feed your brain with information that raises, rather than reduces, your level of consciousness.

Practice Mind Power Create a daily habit of training your mind and programming your subconscious with techniques like visualization, seeding, affirmations, contemplation, and acknowledging. Your mind needs daily training.

Have 5-7 High-Quality Friendships Build 5-7 high-quality friendships that you intend to sustain for the rest of your life. Invest time in enjoying and maintaining your growth friends. Shallow friendships don't count.

Focus on the Top 20% Identify the 20% of your effort that's responsible for 80% of your results. Amplify that 20% by giving it more time and energy. Ruthlessly cut out the rest. Learn to say "No!" to the other 80%.

Set Effective Goals Develop a habit of setting, writing down, and constantly refining your goals. Have short-term, medium-term, and very long-term goals. Set goals that are specific, compelling, and aligned with your highest values.

Build Positive Habits Invest your willpower strategically in building positive habits. Lock down your results. Routines are powerful because they free you up to focus conscious attention on your biggest goals and challenges.

Build Momentum Realize that you will have to slowly ramp up your effort to hit peak performance and that this ramp-up process can be difficult, requiring patience.

Dismantle Your Buttons Identify which situations and behaviors trigger negative emotional reactions in you and eliminate them. With introspection, visualization, and journaling, dismantle your buttons so other people cannot control you.

Invest In Yourself View yourself as your greatest asset. Actively invest in skill development, learning, and personal improvements that will make you more effective and valuable to others. Prioritize investment in yourself over investment in external things.

Turn State Experiences into Stage Experiences Don't beat yourself up for not being able to lock down state experiences, but do strategize and work toward turning your favorite states into permanents stages of being.

Raise the Bar for What it Means to Learn Raise your standard for what it means to "learn" something. True learning only occurs when your behavior has changed. Merely intellectual knowledge is not enough.

Provide Value to Others Seek to provide massive value to others in everything that you do, from business to relationships. Take satisfaction in making people feel like they got the better part of the bargain. Don't be a value leech.

Learn and Use Sedona Method Learn to release negative emotions like worry, anger, and fear, so you can act from a position of good feeling. Develop emotional awareness and imperturbability.

Invest in Shadow Work Spend time introspecting and journaling about your past to release repressed emotions and get closure for past traumatic events. Integrate marginalized aspects of your psyche so you aren't held back by the past.

Eliminate Limiting Beliefs Identify your greatest limiting beliefs and eliminate them one by one with techniques like visualization, seeding, affirmations, contemplation, shadow work, and journaling.

Meditate Daily Develop a habit of meditating consistently, every day, for at least 20 minutes. Meditation calms the monkey chatter in your head, puts you in flow, raises your consciousness, and unhooks you from stimulation.

Only Focus on the Things You Want Build a habit of only thinking about the things you want. Stop worrying. Stop thinking about what you don't want. Stop planning for worst-case scenarios. Think constructively.

Create Relationship Abundance Design your life to have relationship abundance. You should be able to find another mate quickly if you wanted to, otherwise your intimate relationships will be unhealthy because you will feel and demonstrate scarcity.

Journal Consistently Develop a habit of journaling consistently. Have an easily accessible journal and use it to vent feelings and organize your thoughts. Journaling creates deep self-awareness.

Leverage Your Subconscious Your subconscious mind plays a big role in your performance and happiness in all areas of life. Program your subconscious to align it with your conscious intentions.

Keep a Commonplace Book Great Enlightenment-era thinkers like Voltaire and Da Vinci kept scrapbooks for collecting their greatest ideas. Have a commonplace book to organize all the information you're processing as a life-long learner.

Use Your Willpower Strategically Willpower is your most precious resource and wanes from morning to night. Invest your willpower wisely each day. Use your willpower to create positive habits.

Change Your Identity, Not Your Behavior Focus on changing your beliefs, values, and ways of thinking rather than brute-forcing behavior. This is much more sustainable. Right behavior flows naturally from proper inner game.

Force Your Mood Don't be a victim of your mood. Mood can and should be dictated. Choose 3 adjectives to define the mood you want to feel every day and commit to feeling this way regardless of circumstances.

Embrace Paradox Learn to tolerate paradox, contradiction, and simply not knowing. Be flexible, open-minded, and intellectually humble.

Be Your Own Cheerleader Acknowledge and champion yourself even for the tiniest, most insignificant achievements. Reduce your reliance on external validation. Validate yourself. Your own validation should be the most rewarding.

Don't Be Attached to Your "Who" Stop labeling yourself as being this or that type of person. You are not a fixed and static "who". Your identity is plastic. Don't be stubborn about who you are and how you're supposed to be.

Think Properly About Money Learn to think about money properly. There is a set of beliefs about making and managing money that you need to put in place or you will always be poor.

Prioritize Quadrant 2 Activities Make important, non-urgent activities the core for you schedule. Minimize time spent on putting out urgent fires or dilly-dallying with unimportant activities.

Contemplate Death Contemplate the shortness of your life and the finality of death. Have a sense of urgency and scarcity about life. Use this to focus your attention on the things that really matter.

Surround Yourself With Great People Surround yourself strategically with people who are successful, positive, intelligent, and support what you're doing. Cut toxic, unsupportive people out of your life.

Contemplate the Meaning of Life Recognize that life is entirely neutral to your purposes. Meaning doesn't exist in the external world. Meaning is whatever you make it out to be. Choose to live a meaningful life.

Work in Block Time Work in focused, uninterrupted 1-2 hour blocks of time. Work less hours but with more focus. High productivity comes from focused effort, not pure time.

Balance Your Intake of Theory to Practice Strike a balance between the amount of theory you're learning and its implementation. Each concept requires hours of practice to internalize. You are probably not practicing enough.

Understand What Enlightenment Is Know what enlightenment is, and that it's an option for you to go down this road at any time. Your identity is largely illusory. Your true nature is not your thoughts or your feelings or your beliefs, but your awareness of it all.

Be Outcome-Independent Stop obsessing over the result you're trying to get. You don't have control over the result. Instead, focus on the process. Be happy to do the work even if you fail to get the result.

Write Manifestos for Major Projects For every major project you undertake, write a one page document outlining its purpose, costs, most likely causes of failure, and points of consolation. Read the manifesto when you feel like quitting.

Learn the Principles of Marketing You have to understand basic marketing principles to be successful in business, career, and even relationships. Learn the psychology of selling and persuasion. Marketing is more universal than it seems.

Do the Exercises When Reading Self-Help It's too easy to read-help and not get the promised results. Realize that 95% of the results from reading a self-help book come from doing the exercises. You must absolutely do the exercises.

Build Your Career Strategically Make your job into a passionate, life-long career. A desirable career is built by committing to being really good at what you do and testing the waters to find your ideal niche. Build career capital.

Be More Authentic Strive to be more of your authentic self at work, at home, in relationships, and in social situations. Accept who you are and give yourself the freedom to express your uniqueness. Trust that people will accept the real you.

Stop Judging Things and People Judging things and people is toxic. It will poison your mental wellbeing and distract you from what you want to create. Let things and people be as they are. Stop trying to fit them into your mold.

Lean Into Emotional Labor Don't shy away from situations that feel emotionally difficult. In fact, seize this opportunity to separate yourself from your competition. All valuable work nowadays involves emotional labor.

Challenge Yourself Design challenges to keep yourself sharp. Too much comfort, counter-intuitively, leads to dissatisfaction and poor performance.

Commit to Life-Long Learning Read, listen to CDs, attend seminars, talk to smart people, study, subscribe to magazines, follow bloggers, etc. The more knowledgeable you are, the more options and opportunities you'll have.

Understand How the Opposite Sex Thinks The male and female brain work in very different ways, leading to asymmetrical interactions. Learn and respect the differences or suffer the consequences.

Avoid Short-Term Gratification Good things come when you resist short-term for long-term rewards. Train yourself to resist short-term gratification, which usually comes at a high cost to your health and happiness.

Free Yourself of Limiting Social Conditioning Identify areas in which social conditioning has limited you and consciously challenge it. Free yourself from the shackles of government, society, media, friends, employers, and family.

Have an Accurate Knowledge Framework Develop a respect for truth and appreciate its importance in manipulating the world around you. Learn how to reason and beware of valid versus invalid sources for truth.

Accept That We Are All Biologically Selfish We are all biologically wired for selfishness. Accept this and don't try to fight it. Instead, take care of your needs so you can move beyond yourself and get to the point of being able to help others.

Understand the Hero's Journey Your life is the hero's journey: you will be forced to start a journey, you will encounter threshold guardians, you will face your greatest fears, you will falter, and you will share your knowledge with others.

Eliminate All Forms of Victim-Thinking You are either operating from a place of victim energy or creator energy. Get control over areas of your life where you feel like a victim. You do not have to keep being a victim.

Balance Your Life Live a well-rounded life, with attention put into career, intimate relationship, health, friends, hobbies, and personal improvement. Do not make the mistake of over-focusing on any one part of your life, like work.

Stop Being a Perfectionist Stop trying to make your work perfect. Accept that the path to mastery is full of screw-ups, big and small. Embrace kaizen. Your work will become good naturally, over a long period of practice.

Develop a Habit of Reframing Get good at reframing negative situations into positive ones. Use the power of your focus to pick out the good within the bad.

Align Your Life With Your Values The over-arching strategy of your life should be alignment. Identify what's most important to you and commit to changing your life to match that ideal. When you see a misalignment, resolve it.

Get Regular Bloodwork; Take Essential Supplements Get blood work done every year even if you're feeling fine and take essential supplements like vitamin D, omega-3, vitamin A, vitamin C, iodine, magnesium, etc.

View post:
Personal Development Blueprint - Actualized.org

The McCormick Office of Personal Development supports the McCormick School of Engineering's focus on its students and provides resources and opportunities for their personal growth.

By creating an environment that encourages students to explore available opportunities and engage in new experiences, MOPD helps transform McCormick students into whole-brain engineers.

McCormick Office of Personal Development stives to cultivate a student body of engineers who are:

Whole-brain engineering refers to the balance of both right-brain and left-brain ways of thinking as engineers aim to understand, frame, and solve problems.

Left-brain implies skills that are logical, analytical, rational, and quantitative, in contrast to right-brain skills, which are creative, integrative, artistic, and emotional. Whole-brain engineers possess the ability to combine both ways of thinking to the complex problems they solve.

Explore how McCormick promotes whole-brain engineering

MOPD helps students develop the skills to be lifelong adaptive learners by fostering the five core competencies:

As you work to develop these core competencies during your time at McCormick, we encourage you to:

Northwestern offers a wide range of experiences to students. We want you to be intentional about the extracurricular activities you choose.

As you consider all your academic options, we offer meetings and seminars where you can discuss your work and development with fellow students and advisers.

Through critical examination of and reflection on your experiences, we hope you'll leave McCormick with clear ideas of who you are and how you can reach your goals.

Read more here:
Overview | Office of Personal Development | Northwestern's ...

Follow

As the world moves forward in technology, communications and global relations, individuals must find a way to keep up with the changing pace. Personal development planning is a way to bring out a person's distinct characteristics and strengths. In doing so, individuals develop the skills needed to excel within their areas of expertise.

People who are capable of earning a living in today's world may not necessarily be using their abilities to their fullest. To use an ability, a person must first know that it's there. Personal development planning provides a framework in which individuals can identify untapped abilities and construct a plan that will capitalize on their specific skill sets and strengths. Development is an ongoing process that integrates personality and character with the demands that everyday experiences bring on a daily basis. Personal development may often require the learning of new habits so new patterns of productivity can emerge.

Personal development planning is designed to affect all areas of a person's life. The overall process emphasizes the importance of personal values. The choice of career path and personal goals are all based on core values held by the individual. From there, the habits and behaviors required to make these values a real part of life can be factored into the plan. As a result, the effects of a clear sense of purpose and direction causes distractions and unnecessary conflicts to lose importance.

The focus of a personal development plan will provide a theme from which a person can develop individual goals, as well as the behaviors and habits that will make these goals possible. The focus ties in with a person's core value beliefs regarding life, and the role she wishes to fulfill. In effect, each individual goal, habit and behavior change will work toward a certain life direction. Part of identifying the focus involves knowing what the end point of a particular plan will be. Financial independence, a career and a simplified lifestyle are all examples of possible end points.

Areas of development within a personal plan fall into two categories--building on existing strengths and abilities, or developing new skill sets. Identifying which areas to work with requires a person to know what his current strengths are and which abilities need further development. Self-reflection and feedback from others are ways to hone in on strengths and abilities. Feedback from others provides input on qualities that may be difficult for a person to see in himself. This type of feedback should be workable and rational, meaning a noncritical and specific directive will be apparent.

The process of behavior change can be challenging even under the best circumstances. Behavior change requires a person to incorporate new habits and attitudes that may run contrary to her current lifestyle. Personal development planning is designed to connect this process of change with a person's core values and motivations. By doing so, the reason for change takes on a real and personal meaning. The objectives laid out in the plan should provide clear guidelines on how a particular habit will be incorporated into a person's daily routine.

With all of the challenges and obstacles you encounter, it's natural to feel overwhelmed occasionally. Whatever may be happening or not happening...

Effectively developing employees is crucial to the growth of an organization. Supervisors who are adept at identifying the value an employee can...

The personal development plan may become part of a company's annual review process. Individual Development Planning.

To others, it is what the bank ... Weaknesses of a Personal Development Plan. ... Identifying Strengths & Weaknesses.

Human development is a lifelong process. People are capable of growing, learning and improving throughout their entire lives, and the ability to...

A personal development plan is a way to help a person achieve their goals and improve themselves. For people unsure of where...

Writing a personal development plan can be both overwhelming and therapeutic. By writing about your goals, your skills and the things in...

A personal development plan can help you stay on track while working to achieve goals. It... How to Develop A Performance Improvement...

Personal Development Plan for Human Resources. A personal development plan is essential for human resource associates. ... Create the plan as a...

Employee Development Plans; Importance of an Employee Development Plan; X. ... A personal career development plan provides a roadmap to your professional...

... engineer or other technician explaining his past ... Outline what your specific role was and include the major findings of ......

Typical Employee Strengths & Areas for Development. ... taking on a leadership role involving only a few other workers ... An employee...

Writing a personal development analysis essay requires reflection, soul-searching and a bit of navel-gazing. ... Tips on Writing a Personal Development Plan.

Go here to see the original:
What Is Personal Development Planning? | eHow

The programs for personal growth at Sunrise Ranch offer a great opportunityfor people who are working withself exploration and developmentto enrich their lives.You may be in the midst of a new spiritual awakening or feel stuck in a certain area of your life. Perhaps you are pursuing aspecial area oflearning or want to take a workshop to understand more about your relationships with other people. Whatever is next for you, there are amazing programs at Sunrise Ranch and insightful workshop facilitators to assist you on your journey.

We believe that there are times in life when a special environment, outside a persons everyday life, is important for anindividualsgrowth to flourish. Somecomponents that make up that special environmentincludeapeaceful atmosphere, the serenity of nature, the feeling that it issafe to express yourself and that the people around you care for your wellbeing. Most importantly there is joy in sharing the wisdom of others who arewalking a similar path.

Sunrise Ranch was created to bring these components together. Situatedin a magnificent natural setting in the foothills of the Front Range of northern Colorado, it lies at the edge of the Great Plains to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west. This peaceful place has been stewarded with natural and organic farming methods since 1945.

The core staff at Sunrise Ranch care deeply about theguests who attend the programs thatare offered and this shows in lovingly prepared and served food, comfortable lodging, and helpful assistance with any problems that arise.

Gifted workshop leaders from all over the world come toSunrise Ranch tooffer their visionary understanding and depth of experience. These teachers includeJoan Borysenko, a pioneer of integrative medicine; Jim Warner, who leads individuals and couples through core-level life transformations; Andrea Isaacs, who createdEnneamotion, a program that teaches emotional intelligence; andJun Po Roshi, leader of Mondo Zen, a modern adaptation of a traditional Japanese Zen practice. There are alsoprograms and internshipscreated by the outstanding teachersof Sunrise Ranch which provide wonderfulopportunities for self exploration.

Sunrise Ranch and the Emissaries have been a profound part of my spiritual growth for many years. This is one of the special places I like to come when I need to rest, relax, and revitalize my soul

James Twyman, world renowned author and peace troubadour

Neale Donald Walsh completed the writing of his third Conversations with God book at Sunrise Ranch and recommended us as a resource for those on a spiritual path.

Read more:
Personal Growth | Sunrise Ranch

Heirloom Tomato Salad Heirloom Tomato Salad

This is a simple yet elegant dish that always pleases my guests. Not only is it tasty, but it is healthy, too. The more varied the colors of the tomatoes you choose, the prettier the salad will be. Jess Apfe of Berkeley, California

What is it about sweet potatoes that unnerve some people? For those who firmly state they hate a yam because of the color or texture, the rich addition of coconut, bourbon and spices might just win them over. Rebecca Anderson, Driftwood, Texas

The changes in this made over recipe cut the calories by a quarter and the fat, saturated fat and cholesterol by half. But the make over scones still have a tender texture, an appealing orange flavor and tart bursts of cranberry goodness.Taste of Home Test Kitchen

Fat-free half-and-half cream lends a rich flair to Barbara Richard's healthy recipe. "The thick and tasty soup is especially satisfying on cold winter days," she writes from Houston, Ohio.

These onions were served at a restaurant I visited in Florida, and the chefs assistant shared the recipe with me. They make a unique side to many entrees.Dixie Terry, Goreville, Illinois

Lightly coated in reduced-fat tarragon mayonnaise, this refreshing three-bean salad perks up summer meals. Every bite bursts with flavor. Suzanne Banfield, Basking Ridge, New Jersey

The way I came upon this mix is very fittinga friend gave me a container of it as a gift one Christmas. The next year, I gave it to many friends, all dressed up in decorated mason jars. Every single one asked for the recipe! I learned to cook through trial and error. I've been doing it for 30 years...it's my favorite pastime. My husband and I live on a 50-acre farm, where we breed and race horses. We also raise chickens and lambs. Our six children are grown, and now we're t

Read more:
Vegetarian Recipes | Taste of Home