Efficiency is the name of the game whether at home or at work; no matter how hard you work your output has to match a given criteria. A criteria given to you? Yes, unfortunately the acceptability of the level of your output and the quality of it are externally assessed by a cohort of people affectionately known as (aka) your family, friends, colleagues and bosses.
To make matters worse you are quite ready to accept this situation all in the name of an easy life. So you accept your situation, to work harder and harder each day to satisfy the requirements of someone else. How does that sound to you? How do you feel about these people? Your masters! Is it something you want to continue with?
I’m not for one minute suggesting you take up the case and cause a rift within your family unit or circle of friends; however it’s worth thinking about beginning to live your life on your terms rather than a life that serves someone else. Just think about what you could achieve using the multitude of skills you posses in your toolbox; all waiting to be unleashed and generate you a life of success and achievements. Success and achievements that are of value to you! So where do you start?
An earlier post asks the question, “How much effort are you putting in“. You might want to read this before you carry on.
If you’re ready to change your situation and make changes to your life that will benefit you, please read on. Ensuring all your hard work is paying off and helping you to achieve great things and continue your personal growth is your responsibility. Your personal development training is crucial to ensuring you continue to learn and develop into your life and achieve success. This will help to release you from the burden of working hard to satisfy other people. The following eight steps are a great starting point towards making the necessary changes:
1. Persistence
Approaching your work with in half hearted manner will be of no benefit at all; the only purpose it serves is to provide your ‘assessors’ with the opportunity to take over your control panel and begin running your life. Be more persistent, don’t settle for anything less than you deserve until you’ve achieved your outcome. Don’t settle for second best! If necessary enlist the help of a life coach who will help you with your goal setting.
2. Dedication
Have confidence in your cause and believe in yourself and the skills you possess; if you require additional skills go out and get them. Be supportive to your cause and show some dedication. Refrain from allowing others to talk you out of working towards what you want; they’re your goals and they’ll be your achievements.
3. Use all your skills
Review the skills you have and be honest with yourself you have an abundance of them. Identify any additional skills you require and go out and get them, with bags of enthusiasm. Above all else make sure you use the full extent of the skills you have; be proud of what you have, tell everybody you know and meet what you can do. A word of warning, do learn to be diplomatic when telling others about your skills you don’t want to have an adverse effect and drive people away from you!
4. Be a good learner
Always be willing to learn new things; don’t rest on your laurels, it’s not very healthy for your progress. Don’t forget the following quote is worth committing to memory for your future reference.
“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” E. Hoffer
So many people complete a course of study and make a rather silly statement that they are finished with learning or they just don’t both look for other opportunities to continue their learning. Not recommended. Make a commitment to be a lifelong learner; place your self development at the top of your agenda.
5. Be a good listener
There are three levels of listening:
Level 1 listening is internal. You listen to the words but you spend the time trying to see how you can benefit from what is being said. We hear the words of the other person, but the focus is on what it means to us.
Level 2 is a more focused listening style, where the attention is more focused on the other person.
Level 3 is a higher level listening where you are hearing more than just the words; you also notice the emotion of the language, the all important body language and the environment.
Levels 1 and 2 are used in our everyday communications, whereas level 3 includes using all five of your senses to listen to the information and detect the mood, pace and energy.
Adopt level 3 listening skills and enhance your understanding and contribution to your communications. Listening to what other people have to say doesn’t mean you have to agree with them; however, showing them respect will go a long way to earning respect from them.
6. Don’t be afraid to monetise your skills
If your back ground is deeply rooted in doing things for others out of the love of it, you may struggle to consider charging people for your services. However, it’s time to reconsider your attitude; begin to show yourself more respect and benefit from delivering your service. If you love to help people you’ll be a much stronger position to help them if you’re in stronger financially position.
If you have skills that people want don’t be afraid to charge them. Don’t forget you’ve work hard to develop your skills and probably paid your hard earned cash for them!
7. Build yourself a mastermind team
This is a must for all people wanting to be successful. If you track all the successful people you know you’ll discover they all have a mastermind team that supports them. A mastermind team comprises successful people who continue to be success because they have a strategy to follow which includes a mastermind team. Your mastermind team will contain both people you know personally and others you don’t know. The people you select will all be able to offer you support in a particular area when you need it. They will all have an expertise in the selected area. These people don’t necessarily need to be aware they are in your team, however for obvious reasons you will need to know about them, what they have achieved and how they achieved it.
For the people you know personally this is fairly easy you can speak to them and let them you you’d like them to be in your mastermind team. In the majority of cases they’ll be delighted to accept.
For the people you don’t know it’s a case of researching them and find out from the Masses of information that’s available on them, their successes and how they achieved them. Keep a dossier on them which you can refer to from time to time.
8. Respect yourself
This is the last but by no means the least important. Respect for yourself is a key element towards your success and achieving the goals you are working towards. This includes learning to say no; at the times when you want to, not the times when it suits others. Also if you are monetising your skills; it means charging a rate to reflect the value of your skills. It means being available when you want to be available, not to the demands of other people.
Follow these eight great steps and make all your hard work and efforts pay for you. It’s a must for your personal development. If you are working with a life coach talk to them about including it within your goal setting.
Thank you for reading this post, please let me know what you think and share your experiences. While you’re here please take the time to sign up for the newsletter or alternatively you may prefer to subscribe for regular updates in your favourite reader or by email.
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