The road leading towards my endless personal development has been interesting and unique, thus far. I began reading and listening to podcasts about motivation, determination, personal development and a success-focused mindset about two and a half years ago. I started reading some of the most well-known books like How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie and Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and I was hooked. The first year, I just consumed book after book and I couldn’t get enough. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the more I learned, the less I really knew about everything that there is to know.
Does this make sense to you like it does to me?
I have a really good friend who has literally read three or four thousand books. He still can’t get enough. It can be an insatiable quest to jam more knowledge into our minds. Podcasting has really shaken things up for him too. He figured out that if he listens to podcasts at a faster than normal rate of speed, he can consume more content in less time. Now we are getting a bit hardcore, aren’t we? I have tried that because I prefer that human sound like humans and not like chipmunks.
None of us are ever going to know everything about anything, so why worry about it or even try? I do believe that personal development is important for everyone. Especially for the entrepreneur who is serious about getting to the next level of success. Entrepreneurship requires knowledge and skills in marketing, sales, accounting, communication and in many cases, building a team. Entrepreneurship also requires a strong support group, a rock solid mindset and a near obsession with success. All of these different topics are great areas to focus on for your personal development.
Sometimes you need to mix it up.
I like to mix it up as much as I can. This way I don’t go into a complete information overload or even get bored with one subject. We do the same thing with our blog posts and with our content here at Intentionally Inspirational. Back to the personal development focus of this particular blog post though. I listen to specific podcasts each week while I am working. It is more content that I consume even though I am not usually 100% focused on them. I do still retain a lot of the information though because they give me new ideas and things to try. When I demand an escape from my day and a bit of quiet time, I still enjoy picking up a physical book. It gives my eyes a rest from my MacBook Air and from my iPhone. I have always enjoyed painting a picture in my mind based on the words that I am reading. You can think of it as creative freedom in the purest form.
Have you ever tried writing?
I recently published my own book, The Backwards Route To Forward Progress and it is focused on motivation and mindset written from an entrepreneurs perspective. I found the exercise of writing and publishing a book was another journey in personal development. It taught me a lot about myself that I didn’t know. That last line is the key to all of this. We are all one idea, one story and one activity away from the potential for significant life change. Learning is about the journey that you go on and the new perspectives that you get exposed to.
The more I learn, the less I realize I actually know. I don’t let this bother me because I know the real value of the process and now so do you. I will encourage you now to never stopping consuming content. You will never know what new information will do for you unless you expose yourself to it.