4 Keys to personal growth

So I said I would write something on personal growth a little while ago and am just now finishing it up.

First off your personal income will hardly ever surpass your personal growth. So to become wealthy you must also become a more developed person inside.

There are four keys to personal growth. Stepping stones to success if you will.

The first key is increasing your awareness. What was confusing is now clear. We have them on some days, the moments of crystal clear thought where something we had been thinking about for awhile becomes almost glaringly obvious. The first step in changing your reality to match your goals and dreams is to know your reality. First off you need to acknowledge that no one owes you anything, there are no freebies in life. Nothing ever worth having comes for free. Secondly there is no one else to blame for how your life is today. An easy motto for this is “admit it you did it” The greatest thing about this is no matter where you are you got yourself there, you can get yourself out. The easiest way to become aware is to ask questions all the time. Don't sit on the sidelines of a conversation and nod your head ask what things mean if you don't understand. And lastly get advice. Problems are usually 80% your cause and 20% a test of your conviction.

The second key is increasing your tolerance. Problems that were big are now small. You have build a tolerance to distractions. Be aware of yourself, know yourself, and protect yourself from yourself. If you know you have a weakness for something in particular be it chocolate or video games, remove these distractions to protect yourself from yourself. It doesn't have to be a permanent removal but just enough so you can do what you need to do. You have to build a tolerance to emotional pain. Things in life aren't always rainbows and and singing flowers. Bad things are going to happen you need to compartmentalize your problems so that your emotional problems do not effect your other problems. The prioritize and solve your problems individually and in the proper order. Don't procrastinate, this is probably the most important part of this key. Don't wait till tomorrow to do what you should be doing today. I myself am guilty of this on a huge scale, but I am working to knock it out of my life. Think of a number from one to ten that represents your frazzle factor. How much stress you can be under before you become cranky or snappish. Mine is a 6 most people are a 4-5. You need to make that number greater. Know the point at which you lose patience and stop being kind. And then grow so that that point is no longer your threshold.

The third key is to develop your abilities. What was hard is now easy. The shorter the time frame that things become easy the faster your rate of growth. There are many abilities and many ways to make yourself better at them but it always requires time. Therefore one of the first abilities you should work on is time management. Most normal people divide up their time into 3 categories. Work, sleep, leisure, this is fine if you want to be normal. Persons like Einstein divide their time up and have a plan for each time of the day. Even if that plan is to sleep or take a nap a plan makes the time so much more manageable and when you think about it and work it out on paper. Not having enough time to do something is a ridiculous excuse.

The third key is to increase your standards. What was once acceptable is no more. There are a few tips to allow you to accomplish this by staying positive.

-Never go to bed mad, always resolve your issues that day.

-Never leave the house mad, You wouldn't want your last words to someone you love to be harsh. Or to the person you just met on the street.

-Never name call, it is the biggest sign of disrespect.

-Never end things on a bad note, stay positive.

-Forgive quickly, the longer you hold a grudge in your heart the more it brings you down.

-Never lie, this is harder to do than it is to write.

-Never say I don't have time, there are more hours in your life than you know what to do with.

-Never talk about what you don't want, talk about what you do want.

Every challenge is an opportunity in disguise. Often times our greatest times of growth are during particularly hard times in our lives because we are forced to grow. The most successful way to become successful and positive is to surround yourself with these people. It has been shown that people take on the attitudes and behaviors of those that they associate with. Hang out with negative people or people of immoral character and you will act this way. Surround yourself with positive honest people and you will begin to act that way as well. In effect you choose your attitude and character by who you are around. “Admit it you did it”

Growth is inevitable you cant stop it. It is wired into our DNA. God made things to grow. You can burn a place down and grass grows almost instantly. You can always find a tree grabbing a foot hold on the side of a cliff daring the wind and rain to rip it out. You find buildings overrun with weeds and trees after a few years. Nature grows always and so do we.

Sorry it was so long. Took a few days of putting my thoughts down. I usually don't draft something first I just write what I am feeling at the time, so this was a different experience for me.