Personal Growth Plan Development Tips

Personal growth seems to occur in spurts. We gain a little, lose a little, surge ahead or slide into a holding pattern where in growth seems to be stagnated. Here are ten ways to get back on track.

1. Recognize that growth continues, despite our best efforts to thwart it.

There's a saying: God's time and mortals' time differ. Nowhere is that more true than in the area of personal growth. Growth can be likened to fermentation; it often occurs well below the surface and appears dormant for long periods. Still, much is going on, if only we have the good sense to realize it. And, there ARE things we can do to break through the surface layers...

2. Engage in the process; give up attachment to the result.

We live in a results-oriented world. That's both good and bad. In the short term, it enables us to get more done faster. In the long term, however, it conceals a great life truth: ultimately, ALL is process, and as we engage in the process and relinquish our obsession with results, the results occur spontaneously, easily. To be involved fully in the process is to be fully in the present.

3. Work on one thing at a time.

High achievers and type A's pride themselves on their ability to keep several balls in the air at one time. For many, it works, but there is a price. Multi-tasking, as it's come called, splits your focus, reduces the energy devoted to any single task and--when the balls mysteriously begin to get out of control--leaves the serious multi-tasker at a loss for words or acts. But to work on one thing at a time is tantamount to enjoying the beauty of a single rose, savoring the clean clear taste of cold spring water, and feeling the exhilaration of a new day. Single tasking gets the body and the mind going again, inspires and invigorates.

4. Stop thinking, writing and speaking in the first person.

Here's a fun exercise. It's called, an I inventory and it goes like this. Review our correspondence file, the letters you've written, and note how often you begin a sentence with, I. Then, pay attention to your conversations with others. How often do you use that word, I? If you journal, take a yellow (better yet, red) marker and overline every single I. All of these are good measures of your preoccupation with yourself. Try taking a vacation from the word, I. You may find it both refreshing and stimulating.

5. Realize that it can take great effort to achieve a state of effortless achievement.

Sounds like double talk, doesn't it! But it's true. In order to achieve effortlessly, which is a measure of alignment, you must get beyond concepts that serve as comfort zones e.g., self-importance, personal attachment, and even enlightenment. With respect to enlightenment, it's not so much a state to be achieved as one to be recognized. If you're having trouble with this one, think of Jesus's words: Before Abraham was, I am (The Bible, John 8:58).

6. Look for the lesson in pain.

This is not a plea for a life of self sacrifice, or an argument that pain is necessary and good. It's just that sometimes, pain IS. Stopping, taking time to examine what's really going on in the present state of pain, prevents this all too common emotion from developing into anger, resentment and resignation. Looking at pain dispassionately, openly, allows you to learn the lesson and move ahead.

7. Let go of your need to have an opinion.

When things go wrong, friends offend, and our progress seems to be grinding to a halt, it's natural to have an opinion, to explain, justify and defend. Natural, yes; understandable, yes; but productive? No! To give up the need to have an opinion in such instances is to free the mind to receive answers.

8. Walk away from it.

Years ago, I was going through a rough time, but was determined to stick with it until I won out. A friend who sensed my frustration asked if I would tell her about it. With some hesitation, I told her of the problem, the struggles, and the seeming lack of progress. She listened patiently and, after I finished, hesitated a moment, and then said something I'll never forget: "You know, sometimes wisdom is knowing when to walk away from it." So, when IS it time to walk away? From a distance of some years now, I would say it's when the course you are "stubbornly" pursuing is not producing results and you have no real feeling that it will!

9. Follow your path rather than your plan.

The distinction relates to specificity. Paths are often winding, indistinct and surprising in where they lead. Plans are clear, definite, and designed to eliminate uncertainty. To follow a path is to be open to discovery, to the sudden turns that yield joy, insight and challenge. But, to really follow a path requires courage and a willingness to give up certainty. To follow a path is to go forward when you can see only a single step ahead, confident that the next step will appear.

10. HEAR what is being said.

Have you ever had a friend offer you some unwelcome advice and preface it with, "You're not going to want to hear this, but ..." Well, often when new information comes to us that conflicts with what we know, believe, think, or want, we DON'T hear it. Even while we're "listening", we're preparing our replies, defenses and rebuttals. In short, we're blocking our chance to learn. To "hear", as opposed to simply listening, is to withhold judgment, to go beyond the actual words, and to really be open to the possible lesson that may be lurking just beneath the surface. the difference between listening and hearing is that, somewhere in between, there's a filter, and it's usually our resistance to new and sometimes conflicting information.

Predict Your Future. Don't use a crystal ball to create predictions of your business. By carefully analyzing the historic trends
of your business enterprise, as shown on your records for the previous five years, you can predict for the year ahead. Your record
of sales, your expertise with the markets in which you market, and your overall understanding of the economy ought to enable you
to forecast a sales figure for the following calendar year.

When You've Got a Sales forecast figure, make a budget demonstrating your costs as a proportion of the figure. In the following
year, you can compare real P&L figures to your budgeted figures. Thus, your financial plan is an important tool for determining
the health of your enterprise.

Make Timely Decisions. Without actions, forecasts and conclusions concerning the future are not worth the paper they're written
on. A decision that does not result in action is a bad one. The rate of business demands timely in addition to informed decision
making. In case the owner-manager is to stay ahead of competition, you must move to control your own destiny.

Effective Decision making in the small business requires a number of things. The owner-manager should possess as much accurate
information as you can. With these facts, you should determine the consequences of all possible courses of action and the time
demands. When you've made the decision, you've set up your company so that the choices you make can be transmitted into actions.

Control Your Business. To be effective, the owner-manager must have the ability to motivate key individuals to acquire the
outcomes planned for within the cost and time limits allowed. In working to achieve results, the small business owner-manager has
an edge over big business. You can be fast and flexible while many large businesses need to await committee actions before a
choice is made. You do not have to get consent to behave. And equally important, bottlenecks to implementing new practices may
receive your personal attention.

One of those Secrets is in determining what items to control. Even in a small business, the owner-manager shouldn't attempt and be
all things to everybody. You should keep close control on people, products, money, and any other tools that you consider
significant to maintaining your operation geared toward profit.

Handle Your Folks. Most businesses realize that their largest expense is labor. Yet because of the close contact with employees, a
few owner-manager of small businesses do not pay enough attention to direct and indirect labor costs. They have a tendency to
think of these prices in terms of individuals rather than relate them to profit with respect to dollars and pennies.

Listed below are a few Suggestions concerning personnel management:

Gradually Review each position in your business. Take a glimpse at the job. Is work being replicated? Can it be organized so that
it motivates the worker to become involved? Can the tasks be given to another employee or employees along with a position
eliminated? Can a part-time person fill the job.

Play A modest personal mental game. Imagine you have to eliminate one employee, If you had to let one person go, who would it be?
How would you realign the tasks to make out? You could find a real solution to the imaginary problem is potential to your
financial benefit.

Usage Compensation as a tool rather than viewing it as a essential evil. Reward quality work. Look into the potential for using
raises and bonuses as incentives for higher productivity. For instance, can you schedule bonuses like morale boosters during
seasonal slacks or other dull periods?

Recall There are new ways of controlling absenteeism through incentive compensation plans. For instance, the owner-manager of one
little company eliminated holidays and sick leave. Instead, this owner-manager gave every worker thirty days annual leave to use
as the worker saw fit. In the end of the year, the workers were paid at regular prices for the depart that they didn't use. To
qualify for the yearlong pay, the worker had to establish that sick leave was shot solely for this purpose. Non-sick leave needed
to be applied for in advance. As a result, unscheduled absences and overtime pay were reduced significantly. In addition, workers
were happier and more productive than they were under the old system.

Control Your Inventory. Don't tie up all your money in stock. Use a perpetual inventory system as a cost control as opposed to a
system just for taxation purposes. Establish use patterns or buy patterns on the materials or items which you must stock to keep
the minimal number needed to provide your clients to maintain production. Excessive inventory, whether it is finished merchandise
or raw materials, ties up funds that may be used to better advantage, as an example, to open a new sales territory or to buy new
machinery.

Centralize your Purchases and avoid duplications. Be a relative shopper. Confirm orders . Get the price and amount straight right
away.

Assess what you Receive for quality and condition. Check bills from providers against quotations. You don't wish to be the victim
of their error.

You should, However, keep 1 fact in mind once you install your stock control system. Don't invest more on the control system than
it will yield in savings.

Control Your Products. From control of inventory to control of products is however a step. Ensure your sales people recognize the
value of promoting the products which are the most profitable. Align your service policies along with your markup in mind. Arrange
your goods that low markup items require the least handling.

Control Your Money. It's good policy to handle cash and checks as though they were perishable commodities. They are. Cash on your
protected earns no return; and it Can be stolen. Bank promptly.

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