Personal Development.

This for me. Is a huge drive and it should be your driving factor too. The reason you get up on a morning should be that you are up to better yourself, improve your life and life for those around you. It's actually a fairly easy thing, set goals and try to achieve them. It's the middle bit that's the hardest!

 You should always be looking of ways to improve yourself, it may be becoming healthier by hitting the gym or going for a jog daily. Reading a book on a subject that could only ever benefit you or reading an online blog about how to be successful ;).

So how should you be developing yourself? Well. There's an infinite number of ways, the fact you are even reading this article is one of them. You are keen to listen to somebody else, even if you don't always agree with the advice given. 

1) Read books

I can't stress this enough. You can learn so much from other people's advice, not only their advice but their approach to things. I mean, what drove them to write the book in the first place? I'm sure they made mistakes to come to the conclusions and solutions they are providing in the book. Think outside the book-box; (ill trademark this term). The reason why they are writing the book is because they are successful, learn from them and skip a few years of personal development.

To get you started Rules Of Wealth is an excellent book, its such an easy read and even if you think you have a great grasp on your financials, its still worth a read, its not complex or in depth its just to the point and lets you make your own decisions.

2) Set Goals and actually do them

Everyone has a 5 year plan right? Well I do. If you want to achieve something you first need to know what it is, otherwise you will never get there. A great example is you want a new car, in 2 years. What does it mean for you to do this? If you are looking to get one of these:

Then it would mean putting away a total of £10,000 a month, for two years. Its not something 99.9999999% of the worlds population can do. So set reachable goals and if they are reachable and you achieve them. It will be great for your own personal development. 

3) Exercise 

Why is exercise going to help my personal development you say? Well here is a list.

• Controls Weight, which can only lead to an increased self confidence. If your going for job interviews, self confidence is going to help you a hell of a lot!
• Improves general health, which is only going to make you function better in daily life. Plus live longer and spend less time at the doctors because your immune system is more awesome.
• Improves mood, this is one which is true but in my experience it is not immediate, training "once" after a long time of inactivity just makes you tired. Training actively over a long period (I always deem this period 3 months) you will consistently feel better about yourself and your production levels will go through the roof. It is known to lower depression and decrease anxiety symptoms.
• Improves energy levels, more energy, higher production levels. Lets you "get more done".

4) Diet

Throughout a general work day do you feel lethargic? You may lack a good diet. Regular smaller meals, with a good source of carbohydrates and proteins will help, especially alongside exercise. I am no expert with diet but there is plenty of information freely available on the internet and in all honesty a good diet is really not hard to follow. That mixed with a good exercise regime I guarantee you will feel 100% productive until your head hits the pillow at night. If you are interested in some diet tips, I can write up a post, probably alongside some money saving tips too!

5) Self analysis.

So why has something gone wrong and what could you do to approach it differently next time? Its a difficult question sometimes but the important thing is that you are *thinking* about it. If you make mistakes and never consider why, then its a problem. Its something I would personally look at changing about myself. An example of this might be an interview, did you feel 100% comfortable at your last interview or not? And if you didn't, why? 

Hopefully you know why you didn't feel comfortable and if you do, is there something you could have done to prevent it? If you didn't get the job, could making this effort next time drastically increase your chances of landing the job. I guarantee it wont make it worse!

6) LISTEN

This for me, is huge. For more than one reason. Primarily we listen because we want to learn and understand what people are telling us. Sometimes we ignore people because they tell us something we don't really agree with or already know. I don't think we should be doing this and there is a few reasons why:

• If you learn to listen, you will automatically learn more. Even if a person is not telling you something you agree with or is talking "rubbish", why are they talking rubbish and what makes you think this. If you do think this, is your opinion even correct or from a different perspective does their opinion make sense too and under what circumstances? This is something I want to discuss in a later post on levels of thinking. A very important life tool.
• When you listen, people will actually enjoy talking to you more. Ever met that person that tells you a story, you listen and you reply but they continue talking about them self and their own story? Did it frustrate you? If so, then don't be that person! You want to be a person who will listen and be listened too and get respect for your own opinions because you, in turn, listen to others.

I hope this post has given you some insight into the format of this blog and the kind of things I will be covering in future. If you enjoyed it and want to request some articles here are some topics I would love to cover, just drop me a comment and Ill see what I can do!

1) Ways to get rich?

2) Money Management

3) Levels of Thinking & Thought Processes

4) The Meaning of life

5) Career management

6) Diet and Exersize

Getting rich, where to begin?

If I knew the answer to the title of this post, I probably wouldn't be writing it. However... What I can do is try my best to advise you, the reader on some ideas and ways you can secure your finances and your future and maybe one day get rich!

I am no expert but I do manage my money well, which is the first step to becoming rich. Chances are, for most of us it will never happen, plus it depends on your view of bring rich. It's different for everybody! Is it owning a Ferrari or having a million in the bank? Maybe owning a business, or five of them?

What I am slowly learning is that to get rich, it takes time, unless you get extremely lucky. This happens so rarely that chances are it won't for you, the solution? Give up trying to get rich NOW and start working hard.

This blog along with my other success blogs (poker, games development) will give some tips tricks and insight into the things I have learnt and are still to learn, about life, money and success.