READING is KEY

Last week I wished you a week of reflection around your own work history and experiences. As always, I enjoy hearing your thoughts.

One of my very favorite books is Twelve Pillars by Jim Rohn and Chris Widener. In the preface, Jim Rohn writes, “The lessons of life and leadership are timeless truths rather than vogue content. I believe there are core principles of success, universal and timeless truths that men and women of every generation can apply to their lives that will help them succeed in every area of their lives.”

I’m constantly talking about our need to continually learn and grow in order to live life to the fullest. As with the past few blogs there’s the need to know WHY we do what we do, and there’s the need to continually WORK to make our dreams and goals come to fruition. 12 Pillars is one more reminder that reading can be life-changing.

Self-development books can give a vision of who you can be, what you can become, a life you can design and dreams you can accomplish. We don’t know what we don’t know, yet reading is a window which can open your world to accomplish anything you set your mind to.

We’ve all heard the quote, “The only way things are going to change is if YOU change.” That’s scary for most people. We are very comfortable in our “box.” It’s scary to live outside that “box” yet that is where true growth and development happens. The easy way out is to blame or complain or defend our actions or lack of actions on someone else, our environment or our boss/coach/teacher/spouse. (“Below the Line” behavior according to Urban Meyer.) The “above the line” action is to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions.

“You can’t change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. You are where you are in your life, but you don’t have to stay there.” We each need to be able to say we’re the one designing our life plan. Otherwise we end up falling into someone else’s plan. (Last week’s blog referred to the negative effects welfare has on our young people and their lack of being in control of their own life plan.)

We know we need to surround ourselves with the best people. These are winners, successful people who exhibit the values and skills we want to acquire and develop, and those people who inspire us to be our very best. We should be looking for relationships with other successful people who will push us, challenge us, and encourage us to be our best. As Jim Rohn says, “Attitude is greatly shaped by influence and association.”

One thing in common with successful people are those who are working hard on being the best they can be. These are people who are lifelong learners. “Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune. Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality.”

My question to you is, “How much are you reading? What new books have you added to your reading list this past year? How much are you listening to audios that bring you new information to make you stronger in a particular area of your life?” Have you taken classes or attended seminars?

My January blog suggested setting up monthly goals for 2017 to be different than 2016. We are now almost finished with 10 months of 2017, and we’re heading into the holidays. How would you “rate” yourself in the area of learning and growing this year? What’s different? Anything?

It’s easy to say we don’t have time to read or “I’m not a reader.” Once again that’s what 95% of people say as their excuse why they can’t change. My challenge to you is to find a way to read one book in the next four weeks. That might mean listening to a book on tape as you travel to and from work. That might mean setting a goal of how many pages you will read each day. Take the total number of pages in the book and divide it by 30 days to know what that number will be. Choose a book in the area you feel you need the most help with in your personal development journey.

If you’re really serious about Being the Best YOU that YOU can be, reading will become a habit and a part of your growth.

If you take the challenge to read a book in the next four weeks, make it even stronger that you will be successful by sharing your goal with someone. When we voice our goal to someone else who will hold us accountable, we are far more likely to accomplish that goal.

I wish you a week of getting started on your book and taking your personal development to another level.