Best Personal Development Tool Is Gratitude

If you are serious about improving yourself, what you need to know is that there are few different ways you can accomplish that. Of course, what you need to know is that it is imperative that you start somewhere. A lot of the time, people get overwhelmed by all the personal development tools that are out there. That leads to no improvement whatsoever.

A great tool for you, if you are serious about improving your personal development, is to think of the Concept of Gratitude. Gratitude is something that can be exceedingly helpful to you in your quest to better yourself, and here are four (4) ways you can put gratitude to work for you.

Step 1: Be Grateful Every Morning 

Think about what you are grateful for every morning. For most people, waking up is a chore. They wish they could sleep more often, and they do not cherish the idea of waking up and going to work. That is why you should make a real effort to get up in the morning giving thanks instead of complaining. Then, you start your day on a high note and you start helping good things to happen.

Now, it does not matter who you give thanks to. If you are religious, you may wish to thank God, but if you are not, it is as acceptable to just feel the gratitude in your heart.

Step 2: Journal Things You are Grateful For

Another way gratitude can help you is if you keep a journal about things you are thankful for. Keep the journal with you at all times so you can jot down notes if you need to. That way, whenever you are feeling down, or as if you do not have anything, you can open your gratitude journal and see all the things you like about your life. It doesn't have to be huge things you are thankful for, either. Even if you are thankful for jellybeans, that counts!

Step 3: Be Grateful for Your Family and Friends

Express your gratitude for those around you who make your life a better place. We all spend a lot of time complaining about the people who make us miserable, why not take that time and talk about people who make us happy!

Step 4: Seek for Ways to Show Gratitude

Look for ways to show your gratitude to people. You may not have much money, but you can write them a kind note. You can do them a favour, or babysit, or cook them a meal. Showing your gratefulness helps other people do the same to you. Everyone has a tough time in life, so it is a good thing when you can alleviate someone else's suffering.

Again, before you go to bed at night, think of times during the day where you were not grateful, but could have been. This teaches you how to act in the future.

Finally, as you can see now, gratitude can be a really important part of your life. Even if you start with just a little gratitude, it can grow into something that is beautiful in your life. If you want to see your life blossom, become someone who is more grateful.

How to develop the Discipline of Clear Thinking

Developing the discipline of clear thinking helps us to focus on our career and personal goals without wavering or changing our minds. This article will help us to develop the habit of thinking clearly when making career decisions.

Thomas Edison once said, “Thinking is the hardest discipline of all.”  

It has been said that there are three types of people. There are those who think (The small minority); there are those that think they think, then there are those who would rather die than think.

a)   Take time to think though the critical issues and problems in your life. Put aside long, unbroken chunks of time, thirty, sixty and then ninety minutes. 

   Peter Drucker said that, “Fast people decisions are usually wrong people decisions.” In addition, fast decisions with regard to your family, career, money or any other major issue are usually wrong decisions.  

b)  Sit quietly for 30-60 minutes to think. Practice solitude on a regular basis. “Go into the silence.” 

c) Whenever you practice solitude for more than thirty minutes, you activate your super conscious mind and trigger your intuition. You get it right from the “still, small, silent voice within.”  

d)  To think better, take a pad of paper and write down every detail of the problem situation you are facing. Sometimes, the right thing to do emerges as you write down the details.  

e)   Aristotle once said that wisdom (The ability to make good decisions) is a combination of experience plus reflection. The more time that you take to think about your experiences, the more vital lessons you will gain from them.  

f)  Go for a walk or exercise for 30-60 minutes. Very often when you are exercising, you will get insights or ideas that help you to think better and make better decisions. 

g)   Talk your situation over with someone else who you like and trust, and who is not emotionally involved; Very often, a different perspective can totally change your viewpoint.  

h)  Always ask, “What are my assumptions?” What is it that you are assuming to be true about the situation? 

i)  What if your assumptions were wrong? What if you were preceded on the basis of false information?  

Always be open to the possibility that you could be completely wrong in your current course of action. Be open to doing something completely different, courtesy – Brian Tracy. Don't forget to get your copy of the book on Goals!: How to Get Everything You want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy. 

How to Visualise Your Future Career

Did you know that there are four parts of visualization that you can learn and practice to assure that you use this incredible power to its best advantage all the days of your life.

Part 1 - How Often?

The first aspect of visualization is frequency, the number of times that you visualize a particular goal as achieved of yourself performing in an excellent way in a particular event or circumstance. The more frequently you repeat a clear mental picture of your very best performance or result, the more rapidly it will appear as part of your reality.

Part 2 - How Long?

The second element of visualization is the duration of the mental image, the length of time that you can hold the picture in your mind each time you replay it. When you deeply relax, you can often hold a mental picture of yourself performing at your best for several seconds, and even several minutes. The longer you can hold your mental picture, the more deeply it will be impressed into your subconscious mind and the more rapidly it will express itself in your subsequent performance.

Do visit the Business and Career Bookshop to select books on Goal Setting and Career Development. It will help you to improve upon your personal and career development. 

Part 3 - How Clearly?

The third element of visualization is vividness. There is a direct relationship between how clearly you can see your desired goal or result in your mind and how quickly it comes into your reality. This element of visualization is what explains the powers of the Law of Attraction and the Law of Correspondence. The vividness of your desire directly determines how quickly it materializes in the world around you. Here is an interesting point. When you set a new goal for yourself, your image or picture of this goal will usually be vague and fuzzy. But the more often you write it, review it, and repeat it mentally, the clearer it becomes for you. Eventually, it will become crystal clear. At that point, the goal will suddenly appear in your world exactly as you imagined it.

Part 4 - How Intensely?

The fourth element of visualization is intensity, the amount of emotion that you attach to your visual image. In reality, this is the most important and powerful part of the visualization process. Sometimes, if your emotion is intense enough and your visual image is clear enough, your goal will immediately come true.

Do visit the Business and Career Bookshop to select books on Goal Setting and Career Development. It will help you to improve upon your personal and career development. 

Of course, the elements of frequency, duration, vividness, and intensity can help you or hurt you. Like nature, the power of visualization is neutral. Like a two-edged sword, it can cut in either direction. It can either make you a success or make you a failure. Visualization brings you whatever you vividly and intensely imagine, whether good or bad. (courtesy: Brian Tracy)

Action Exercise

Continually feed your mind with clear, exciting, emotional pictures. Remember, your imagination is your preview of lives coming attractions. Learn how to accomplish all of your goals here and to your success in goal setting and career planning. Don't forget to get your copy of the book on Goals!: How to Get Everything You want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy.