Are the skills that got you where you’re at today the ones you’ll need to achieve your goals and dreams tomorrow?  I think many of us would admit that the answer is no…and that’s why life long learning is so important.

Earlier this week, Chris Brogan talked about this on his blog, which got me thinking about the fact that not all skills are created equal.  Some are more important than others.  Some are way more important than others.

I grew up in Southwestern Michigan where a cherry farm has hosted the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship for 37 years. Rick “Pellet Gun” Krause (pictured), who won the 2010 competition earlier this month, is a 16-time champion.  His winning spit this year was 51 feet, 3 inches!

I  have to give him credit – this is an achievement.  I don’t know how far I can spit a pit, but I know it’s nowhere near 51 feet.  Cherry pit spitting isn’t a skill that’s important to me, but it is to someone else.  And I’m sure that I have skills that no one else cares about.

What things are you good at?  If you’ve never done it before, make a list and write them down.

Then make a list of the things you want to be good at…the skills you want to develop sometime in your life – for fun or profit.

Along with it, write out a couple of ways that you could learn that skill.  For example, is it something you can learn online?  Take a class at your local community college?  Go back to school part-time or full-time?  Take classes for certification?  Learn from a friend or co-worker?  Hire a teacher?  Just learn it on your own?

Looking at this list, is there anything you want to start working on now?  If so, what’s the next step you need to take in order to do that?

For me, I want to learn to speak Spanish one day.  But I can’t work on it right now, because I am focusing on a few other key areas right now.  But I’d like to learn it in the next few years.

Life long learning is an investment in your future!  What new skills do you want or need to learn to help you achieve your personal or life goals?

You might also like:

• Creativity and personal developmment
• Why librarians are not millionaires
• How to reduce work stress

Every Monday I send out a bonus, via email, called Your Monday Motivator. In it, I feature inspirational quotes on a particular topic related to life change, along with my personal thoughts and take-aways on the subject. I do it because I believe everyone could use a little extra inspiration in their lives – especially on Mondays!

If you’re not a subscriber, I thought I’d give you a taste of what you missed today.  You can sign up via the “Subscribe to the Life Compass Newsletter” box to the right.

The Power of a Sense of Urgency

Urgency – How do we keep it and harness it’s power to make change in our lives?  That’s the topic for today’s Monday Motivator from Life Compass Blog.

But first…if you live in the U.S. as I do, I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend!

I hate to admit it, but I’ve gotten a bit lazy lately.  No, I’m not talking about exercise, but about a few goals I’ve had, but haven’t really focused any energy or attention on for a while.

Back when these goals and desires first came into my mind, I had great passion and a drive to accomplish them.  But over time, I lost that “lovin’ feeling.”  What was once a big interest – something I just had to do – is now just a passing thought.

What happened?

I lost my sense of urgency.

“Without a sense of urgency,” Jim Rohn said,  “desire loses its value.”

His point is that when we have a passion for something and see an opportunity to accomplish it, we’ve got to take action, and take advantage of the opportunity immediately while time, passion, opportunity and energy are all on our side.

If we don’t take action right away, our sense of urgency, passion and opportunity all slip away.  And once they’re gone, they’re gone.

So, how do we keep a sense of urgency about us, and harness its power to make change in our lives?  I think there are seven keys:

1. First, clarify the goal – write it out in detail.
2. Next, identify your motivation – why is it that you want to achieve it?
3. Visualize yourself as having achieved it – paint a picture in your mind.
4. Make a plan – identify a step-by-step process for achieving your goal.
5. Schedule time every day or week to work on your goal by working your plan.
6. Track and review your progress on a weekly basis.
7. Ask others to encourage you and hold you accountable.

Whatever you do, don’t wait.  Procrastination is a dream killer.

If you have a vision, and the opportunity to do something, do it before you lose the chance. Take that first step today! As Grandma and Grandpa used to say:  “Strike while the iron is hot,” and “Make hay when the sun shines.”

If you’re frustrated by the lack of success in achieving your goals and dreams, check out The Simple Guide to Goals today.

You might also like:

• Think you’re too young, too old, or too late to achieve your dreams?
• What do you want from life?
• Visualize your success

Do you ever get the feeling you’re missing opportunities that are right under your feet, and that any one of them could make you extremely successful?  Here’s a transcript of an “Our Changing World” radio vignette by Earl Nightingale, one of the fathers of personal success and achievement.  This one is called “Acres of Diamonds.”

Acres of Diamonds

One of the most interesting Americans who lived in the 19th century was a man by the name of Russel Herman Conwell.  He was born in 1843 and lived until 1925.  He was a lawyer for about fifteen years until he became a clergyman.

One day, a young man went to him and told him he wanted a college education but couldn’t swing it financially.  Dr. Conwell decided, at that moment, what his aim in life was, besides being a man of the cloth – that is. He decided to build a university for unfortunate, but deserving, students.  He did have a challenge, however.  He would need a few million dollars to build the university.  For Dr. Conwell, and anyone with real purpose in life, nothing could stand in the way of his goal.

Several years before this incident, Dr. Conwell was tremendously intrigued by a true story – with its ageless moral.  The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and through a visitor became tremendously excited about looking for diamonds.  Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond line.  He wandered all over the continent, as the years slipped by, constantly searching for diamonds, wealth, which he never found.  Eventually he went completely broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity.  A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions.  He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found.  The new owner of the farm said, “Heck, the whole farm is covered with them” – and sure enough it was.

The farm turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine…the richest the world has ever known.  The original farmer was literally standing on “Acres of Diamonds” until he sold his farm.

Dr. Conwell learned about the story of the farmer and continued to teach its moral.  Each of us is right in the middle of our own “Acre of Diamond,” if only we would realize it and develop the ground we are standing on before charging off in search of greener pastures.

Dr. Conwell told this story many times and attracted enormous audiences.  He told the story long enough to have raised the money to start the college for underprivileged deserving students.  In fact, he raised nearly six million dollars and the university he founded, Temple University in Philadelphia, has at least ten degree-granting colleges and six other schools.

When Doctor Russell H. Conwell talked about each of us being right on our own “Acre of Diamonds,” he meant it.  This story does not get old…it will be true forever…

Opportunity does not just come along – it is there all the time – we just have to see it.

Do you think Nightingale and Conwell are right?  Please share your comments.

You might also like:

• What does personal growth mean to you?
• How to do the right things that lead to success
• How to harness the power of the mind to get results

Warren Buffett, on the best investment you can make

This was a guest post I wrote on March 3, 2010, for freemoneyfinance.com.

Warren Buffett, one of American’s wealthiest people, is famously followed for his investing views and strategies.

And why not?  As chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has led his company, through acquisitions and investments, to exponential growth.  A $1,000 investment in Berkshire Hathaway in 1959 is worth $25 million today!

And yet Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” is now talking about an investment that is even greater.  During the Q&A session at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in 2008, Buffett said:

The most important investment you can make is in yourself. Very few people get anything like their potential horsepower translated into the actual horsepower of their output in life. Potential exceeds realization for many people…The best asset is your own self. You can become to an enormous degree the person you want to be.

In an ABC news interview in July of 2009, when asked whether it is still important for families to send their children to college or higher learning, Buffett said:

Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you.  They can run up huge deficits and the dollar can become worth far less.  You can have all kinds of things happen.  But if you’ve got talent yourself, and you’ve maximized your talent, you’ve got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold.

He went on to say that he doesn’t mean that everyone should go to college.  And he added that learning communication skills are tremendously important for everyone.

Buffett recently appeared in an online animated series called the Secret Millionaire’s Club in which he teaches kids about finance and investing.  Appearing on CNBC in July of 2009 to talk about this new venture, Buffett was asked, “What’s your hope that kids will take away from these episodes?”  His reply:

Well, one way or another you develop financial habits when you’re very young.  And the habits you develop live with you for the rest of your life.  So if we can get through to some young people that it’s better to be a little bit ahead of the game than behind the game, watch out for credit cards.  The most important message is that the best investment you can make is in yourself. Teaching them if something’s too good to be true, it probably is, and so on.  If they learn those things the easy way through these stories early on, it may save them learning it the hard way later on.

…Like I said, the most important message you can deliver to a young person is that anything you invest in yourself, you get back ten-fold. And nobody can tax it away, they can’t steal it from you.  So we’ll be trying to deliver those messages.  You have to do it with a good story.  They’re not going to watch it to get a lecture.  They’re going to watch it to get entertained, and in that entertainment we hope there can be a good message.

So, what are some of the best ways you can invest in yourself?

1. Create your own personal development plan. A good one helps you define your preferred future (your dream life), clarifies your life’s purpose, evaluates your current reality in the basic areas of life (financial, family, career, health, spiritual, etc.), reveals your personal values for each life area (the beliefs that are important to you), sets well-defined goals, and creates a specific plan of action.
2. Be a lifelong learner.  Read good books and resources.  Take classes (formal or informal).  Attend webinars and listen to podcasts. But don’t stop there – you’ve got to apply what you read and hear, and take action!
3. Surround yourself with people who will help you achieve your goals and dreams. If you have friends or family who are downers all the time, or who don’t believe in you or your goals, get new ones.  I don’t mean that you replace your friends or family, but find some new ones to add to the mix.  We all need to have positive people in our lives.  And maybe you need a mentor or coach who can help you take action on your goals.
4. Improve your communication skills. Buffett mentioned this in one of the interviews.  Communication skills are extremely important today.  And not just in how to be a great speaker, but also a great listener.

What do you think about Buffett’s assertion that the best investment you can make is in yourself?  What do you think are some of the best ways to do that?

You might also like:

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Recently, I’ve noticed an increasing amount of spam comments that some people, or “spambots”, have attempted to submit to my site.

Gratefully, there’s software that weeds most of that out, so you don’t see it.

But I see it, and I sometimes get a good chuckle out of it because all of these spam comments advertise “male enhancement” products.

I’ve racked my brain trying to figure out what I may have written which would lead these spammers to think that Life Compass Blog would be a good target for “male enhancement” products.

Then it finally dawned on me.  One of the topics I write about here is personal growth!

Now, I’ll agree that “male enhancement” is personal growth, but it’s not really the kind of personal growth I had in mind. If that’s the kind of growth you’re looking for, I’m glad you’re here, but I’m not sure I can help you with that! 

This whole situation helped me realize that the words “personal growth” can mean different things to different people.  For me, it means seeking to reach my full potential, being the best “me” that I can be, finding and fulfilling my life’s purpose, and living my dreams.  And it comes through a process of self-discovery, planning, and action.

What does personal growth mean to you?  And what’s your biggest question about the personal growth process?

You might also like:

• How my personal growth journey began
• Are you reaching your full potential?
• What do you want from life?

We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it.  Or rather, we get educated out of it. – Sir Ken Robinson, TED 2007

Sir Ken Robinson, speaking at TED 2007

Is there a relationship between creativity and personal development?  It’s been on my mind recently, thanks to news stories and blog postings I’ve read about motivating creativity in poor economic times, creativity in business, and creativity and innovation.

In addition, my wife and I were just discussing how we can better foster an environment of creativity for our kids, whom we home school.

Somehow, in the last week or two, I ran across a very thought-provoking video of Sir Ken Robinson speaking at TED.  I think I found it because someone tweeted it on Twitter, and I’m very glad they did! By the way, you can follow me on Twitter: @RichAvery.

In the video, Sir Ken makes the assertion that schools and businesses kill creativity.  For our society to succeed at meeting it’s greatest challenges, we must embrace learning styles that nurture and foster individual creativity. He said:

Picasso once said, “All children are born artists.”  The problem is to remain an artist…We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it.  Or rather, we get educated out of it.

Sir Ken defined creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value.  He went on to say that we are educating people out of their creative capacities because we’re afraid to make mistakes.  We used to learn and grow by taking risks, being very creative, and making mistakes which we learn from.  Today, in the the education system and corporations, the worst thing you can do is make a mistake.

I highly recommend you watch this video – just click the link or photo above.  It’s only 20 minutes, and Sir Ken is a very funny and engaging speaker.

Here are some of my thoughts and take-aways:

• Many people learn best through hands-on creative activity, not just by reading a book or hearing a lecture.
• Seems like when most people think about personal growth and development, they really mean ways to improve their career and finances.  How many instead seek to develop their creative capacity?
• How many people are pursuing someone else’s dream instead of their own?  How many were told they’d never make it, or never make any money, as an artist, musician, writer or designer?
• How much stress, and work-life unbalance, is created in people who are forced to learn and work in environments that stifle their creativity?
• Can creative hobbies foster greater work-life balance in a person’s life?
• Does our society place more importance on intellectual capacity instead of creative capacity?
• If so, then what are we missing if we just focus on the intellectual and not the creative?
• How can I foster more creativity in my life, work, and children?

Do you think Sir Ken is right, based on your own experience at school and work?  Please share your thoughts.  And while you do that, I’m going to take my kids to the Grand Rapids Art Museum for a little creative inspiration.

Welcome back to Life Compass, where we’re talking about how to reach your full potential in life.  After you take a good look at yourself (step 1) and clarify your purpose in life (step 2), the next step is to create a personal development plan to help you maximize who you are in order to accomplish what you’re called to do.

Your personal development plan will synthesize and build upon all the work you’ve already done in the first two steps.  In addition, it will help you evaluate your current reality in the basic areas of life (financial, family, career, health, spiritual, etc.), set well-defined goals, and create a specific plan of action that will propel you to achieve your goals.

How to Create a Personal Development Plan

1.  Start a notebook, 3-ring binder, or computer folder and label it, “Personal Development Plan.” Use this to keep all the material you’ve produced so far from this process, and other inspirational thoughts or articles you like, in a place that you can easily find and readily come back to.

2. Review your Life Purpose and make any changes or tweaks that come to your mind. Then write the final version onto one sheet of paper titled, “Life Purpose”, and put it in your binder.

3.  Get seven separate sheets of paper and title one after each of the seven basic life areas: Family, Career, Financial, Social, Health, Personal Development, Spiritual/Ethical.

4.  Review the list of personal values (the things or ideals that are most important to you) that you created previously, and assign each one to the life area it best fits into. For example, if one of your values is to maintain your ideal weight, then this one best fits into the “Health” life area.  I recommend that you have at least 2-3 values for each life area, so feel free to edit, re-write, or write new ones as needed.

5.  Assess your current reality (how well you’re doing) for each life area. How do you feel about your health, family, career, etc.?  Are you making the success you had hoped to achieve in each area?  What things are going great?  What things need to improve or change?  Are there any areas where you feel you need a major overhaul?  This is a chance for you to benchmark where you’re at today in each life area, so you can measure and celebrate your improvement and success in the future.

6.  Review your list of goals and assign each one to the life area it best fits into. For example, if you have a goal to lose 20 pounds, then this one best fits in the “Health” life area.  Next, set a deadline for each goal and sort the goals according to the deadline:  within the next 3 months, sometime this year, over the next 3 years.  Make sure you have goals for each life area.  Sometimes we focus more on our “Career” life area and don’t think much about the  “Spiritual/Ethical” or “Personal Development” life areas. But we won’t reach our full potential if we don’t invest in each area.

7.  Narrow your focus by picking your seven top goals (one goal from each of the seven life areas) to focus on for the next season – which could be this month or this quarter. If you have a hard time deciding which one should be the “top” one for a certain life area…don’t worry…just pick one this month or quarter, and pick the other one the next month or quarter!

8. Identify your overarching seasonal theme that will help you accelerate the achievement of your goals and reach your full potential. This is a tip I learned from one of my mentors. Stop and think for a moment:  As you look over your key goals, personal values, and dreams for the future, is there one goal or one thing that, if you did it during this season of life, would…

• make a huge difference in your life?
• positively impact multiple life areas?
• propel you forward faster toward the achievement of your dreams?

If so, write it down and make it what I call your “seasonal theme,” the over-arching theme for this season of your life.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

Imagine that, as you look over your top goals and values for each life area, you notice that you have a Family goal to dedicate more time to your family, a Career goal to create more time flexibility into your work schedule, and a Financial goal to allocate more money in a travel fund so you can travel more with your family.

It seems there might be something you can do that would give you a big impact in these three life areas…but the course of action you could take will depend on the other goals and values you’ve established.

One thing you could do is find a new job that gives you more income and greater time flexibility.  Another thing you could do is start your own business, either full or part-time.  So, for this season of life, you dedicate time, energy and resources to finding that new job or starting that new business.

Or, you might realize that your income is fine and you enjoy your job, but you’d like to see if there’s a way to change your job a bit, or move into a different position that gives you a less demanding schedule, doesn’t require you to work late or travel so much, and will allow you to take your full vacation time off without guilt.  So, for this season of life, you dedicate time, energy and resources to finding a way to downshift your job and life.

Again, there are multiple courses of action, depending on your personal situation.  But the main point is that you identify a theme that will be your main focus, your rallying cry, for the next season of your life and help move you farther and faster toward your other goals and dreams.

9.  Make a separate “Goal Planning Worksheet” for your seven life area goals and your seasonal theme goal. At the top of each sheet, write today’s date, the life area that this goal corresponds with, and the due date. Leave space at the top for a completion date, which you’ll fill-in when the goal is completed.  Next, write out the goal using the SMART format (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Tangible).  Then list the benefits you’ll receive by achieving this goal.  Feel free to write a few sentences – these will help motivate you to achieve the goal.  Next, list the obstacles that could keep you from successfully attaining the goal, along with ways you can avoid or overcome the obstacles.  Lastly, identify the specific action steps that are necessary for you to achieve this goal.  You might list them in order and put a target date next to each one…or you might create a mind map or use some other kind of chart or timeline.

10. Re-orient your life around your personal development plan. Now that you’ve set some serious goals and created a plan for achieving them, you need to be sure you allocate enough time to work your plan.  This means you’ll have to decide what things you need to start doing, and what things you need to stop doing.  If you don’t, one of two things typically happens; either you…

• keep doing all the stuff you’ve been doing, attempt to add your new goals on top of it, and watch your life become overloaded and out of balance
• keep doing all the stuff you’ve been doing and never get around to finding the time to work your new goals.

We don’t often like to think there’s a price for achieving what we want in life.  But there is!  You need to ask yourself, “what price am I willing to pay in order to achieve my goals and dreams and life to my full potential?”  Robert Pagliarini, in his new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose, reminds us that we work 8 hours, we sleep 8 hours, and we have 8 hours left…which we can fritter away on tv, the internet, etc., or strategically invest in the things and people that are most important to us.  And as I’ve said before, life’s greatest truth and hardest lesson is this:  Everything is a choice.

You’ll also want to set aside a regular time to review your progress as you work your plan.  I recommend a weekly review to help keep your goals fresh and on your mind.

11.  Repeat. Now that you’ve taken a good look at yourself, clarified your purpose, created your personal development plan, and have begun to work your plan, the next step is to repeat steps 5-10 as needed (I recommend quarterly, though you can do it monthly).

After a few months or quarters, you’ll be amazed at how many goals and dreams you’ve achieved, and you’ll feel a sense of greater fulfillment and freedom.

Final thoughts

I’ve given you a lot of info here, but I tried to keep it as simple as possible.  I hope you’ll find these steps helpful as you seek to reach your full potential in life.

Remember that success comes in stages, and you won’t reach your full potential over night.  It is the journey of a lifetime that takes time and can involve some trial and error.

Don’t feel you have to “get it right” the first time. With each month, or quarter that you use this planning process, you’ll gain new insights and greater clarity and focus. And you’ll move closer to reaching your full potential.  I’ve always found that experience both clarifies and illuminates my path more and more.

Have you ever created a personal development plan?  If so, how has it worked for you? If not, is it something that you want to try in order tohelp you reach your full potential?  Please share your comments.

You might also like:

• How to reach your full potential pt. 1: Take a good look at yourself
• How to reach your full potential pt. 2:  Clarify your purpose in life
• How to attract success in your life

Last time, in How to Reach Your Full Potential:  First, Take a Good Look at Yourself, we defined “reaching your full potential” as being the best “you” that you can be.  Being in your sweet spot where you feel the most fulfilled, the most on-purpose, and where you’re making the greatest difference in the world.  Knowing who you are, what you’re good at, and how to maximize that for the greatest good.

I explained that the first step in reaching your full potential is to begin with a process of self-discovery and introspection, where you take a good, long look at yourself by…

• Identifying your unique talents, skills, gifts and abilities.
• Clarifying your dreams and goals for the future.
• Revealing your personal values.
• Uncovering your personality tendencies.
• Discovering your interests and passions.
• Reviewing your life experiences: your jobs education, volunteer experiences, major achievements, and major crises.

Once you’ve engaged this process and have created your life mind map (see the last post for details if you missed it), what’s next?

Step Two in How to Reach Your Full Potential:  Clarify Your Purpose in Life

I believe it is impossible to reach your full potential if you don’t know your purpose in life. Otherwise, you can be busy doing a lot of great stuff, but it really won’t bring you the satisfaction and fulfillment you’re looking for, because it wasn’t the stuff you were meant to do.

First, what do I mean when I talk about Life Purpose?  Others may refer to it as a mission or calling.  It is the overarching theme of your life, which blends your interests, skills, goals, passions, and dreams together.  It is built on life experiences of the past, and points you toward your future.  And it becomes your guide, and a benchmark, to help you weigh future decisions.

Here’s how to clarify your life purpose:

1. Grab your life mind map and look for any recurring or overarching themes in your life and any overlapping experiences or interests.  Spend some time thinking about what these recurring or overlapping experiences.  What might they mean or indicate regarding your future? Jot down whatever comes to your mind.
2. Identify the highest priority roles you fulfill in your life (for example:  at home, at work, at church, in your community).
3. Write down the values and ideals that are important to who you want to be in the future (for example:  excellence, continuous improvement, generosity, goal achievement).
4. List the most important long-term goals and achievements you wish to obtain.  Remember, you highlighted these when you created your master dream list.

Next, summarize all that you’ve written down into a few sentences or one paragraph. You might do it like this:  “The purpose of my life is to….”  This will be the first draft of your life purpose statement.  You can feel free to edit, refine, or synthesize it a bit, then let it sit for a few days or maybe a week. Then come back to it and see if it still feels good and makes sense to you.

For example, as I look at the one-page mind map of my life, I see the following:

I have strong written and verbal skills and have had lots of experience in writing for media, nonprofit organizations and for-profit enterprises, and speaking in public.  One recurring theme is that I’ve had several career positions that were created for me. Another related theme is that several of my jobs have been with organizations where I started as a volunteer and then was hired for a position.

According to the different personality profiles I’ve done, I’m a natural promoter and influencer.  I enjoy working as a team, but also enjoy working on my own. My strengths are in brainstorming. creating new things, breaking down complex concepts into more manageable pieces, and promotion.

Other points of interest:  I’ve been mentored by some very successful and wealthy people. I’m passionate about pursuing my God-given dreams and creating more freedom and fulfillment in my life and work, and I feel called to help others to do the same. I’ve been active in church-based ministries that make a difference in the lives of others. I’ve had a long-standing passion for entrepreneurship. I have a heart for under-resourced people.  I view myself as a steward of all the resources that have been entrusted to me (time, money, influence, skill, knowledge, etc.) and I want to invest those resources in the lives of others.

Add all that up, and I could summarize my life purpose in this way: To use my God-given communication skills, influence and entrepreneurial spirit to improve the lives of other people, helping them achieve their dreams and create more freedom and fulfillment in their life and work.

So, what’s next?  How does knowing my life purpose help me reach my full potential?  We’ll talk about that next time, when we discuss Step 3 of How to Reach Your Full Potential: Create Your Own Personal Development Plan.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this process so far?  If so, please post them in the comments section.

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• How to attract success in your life