Personal Development

You may be surprised to hear what one of my biggest reasons for becoming a health/fitness coach with Beachbody full time, ultimately was.  It wasn't getting into the best shape of my life.  It wasn't truly understanding good health for the fist time in my life.  It wasn't helping others change their lives.  It wasn't the free trips I could win around the world.  It wasn't the amazing group of individuals that welcomed me like family.  It wasn't the opportunity to make as much $$$ as I wanted to.  It wasn't getting to be my own boss, make my own hours and answer to only myself.  Not that all of these awesome things were not a factor - cause they totally were!  So what was it that had a greater impact than all of that?  It was their emphasis on personal development.  You have to understand, up until becoming a coach, I had never engaged in this or even really knew what it was.  So what does personal development mean to me?  Well what I do is choose areas in my life that are causing me the most stress, friction, tension, or are holding me back and I jump right in.  My personal development can come in many forms including:  Reading a book, watching a video, reading an article, attending a class, seminar or workshop, trying something new, etc.  All they were asking of me was 10 minutes a day ... I figured I could do that!  Little did I know what I would begin to learn about myself and how many doors it would begin to open for me!

Now for those of you who have done or are doing any personal development, you know it can be pretty uncomfortable.  I mean come on, no one wants to hear what their faults are or what they need to work on!  If you're someone who is reading this thinking, "What is she talking about?  My faults are really insignificant and I really don't have much to work on."  You're the ones that most likely need it the most!
If you are someone like I used to be, then you commonly put your needs last and you put the needs of those around you first.  Well guess what, we ALL have problems.  How about you leave someone else's problems to them and start getting to truly know yourself!  You don't need to be in everyone else's business except to offer love and support!  If you're there to judge or tell them what to do then you have some issues of your own that are driving you to believe you could possibly know what's best for someone else.  The more you start addressing YOU and working towards balance, the more free and happy you will feel :) 
So are you having the same fight with your spouse?  Is your business not thriving?  Do you have low self esteem?  Are you an emotional eater?  Whatever the case may be .... find a positive way to help yourself grow in that area.  You'll probably agree if we have a rough situation or something that tends to be challenging for us, then those things will always seem to happen more frequently!  Wouldn't you agree?  However, they don't happen as a way to annoy us or kick us while we're down, despite how strongly we may feel the opposite at times!  They happen so we have an opportunity to learn and grow, until we have mastered a new way to deal with it.  Well at least that's a choice you have anyways.  You can also choose to always feel sorry for yourself, settle for a life that is less than thrilling, always have an excuse for everything, always point the finger at other people, never try anything new out of fear and never truly experience life! 
So I challenge you to engage in some personal development every single day! Be willing to get uncomfortable and stretch yourself.  Be willing to admit you may not know everything about everything and open your mind to new possibilities! 
Personal development has taught me that area outside of your comfort zone is where all of the really cool stuff happens.  It has empowered me to not be afraid to journey there, in fact I often times welcome it now! 
How far outside of your comfort zone are you willing to go?