Personal Development

Jim Rohn-

We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.

I have had the privilege of meeting Jim Rohn on a number of occasions, listen to him speak and train, and have even chatted briefly with him backstage at a convention Ken and I attended. What a great man he was. The world has lost an incredible trainer, speaker, motivator and rare gift at his passing a couple of years back. I quote Jim often, and re-visit his quotes and tapes whenever I need a pick-me-up, or paradigm shift. His words guide us all with focusing on what is important, think more clearly, count our blessings, love life, set new goals, and live life more fully with passion, joy and celebration. And, Jim was all about daily personal development.

We need to make personal development a daily ritual - an "action assignment". By uploading personal development books to our iPods like Think and Grow Rich, The Slight Edge or The 7 Habits to Highly Successful People, for example, to name just a few, and then take a brisk walk with one of these books playing in our ears. It will help us to internalize the important principles taught, and it will assist us with staying positive, productive, kind and develop into a person that makes a difference in the lives of those around us.

Everyday someone will attempt to steal our dreams, tear us down and encourage us to doubt what we are doing, and our ability to achieve these goals and dreams. No matter what venture we are involved with - learning to play the piano, working to achieve optimum fitness, improving ourselves with college classes, or building a home-based business - recognize the importance of daily personal development to stay on track and achieve. Use your car as a "rolling university" where any dead time in the car traveling from point A to point B, is filled with learning air waves by plugging in a CD. When doing the household basics of loading and unloading the dishwasher, folding a batch of laundry, sweeping off the porch, or vacuuming the rugs. Put that iPod on your ears and learn something that will develop you as a person.

Many of us work at our home-based businesses part time, as they say, in the nooks and crannies of our days. And to do this effectively, we need to make those nooks and crannies count. Working on ourselves daily will reflect in the way we view the world and the people we work with. Schedule personal development time into every day so that you grow in every way possible. To quote Jim Rohn -

The most important question to ask on the job is not "What am I getting?" The most important question to ask on the job is "What am I becoming?

Digging for Diamonds

I've spent the past two weeks in Utah handling some family business and visiting a couple of my kids and their families. One day I was wearing a Swarovski crystal necklace and matching earrings that I'd purchased the last time Ken and I were in Vienna, and the kids kept asking me if I was wearing big diamonds. I smiled and told them that they were like diamonds in color, but were crystal that comes from a rock. They seemed content with my answer, but inquisitive little minds always take things a step further. The next morning I drove up to my daughters home and found the four little girls, ages 2-8 sitting in the driveway with their dads hammers pounding on rocks. I asked, "what are you doing?" They said, "digging for diamonds like your necklace in these rocks. We know if we keep pounding rocks we'll find our diamonds!" We must always keep digging for diamonds to find our leaders. Two "B's" - Beg and Babysit...is something we don't do in this business. We become a builder, teach our team to be builders, and continue "diggin' for diamonds" to find those precious gems that are people who see what you see, want what you want, and do what you do. The repair - redo - regroup mode is coming to a close. The "new and improved" Voyager Health Technologies is ready to rollout with a new look,, new attitude, new comp plan tweaks, new products, a convention in September, and a new team of individuals that will catch your vision. As long as you keep "diggin' for diamonds," the sky is the limit with you and your opportunity.