March 25th Edition of the Personal Development Carnival

Welcome to the March 25, 2007 Edition of The Personal Development Carnival!

It's my pleasure to be the guest host for this edition which is chock full of motivation and inspiration for you.  A range of depths to these articles from basic how-to's and general information to more challenging and higher level concepts to support your growth as well as the growth of your business ventures. Something for everyone here so I hope you surf freely to check everyone out.

The Best Laid Plans

I LOVE this post (my favorite of the group for all its wisdom)and wonder if I will actually be sitting in an airport with a delayed flight while you read this as I am currently enroute to Portland.  I wholeheartedly agree with Christine Kane and her take on Why Your Ego Loves Airline Delays posted at Christine Kane.

So, You Want to Be Steve Pavlina, or Bill Gates or...

Want a Fast Track to Wealth? Everyone seems to be touting self-employment as the only way to really

have an ideal career life. What about school? Many stories out there about those who rejected the traditional educational path and went on to become icons for success.  Think you may want to follow suit? Silicon Valley Blogger presents Should You Quit School Because You’re Brilliant? posted at The Digerati Life.

ispf follows suit with a very nice post for those who are debating whether they should go to college or throw themselves headlong into building a business of one's own. For discernment on the issue, consider the points made at Going To College Vs Starting Your Own Business posted at Grad Money Matters.

For those of you willing to bet that universities do have something to offer the entrepreneur, Ted Reimers offers a Top 10 list of the Best Business Schools for the Entrepreneur posted at CampusGrotto. I'm not sure if this is Ted's personal opinion or how the list was compiled. Perhaps he will elaborate for us?

Self-Employment and Working from Home

Vahid Chaychi presents The First Step to Start an Online Work at Home Business posted at Weboma.com. Says Vahid, "There are many who would love to start an online business that can be done from home. Their problem is they don't know "how" and "from where". The most important thing in starting a new business is making a serious decision. Without a serious decision, no business will be started." But my favorite quote from his post is

working is easy and pleasant for hard-workers and those who like to work.

Amen, Vahid!  Working from home is NOT a solution for those with a poor work ethic.  If you do not love working, do not start your own business. Period. Finito.  Back away from the fantasy. Just. Back. Away.

I love this guy's humor and look forward to seeing where his blog goes.  For more on getting started in your own gig, do check out John's post What it's all about? posted at The Small Business Leap. Be sure to read his "About" page as well.

Success and Money

This is another one of my favorite submissions. An excellent discussion of how we define success and the role of money and material acquisition in determining whether or not we have "made it". Hareesh Chandrupatla presents Creative Power of Thought » True Success posted at Creative Power of Thought.

Leadership and Business Skills

Are you what we might call a "decider" in your business?  Seriously, we all make decisions continually throughout the day but what exactly are ‘decisions’? Especially, 'strategic decisions', which are those meant to have a significant impact? We tend to describe decisions as discrete events or moments in time but is that accurate? Dick Rowan present an interesting perspective in Ways to improve business decision-making at Rowan's Future of Choice

Are professional speaking engagements or presentations part of your work life?  Scott Schwertly presents five key points to combining outstanding content with outstanding delivery in Everyday Greatness posted at Presentation Revolution.

Matt Langdon presents The Secret of My Success posted at The Hero Workshop.

ananga presents How Planning on Paper can Work Wonders for Your Productivity posted at Ananga Sivyer's Living by Design Blog.

Peter Kua presents There is only ONE reason an employee stays posted at RadicalHop.com. In fact, it's the leading reason people decide not to file malpractice suits, too.

David presents the eight attributes,which according to Richard St. John's presentation at TED, lead to success in What Leads to Success? posted at Worldwide Success.

Working hard is important, but it alone will not be sufficient to bring you the rewards of life. Wilson Ng presents Limits to the Fruits of Mere Hard Work posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife.

Aaron Potts presents The 4 Hidden Secret Steps to Starting or Maintaining a Successful Business posted at Today is that Day.

The Positivity Blog presents How to Make a Great First Impression posted at Personal Development with The Positivity Blog.

I once had a boss who refered to my office as "the opium den", does that count?

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a modern day mystic? Check out this list, maybe you already are one. Nneka presents 10 Tell-Tale Signs That You Are A Working Mystic posted at Spirituality on Balanced Life Center.

This One May Hurt a Little

Thumbs up to Alan for seeing the Buddha in a nightmare of a boss.  Great lessons in integrity here and with tax time approaching, this may hit a little close to home for a couple of you folks out there. Just handle your foundation. Really. Now. This year. This month. This week. Alan presents The Worst Boss Ever - Sound familiar? posted at Made to Be Great.

And on that note...Mentoring, and Being Mentored

Very nice article here. Ellesse discusses one of the finer points of having a strong relationship with a mentor, namely being a good mentee.  One of the issues I notice among some coaching clients is their desperation and intense pressure that they have to have specific roadmaps to follow, specific homework, bullet point "take aways" from each session.  In my own experience, the best take aways are the ones that come to you days later as you integrate new information and let it kick around with your pre-conceived notions.  I can tell you that I am still gaining wisdom today from things mentors of mine have said to me years ago.  I mean that quite literally.  Good mentees know how to listen and recognize that listening is a process that continues on and on and on, long after the initial soundwave hits the ear.  For more, please visit How to Find a Good Mentor posted at Goal Setting College.

Alan Torres adds his thoughts on the topic in Choosing a Self-Help Guru, Site or Program posted at Made to Be Great.

And let's hear it for the inner mentor! John Lampard presents The conscience posted at The InterChange Desk.

Ah, the Learning Curve

Craig Harper presents A Mildy Amusing Story about Fear. posted at Motivational Speaker. I remember my first 'public speaking' gig about twenty years ago. Unfortunately. It was a massive affair(!) ...I was doing a lecture to twelve students who were completing their fitness instructor accreditation. I had to talk for one hour. I spent two weeks preparing. Every day for those two weeks I wrote notes, re-wrote notes, planned, visualised, rehearsed (in my head) and generally stressed. For the amount of time, effort and preparation I put in, I probably earned about seventy five cents per hour for the whole experience. Oh yes... I had surely arrived as a public speaker. An orator of some note. Not. It's fair to suggest that Tony Robbins was in no immediate danger.

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Does Anybody Really Care... About TIme?

Once again, I dip into the oldies.  That's a line from the group, Chicago, for you kiddies out there. BUt the answer to the question is: Yes.  At least we say we do and we all seem to want more of it but do we REALLY value it? Scott H Young presents How Much Time Do You Have? posted at Scott H Young.

Personal Development

This is an on going series about becoming outstanding using Benjamin Franklin's 12 virtues. At the time of this carnival the series is at week 4 of 12 - an absolutely perfect time for new readers to join the journey. Alex Shalman presents How To Become An Outstanding Person In Twelve Weeks posted at Alex Shalman . com - Practical Personal Development.

Coach Char presents Simple formula to manifest your intentions posted at CoachChar.com.

Marcy Nala presents Is Your Life Working For You? posted at The Abundant Life.

Karen Lynch discusses the importance of surrender in Faith in the Process posted at LivethePower.

Ooh, this is a nice one, and a question so few of us even think to ask. If you have a plate that is constantly spilling over with all the things you have commited to, you may want to read this. Andrea Hess presents Tool or Master posted at Living Intuition.

Raymond David Salas presents How to Reach Your Potential posted at ZenChill.com Power Tools Blog.

Informed and Responsible Consumers

Think you are getting a good deal? Think again. There are many ways retailers can make you buy more or pay more than you should. If you are a business owner, you are free to set prices for the most efficent profits. Ybother presents 10 Ways Retailers Make You Pay More! posted at A Top Ten List Everyday to Jumpstart Your Knowledge.

Still having a hard time passing up "good deals"?  Maybe you should check out Matthew Paulson's article "Compulsive Shopping Disorder" and Personal Responsability posted at Getting Green.

Health and Wellness

michelle presents I’m Turning My Clock BACK! | American Inventor Spot posted at American Inventor Spot.

Why you should switch over to an electric toothbrush? Because among other reasons, it just cleans better. This means white teeth, fresher breath and less visits to the dentist. Ybother presents 10 Reasons to Switch to an Electric Toothbrush posted at A Top Ten List Everyday to Jumpstart Your Knowledge.

Exercise is good for you, everyone knows that. But how do you get started? I suggest a few practical steps and measures you can take to improve your preparedness to overcome your excuses and get started. Jesper Knutsson presents Overcome your excuses not to start exercising » Self development tips 101 posted at InsiderWeblog.com.

Anmol Mehta presents Brain Development and Enlightenment Part III: Insight Meditation posted at Mastery of Meditation, Enlightenment and Kundalini Yoga.

Learning to Love Yourself

Love your neighbor as yourself. Wonderful words, assuming you have the "love yourself" part down. There is a difference between being a martyr and being a saint. Joysoriano.com elaborates and outlines some steps you can take today to move toward a healthier, happier relationship with your own lovely self in BELOVED – Part II posted at www.joysoriano.com.

Building Healthy Relationships

The fastest way to have your personal growth improve your relationships is by developing your active listening skills. These 10 tips on active listening will help you do just that. Scott Sehlhorst presents Ten Supercharged Active Listening Skills To Make You More Successful posted at Tyner Blain.

Chris presents Stages You Can Go Through As You Improve Your People Skills posted at How to have more social success.

And for more research on happiness, Alvaro Fernandez presents "Tis better to give than receive": oxytocin and dopamine posted at Brain Fitness.

And It's Still Creepy...

Followers of the Carnival of Courage will recognize this post. For those who haven't seen it yet though, here is a tale of high-weirdness, big love, cyber-crime and the mutual insane obsession of two people that never even met. This blog is the true story of how it happened and how I got through it. Lola London presents 1. Tell me a story, Jackanory... posted at L'undone.

That’s it for this edition. Thanks to all who submitted!

To get into the next Carnival which will be hosted on April 1, 2007 @ Alex Shalman . com  submit your post using the carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Interested in hosting an edition of The Personal Development Carnival? Get all of the info here.

Comments

[Lyman Reed]

Wow... outstanding job on hosting, Laura! Thank you so much!

[Joyce]

Thanks for including my article. More power indeed to your blog carnival!

[Anmol]

Thanks for doing a great job hosting this edition of the Carnival. I have linked back to it and hope my readers will head over to read some of the great stuff that was selected.

[divinespiritlove]

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[divinespiritlove]

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