Life is a Personal Development School

It’s not hard to realize that personal development is quite complex concept. You have to turn on hands, brains and heart. Motivation is important, good memory always helps and listening to other people is a must. Usually all begins with an idea, dreams and goals. Sure, lots of action is demanded and friends can help, but with personal development you’ll alone have to find out how team work, focus, leadership, communication and other important factors of personal development work together as a supreme unity. To be or to have – that’s the other dilemma – which should be answered with your definition of success and vision of your goals. There are many personal development resources online, but still, you have to take action to see how and if they work. We all try to make a doctor dissertation from personal development, although not equally successful. Life is a wonderful opportunity to learn as you can read in subsequent stories.

Personal development – Where do we take this world? People are different – some like to live safe in their harbour, other want to sail the seven seas every day. Of course, every person takes responsibility for their actions, but it’s important that everybody knows we can survive only as a group and act responsible toward the community. We would have to do more on this area. Someone said recently that we now have better houses but worse nerves. This are the times of fast food and slow metabolism, big people and small characters, quick money and straned relations. We just love quick, fast, easy, but forget about true qualities of life.

What’s actually success? If we compare life with sailing, it’s appropriate to ask ourselves, why some people like just to sit beside the sea and others want to sail the seven seas. Success definition is wonderfully represented in a story about a Mexican fisherman and an American banker.

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while.” The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?” The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.” The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?” To which the American replied, “15-20 years.” “But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions.. Then what?” The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

The Mexican replied: “But I’m doing all what you say right now.”

Respect – underrated valuableness. We could learn so much from the nature and form behavior of animals. Milton Oslon has statet a wonderful example with wild geese flying in V-formation. Scientists have found out that they can travel 71 percent quicker while in flock compared if they would fly one by one. It can be the same with people. People who share a common goal have a bond and respect each other and that’s why they can realize their goal quicker and easier. Great example for this kind of cooperation are network marketing groups.

If any of the individuals starts losing focus and interest, the others care about her/him that he again attaches to the gorup. It’s the same with geese – if a goose loses touch with a flock, feels the major air resistance and tries to join the flock as soon as possible. It’s important that we help each other with difficult tasks and we have to be aware that we’re dependent from others. Like the geese again – geese in back of the flock cackle to support the geese in front which have to cope with more air resistance.