Personal Development Tips Galore

Luciano at Litemind is running a Personal Excellence Tips contest. All the 66 tips submitted are great reads. I’m thrilled that so many people are committed to the development of themselves and willing to share their best tips with others. Many go beyond the “Hey, here is a cool hack!” level.

So even though I wasn’t planning to post today, here is my quick overview. Enjoy.

Here are my favorites:

Mistakes are the seeds of evolution and change.
By Adam Sicinski at My Infinite Wisdom Blog. I’d say learn from others’ mistakes, and don’t be afraid of making your own mistakes. Here is one of his more recent blog post: I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach me destination

Have a personal hero.
By Mike Yoke. It’s good to have a role model. One of mine is Oprah – she is a great messenger! Further, I guess it would be even better if I could have a personal mentor.

Make personal excellence… personal.
By Tori Deaux at MindTweaks. I love the emphasis on our authenticity and uniqueness. And it takes courage to let people know who you really are – but that is such a critical step.

If you don’t have space for what you want in your life, it will never come to you.
By Josie Sawers of Content Critical. Destruction must happen before creation, and space, both physical and mental, need to be cleared for the new.

Learn from the best first.
By Jacob Share at JobMob. Here is one of the interview he did recently. I can say, from my experience, that one of the most foolish things I have done in my life was to try to learn something important from someone who may be available easily but don’t really know what they are talking about. Yes, learn from the best. Even pay to learn from the best – it will pay itself off.

And here is my own entry:

Listen to your inner voice.
We all have intuition that guides us navigate through our lives. That quiet inner voice, that knowing beyond logics. Following your intuition can be scary at times, but I can say from my experience it’s the most effective advice I can ever find. I can recall a number of incidents when I ignored my intuition and regretted later, but no regrets about following my intuition. So after you read, discuss, brainstorm, take a quiet moment to listen to your intuition.

But really, all the entries are worth spending time reading. (Photo by paulaloe)

Gratitude For Who I Am Now, Online Gratitude Journal #15

There is a pitfall in personal development

You are motivated to improve yourself and your life. You read personal development books and blogs and try new techniques eagerly. The visualization of success to utilize the law of attraction. New meditation technique. Maybe a new skill in time management. All is good, right? (Photo by Mr. Greenjeans)

Yes. As long as it starts with the appropriate starting point every time you adopt the new approach. And that is the acceptance of who you are as you are here and now.

You see how tricky it is? It’s so easy to forget this self acceptance part and jump to the improvement part. But when we do so, we start skidding. All the great techniques start to pressure you and push you further, not closer, from the love and joy you ultimately desire.

The horrible week I just went through

Now acceptance is easy to say. Let me tell you just a little bit about the little ding-dong I live with (that is, me). Things turned un-nice last Friday. I was invited to a dinner at a friend’s place. I was looking forward to this a lot – she is nice and it was also going to be a great opportunity for me to get to know some other people in this area. That afternoon, I went to the supermarket to get some salad greens and cheese to make the salad I was to bring. As I was driving, I suddenly noticed I had a headache. Of course, I ignored it.

I came home and thought I might take a bit nap – that would surely help me feel better. Well, no. The pain got worse and worse, accompanied with terrible stomachache. By 5:30, I had to admit to myself I wouldn’t be able to make it to the dinner. I called her and apologized. I felt bad for making her dinner salad-less and disappointing her.

I suffered over the weekend and started recovering earlier this week. I was working fine Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday evening, I had a phone session scheduled for my Akashic Record Reading. I felt a bit distracted that afternoon – things like the marketing of this blog weren’t working the way I want, etc. And – when I noticed, it was more than one hour after the scheduled time!

Embarrassed would be an understatement for the way I felt. I take pride in offering excellent service, and that includes being punctual. I had never missed a business occasion like this.

So . . . do I have to accept myself like this? Do I accept myself?

. . . yes. For the second blunder, of course I need to learn how to manage my schedule better, but still, that needs to start with seeing myself as I am and accepting her.

I was going to write more shortcomings about myself, like how terrible I am at finding directions when I drive or that greed that distracted me that Wednesday, but I think it’s getting too long. I trust you got the point.

And really – Akemi is not such a horrible person. Just a bit ding-dong (or whatever you call). I’m grateful for the person she is.

Link Love

Extend the love for who I am – extend it to all beings for who they are – right here and now. As if everyone and everything just came into existence here and now. No reasoning for the love, no attached “stories” for things are not. I think that is what Andrea talks about in her post Attachment and Manifesting What We Want.

Do you love quotes? It looks like Hunter Nuttall had the love and lots of time in his college days. Check out his 1,000,001 Things I Wish I Had Said First. I just wish it’s categorized so that I can find good quotes that fits well in my writing, but even as it is, it’s so much fun to read any part of it. I think this may be one of the great example of how to make money doing what you love.

Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler. — Albert Einstein

My Law of Attraction Dream Money Project, Week 14, $819,200

I want to review this Dream Money Project< before it hits the million dollar mark. This is a fun way to expand your wealth consciousness. I started with $100 of dream money that I can use on anything I like. The money doubles every time I write this Gratitude Friday series. It’s quite challenging to come up with creative ways to use the money.

The way I see it is the dream spending must be something that resonates with myself, something I want to get or do really if I had that money. Here are the ways I’ve spent the money so far:

Week 1, $100 for a drive to the coast (Done!)

Week 2, $200 for an iPod nano and music download

Week 3, $400 for strawberries and gorgeous lingerie (Sounds sexier than it was, huh?)

Week 4, $800 for donation to good cause

Week 5, $1,600 for antique furniture

Week 6, $3,200 for trip to Italy and Spain

Week 7, $6,400 for arts I like

Week 8, $12,800 for trading up to Prius

Week 9, $25,600 for down payment of my new townhouse

Week 10, $51,200 for a community garden with a little gazebo

Week 11, $102,400 for free-for-all day at the local art museum with lunch reception

Week 12, $204,800 for foundation to explore soul-mind-body relationship

Week 13, $409,600 for my secret beach house, purchased by cash

(Sorry there is a discrepancy between the week of this Dream Money Project and the Gratitude Friday. It’s because I started the Dream Money Project on week 2 of Gratitude Friday.)

So what do I want to do with this week’s $819,200? I can buy an apartment house and become a landlord. That will bring a nice chunk of passive income. Or maybe I can buy a yacht for my beach house. I love the ocean so that will be nice (although I have no idea how to operate it. . .)

One of the comment to my post Spiritual Money Practice To Eliminate Poverty got my attention. Abundance starts from within, but how can someone surrounded by poverty perceive abundance? I know it’s difficult but I think it’s possible. And that can bring huge change.

Think about India. Just several decades ago, it was one of the poorest country in the world. Now the economy is booming and they can’t find enough people to fill positions. On the other hand, most countries in Africa stay in poverty. I know, I know, there are many factors like the wars in Africa, but still, it’s an interesting contrast.

I think the difference originated in their mindset. India remembers its past glory and has kept their abundance mindset even during the challenging times. That, with their commitment to education, has made the difference.

I want to donate books to schools in Africa to help them see the big picture and start cultivating their abundance mindset. Let’s see, with the budget of $500 per school, $819,200 can cover 1638 schools. If I can get some publishers to help, $500 can buy quite a few books. Along with books for basic education of reading (I encourage them to learn English – it can open a lot of doors) and math, I want books like The Secret and Ask And It Is Given.

I’m grateful for the beautiful autumn leaves, new crop of apples of so many varieties, and matsutake and other mushrooms (yummy!). I heard we can go matsutake hunting in Oregon mountains. . .

Next week, I’ll resume the Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship. Have a great weekend!

Gratitude And My Personal Development – Online Gratitude Journal #11

(Photo by Mr. Greenjeans)

Gratitude for my current self and my best self

As I wrote last week, I’m a big fan of Millionaire Mommy Next Door. She is a great role model who has both the practical knowledge and skills in personal finance and business management and the positive mindset that attracts abundant and happy life.

When I read her post in which she says,

if your relationships with others – or yourself – are dysfunctional, you’ll never reach your full abundance potential

I felt so inspired. The whole post is great, but one part especially talked to me:

Compare yourself not to others, but only to your best self.

I know I still have the tendency to compare myself to others – and inevitably to criticize myself and others. But I didn’t know how to stop it. The habit of comparing has been so ingrained in me. Now I see it – I can envision my best self, compare my current self to that best self, and move forward.

My current self is not quite my best self yet, but I know I have the seeds within – otherwise I wouldn’t even think up this best self. So there is no need to be pressured by this image of my best self – it’s a version of me after all, and I’m okay to take time to become my best self.

I seem to find great tips and advice when I just need them. Often, this Gratitude Friday series is about such encounters, and this one is another wonderful one. Thank you.

This is my best self . . .

As I envision today.

• I interact harmoniously with people around me.
  Because I know the Universe is infinitely abundant and there is no reason to compete.
• I make my living by helping others with my special skills – which means I make money with ease and joy.
• I keep growing spiritually.
• On the physical level, I live in a nice cozy house or townhouse. Still undetermined if I want a house with garden of my own (I love the beauty of a garden. Plus, I can resume my piano lesson if I live in a house.) or if I opt for a care-free living of a townhouse. Oh, and I guess I’ll be with a cute boyfriend.
• My legs will be strong and I can have a long walk. (Currently my left knee is a bit weak.)

My Law of Attraction Dream Money Project, Week 10, $51,200

Gee, this is more than my annual gross income I was making in my last corporate job as admin. I was making mid $40K. Which means I really don’t have much idea what it’s really like to use this much of money– this is getting like a game!

I wonder if I can donate a little gazebo and a garden to a local park. There are probably many people like me who love the beauty of a garden but not in the right space to have one. I’ll donate the plants and the gazebo, and the city can take care of it. I like the old English style garden, like the one in The Secret Garden – with brick wall covered by ivy and big wooden door to make it feel so private. There will be a little fountain, a couple of benches tucked from the meandering walkway. The gazebo wall is covered with climbing roses. . . There will be lots of flowers for all seasons, and let’s not forget white fragrant flowers like jasmine. Oh, it will be so cute, so romantic . . .

And I’m grateful for wild blueberries and blackberries (Can you believe it? They grow wild around here) and the baroque music CD I found while I was reorganizing my stuffs (more on this reorganization later. . .)

What do you find most difficult in personal development?