How much does fear of failure really restrict you in your personal growth and the process of leadership development? Certainly any aspiring leader understands that an important part of their personal leadership development is learning to effectively deal with failure. Does fear of failure stop you from doing some of the things that you know will make you a greater leader? What if you could finally overcome the fear of failure for good? If you are ready to learn the secret to this, and how it can set your leadership development on the fast track to success, then keep reading.

First of all, the antidote for fear is always greater understanding of what that fear represents. Most of the time, when we look the thing that we fear dead in the face, it becomes less of a threat to us. That said, fear of failure is based on ignorance as to what failure really represents. You see, failure is just as crucial to your personal leadership development as success is. This is because there simply is no chance of success without failure occurring as well. Failure is the price that you pay to eventually achieve success.

All of the people in history who have accomplished great things, as well as those today have one thing in common: they all have a tremendous amount of failures under their belts. They succeeded not because they were better than anyone else at what they did. They succeeded because they made more attempts. When those attempts failed, they used that failure to correct course and they kept going. These failures contributed to their personal leadership development and helped them to learn what worked and what didn’t.

For example: the great baseball player Ty Cobb stole more bases than anyone else during his time. He also got called out for failing to steal bases more than anyone. Which one is he remembered for? What about the ten thousand attempts at creating the light bulb by Thomas Edison? You know, the actor and screenplay writer Sylvester Stallone said: “I have learned that success comes from the ability to effectively manage failure.” How can you learn to effectively manage failure if you keep running from it?

You see, even if you are able to succeed in getting what you are after you will not experience the leadership development which is needed to build the character for you to sustain that success. Things which come easy to people often go just as easy. However, when you are willing to pay the price of success you attach more value to it. You work harder to keep it and you appreciate it more. Not only that, you know what it takes to duplicate the process correctly, over and over and over.

If you want to reap the rewards of true leadership development and enjoy your success, there is nothing to fear from paying the price. That price is failure, action, failure, action and finally success.

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Reading is to mind while exercise is to the body. “A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating as wiser by always reading.”

But why do we really need to read? “Reading sweeps the cobwebs away.” What does this means? “Reading enhances thinking. It stretches and strains our mental muscles. It hits our narrow, delicate, intolerant views with new ideas and strong facts. It stimulates growing up instead of growing old.

In other words, reading develops us. It scratches those itches down deep inside. It takes us through virgin territory we would not otherwise discover.

There are three classifications of reader: simple reader, gentle reader and intelligent reader.

The Simple reader is an ordinary book consumer who read to make use of his spare time. Without any definite purpose, more often than not he does not read a book the second time.

The Gentle reader, who wants to grow and who turns to books as a means of purifying his tastes depends his feelings, broadening his sympathies and enhancing his joy in life. He reads not from a constraint of fashion of learning, but from a thirst of pleasure. Such enjoyment re-establish the heart and quickens it, makes it stronger to endure the ills of life and more fertile in all good fruits of courage, love and cheerfulness.

The Intelligent reader is the particular type of reader whose aim in reading is to obtain better acquaintance with facts. His greatest desire is to learn about things and he treasures books because of the accuracy of information they contain.

To become a good reader, here are some pointers.

- Maintain a healthful routine. This means that to read at your best, you must be in good physical condition. Most of us read only when we are stranded in an island or when we. are confined in the hospital.

- When reading avoid unnecessary distractions. Some people we know have trained themselves to read in noisy surroundings. Most persons, however, find it easier to read in a disturbing sights and sounds.

- Have a clear objective for your reading. Why do you read? And why do you read that kind of book? When you turn the printed page, you should have a clear purpose for reading in mind. Just saying the word’s silently while your mind is elsewhere, or when you have no goal for your reading, is a waste of time.

- Get into the habit of reading widely. You can improve your reading ability only by reading abundantly. Get into the habit of reading a great deal. You may start with light materials – with a popular magazine, a daily newspaper, or a book of easy short stories.

Find time to discover the richness of reading. Reading can make you rich in mind and soul. Try reading, you’ll enjoy it!

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Learning to read doesn’t just happen. It has to be taught through systematic, organized instruction. Reading is a skill which is built upon through stages and is an ongoing process.

If a stage of reading development has not been learned, students will flounder in their reading ability, which also affects their writing skills. It is imperative that teachers make certain students fully understand each stage of the reading/writing process before they move on to the next level.

Jean Chall, world renowned reading expert and psychologist for fifty years, and past professor emeritus at Harvard University cites her five stages of reading development below:

Stage 0:

Pre-reading Stage:

Unsystematic accumulation of understandings about reading between pre-school and kindergarten.

Stage 1:

Initial Reading or Decoding Stage (grades 1-2; Ages 6-7 )

Student’s central task is learning arbitrary letters and associating them with corresponding parts of spoken words. Learner acquires knowledge about reading. Phonics.

Stage 2:

Confirmation, Fluency, Ungluing from Print, Automaticity Stage (grades 2-3; Ages 7-8)

Consolidation of what was learned in Stage 1. Requires reading many easy and familiar books for developmental reading. Gradual increase in functional and recreational reading. Common use of the basal readers. Functional reading important – content area texts – here’s where we fail in our attempts to prepare our students. Range of possible recreational reading increases.

Stage 3:

Reading for Learning the New Stage: A First Step (Grades 4-8; ages 9-13)

Readers need to bring prior knowledge to their reading. Children acquire facts.

Stage 4:

Multiple Viewpoints Stage: (High School; Ages 14-18)

Should include instruction in reading/study skills, and reading strategies for success.

Stage 5:

Construction & Reconstruction Stage: College ; Ages 18 & up)

Adult literacy should stress acquisition of skills useful to the participants and the ability to apply those skills.

These are the stair steps of reading development. They are built upon and climbed, as students grow in their literacy development. Sometimes students get stuck in one of the stages. It’s my job as a literacy specialist to “unstick” them so they can move on to the next phase and beyond, empowering them to become enthuiastic readers and writers.

Copyright © 2006 by Pamela Beers. All rights reserved.

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What is the Slight Edge and what does it have to do with personal development, self help, success, prosperity, abundance, wealth, business, career, money and freedom? The Slight Edge is a philosophy for living life that was introduced to me by a man named Jeff Olson. Not only are the principles of the Slight Edge intertwined with all of the things mentioned above, but it also is at work in the lives of those who experience depression, poverty, poor health, debt, unemployment, jobs they hate and unfulfilling relationships. The Slight Edge is at work all the time, every day in the life of every single conscious human being on this planet.

You can read Jeff Olson’s book or listen to his audio program about the Slight Edge, but I will do my best to simply summarize its meaning here for you. The Slight Edge is really referring to the very slight difference between making positive choices and negative ones, between choosing things that will enhance and improve our lives versus things that will bring us less than we truly desire. For instance, each day you have an opportunity to make hundreds, if not thousands of decisions! When to wake up, what to wear, what to eat, whether or not to exercise, what to say or not say to family and friends, what to read, what to watch, where to go, what people to see and spend time with, what to listen to, what to think and on and on and on.

Most of these “choices” that we make each day may not even feel like choices because so many of them are made on more of an unconscious level than a conscious one. However, even choices that we make day and day out require our conscious approval in order to take place and we have the power and ability within ourselves to change what choices we make at any given time. Understanding how the Slight Edge works and the difference it can make in your life over time will give you an added sense of discipline and desire to make those positive choices that are in your best interest.

An important element of the Slight Edge philosophy is understanding that most individual choices are easy to do, but they are also easy not to do. It’s easy to choose to eat a healthy salad for lunch instead of a hamburger, but it is also easy not to do that. Therein lies the power of the Slight Edge choice. To understand the influence of the Slight Edge at work in your life it is important to look at a given choice over time, let’s say one year. If you watch one hour of television each day, that doesn’t really seem like a big deal right? It is certainly easy to do and it could also be said that it is easy not do. On average, Americans watch much more than one hour of television a day, but for the sake of this illustration we will assume you watch just one hour. The equates to seven hours a week, approximately 30 hours a month and 365 hours a year, which is equivalent to more than nine 40 hour work weeks! I’m not saying this is good or bad I’m just illustrating the power of the Slight Edge at work. When you think about your daily choices in terms of their impact and influence in your life over one year or one decade, it puts those activities into better perspective.

Now, I’m not saying we should not watch TV, go to movies, relax, or anything like that. I enjoy doing all of those things, in proper balance. My intention in sharing my experience with this philosophy with you is to help you understand that there are little simple things that you can begin doing today, that if done over time, will absolutely transform your life. It is about understanding the potential that each of us have to grow, to progress, to improve, to create, to expand and to be a better, more fulfilled and happy person in one year than we are today! How can we go about making Slight Edge improvements to our daily choices so that we can experience consistent growth and personal development in our lives? There are several ways and I will share a few that have worked phenomenally well for me.

Reading personal development or self help books and listening to similar audio programs has made a huge difference in my life. Do you realize that if you read just 10 pages from a personal development book every day that you will have read 3,650 pages by the end of just one year! Sure, the math is easy and it makes sense, but that translates to easily one or two dozen books. It only takes about 30 minutes a day to do that yet the impact upon the way you think, act and live your life will be tremendously enhanced. Reading 10 pages a day is easy to do. It is also easy not to do. Therein lies the power of the Slight Edge decision. Additionally, if you listen to just 15 minutes of inspiring personal development audio programs, podcasts or audiobooks each day while driving to and from work or while exercising, that equates to 91.25 hours of listening in one year; more than two 40 hour work weeks put together! Do you think putting such content into your mind and applying it in your life would help you to become a better person and be more successful in achieving your personal and professional goals? Absolutely! It is easy to do? Is it easy not to do?

You see, a large majority of people read trashy magazines, watch tv and listen to worthless radio instead of reading personal development books, listening to inspiring audio and taking a little time out to improve their lives. We should not be surprised if our lives our not what we wish them to be if we are not taking the simple daily actions to improve ourselves and to be better. Our lives right now, in this present moment, are nothing more than a cumulative result of everything that we have thought and done previously in life! If you do not like your situation, your relationships, your job, your build, your income (or lack thereof), then look in the mirror and make a firm resolve to yourself that you will begin TODAY to make changes in the Slight Edge choices you make each day. Don’t beat yourself and drop deeper into depression. Celebrate and get excited that you now know what you can do to change your life for the better. Will you transform into the life of your dreams overnight? Of course not. However, by making slight changes each day in the seemingly insignificant choices of what you do, your life will absolutely be transformed in a years time, probably much sooner. I have experienced this first hand and I absolutely know that it works.

When I was a teenager I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and got involved in drinking, drugs, smoking, theft and all variety of unhealthy behavior. My life was falling apart quickly and the future did not look to bright for me. After having a very scary experience with drugs I made a firm decision that I was going to change my life. I made some drastic decisions at that point to dis-associate from my friends, to get rid of all my depressing music, to stop abusing substances and to begin working heavily on improving myself, my mind, my body, my life. What I’ve found for myself and for others is that immediate change can be noticed and experienced, especially when you are making these changes at a very low point in your life. If you are in the depths of despair and the whole world seems to be crashing in upon you then shifting your mind, body and spirit can make a visual transformational difference upon you in a matter of hours. A lot of that depends upon the intensity of your determination to change and to improve your life and your willingness to disassociate yourself, as much as possible, from those things or people that have had such a powerful negative influence over you. This isn’t about running from your problems, but rather about taking back control of your life and not giving that control to anyone but yourself.

I read book after book about personal development. About thoughts, behavior, attitude, goals, success, achievement, etc. Just get your hands on any personal development books that really jump out at you, dive in and absorb as much as you can as quickly as you can. What I loved about these books is that there were always numerous ideas and suggestions that I could immediately begin applying in my mind and in my life to see how they would make a difference. I would do the exercises, follow the guidance and see what happened. I also did a lot of spiritual exploration during this time, praying, meditation, reading scripture and just cleansing myself as well as I knew how. This will be a different process for everyone depending upon your religious persuasions, where you live and what spiritual books and teachers are a part of your life. I also began eating more healthy foods, exercising and getting more adequate rest every night. This was invigorating to build my body, to develop and to see that it was ready to take on new challenges and to be pushed to new limits. That felt good and seemed to help accelerate the growth I was experiencing mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well.

I was 18 years of age when I made that decision to change my life for the better. I am now 31 and have by no means reached the pinnacle of personal growth and achievement. However, I have been fortunate to have enjoyed many remarkable experiences and blessings in my life, due in large part to the fact that I have been continually working on improving myself and the lives of those around me. I’ve traveled throughout the United States and Canada. I received scholarships to college and graduated with honors. I married a beautiful woman when I was 24 and we now have two incredible children with our third to arrive this summer. I have started businesses, invested in real estate, managed multi-million dollar companies and consulted entrepreneurs. I currently own a multi-million dollar business within the Health and Wellness industry and am able to help people from all walks of life all over the world. My future is bright and I know that there are no limits to what I can achieve as long as I continue to follow the Slight Edge path of personal development and striving to improve the lives of others.

It is my desire that you will join with me in this phenomenal journey of life. If you are looking to make some changes in your life, do it now! Take the time for some personal exploration, set your goals, decide what small things you can begin doing each day that will have a powerful cumulative effect upon you and your family in your life. If you are looking to make a professional change or to work within a business that is perfectly aligned with these principles, then let me know. I’d love to explore the possibility of working together with you in my business and helping you to accomplish all of the goals that you set for yourself.

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Personal Development. When you start a network marketing business personal development becomes very important but sometimes that importance is not realized until several months have gone by. You may spend those first few months focusing only on learning the business, product and compensation plan. Or you could believe that by attending company conference calls and business presentations that you are gaining personal development. Most of the time this is not the case.

Most successful entrepreneurs will say to work more on yourself than you do your business. What does this mean? There are several ways to gain personal development. Books, DVDs, Cd’s, online courses, and seminars are just a few that you can use for your home based business. A new exercise program, dietary research, and personal hygiene can be used for physical personal development. You may go even further and decide to work on your spiritual development and can do that be attending your personal religions’ church or temple, reading spiritual books, and learning how to have a relationship with your God.

Let’s take a closer look at using your personal development for your home based business. You may want to sit down and write down your weaknesses pertaining to you business as well as your strengths and then systematically start creating situations where you are making both stronger. Weaknesses are important to improve upon, but strengths are going to carry you so improving your strengths is just as important.

Pick some mentors to mold yourself after. Each business that you are in will have several mentors available to you whether they are in your business or in your industry. Surrounding yourself with these leaders will make you become stronger, more confident, and focused in your business. Your most important mentors can be people that you have never even met. They are leaders whose material you follow and learn to create greatness within yourself. Call the leaders within your organization- interview them, take them to lunch if possible, and ask them how they got where they are at. I guarantee it was through personal development coupled with a determination and desire to succeed.

Set goals for yourself on a daily basis. Personal development should be twenty percent of your daily activities. So if you are working a five hour day in your home based business four hours should be spent on your business and one hour spent on your personal development. Decide what you are going to be doing and stick to it. Start small and work up to where you want to be. You definitely do not want to overwhelm yourself with too much information. Realize that everything that you read, see and hear may not be for you but take the key components that are and apply them to your home business and your life.

Make sure that the business that you choose has a way set up for you to gain personal development from within the business. Many businesses offer webinars or calls with industry personal development coaches, have recommendation site for reading, or provide referrals for seminars to attend. Having a business that promotes personal development as well as the business is key to your success.

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Home based business ideas require that you choose the right one among thousands that you may have in order for you to achieve internet success. Apart from choosing the right idea, your personal improvement will also contribute heavily towards your success with any of your home based business ideas.

Most of the emerging entrepreneurs do not understand the significance of personal improvement which forms the basic essence of any successful businessperson.

Some of the smart entrepreneurs learn very quickly the importance of their personal development for the success of their business. However, many do not which lessens their chance of survival in the business. This is the basic reason for such high failure rates of home based businesses.

It is always a wise plan to improve you first before taking on any particular task. You might need to emotionally strengthen yourself along with updating your knowledge, skills and physical health in order to achieve any level of success in your business.

Here, is a basic view of the relationship between home based business ideas and personal development.

Sources of personal development:

You will find numerous resources on Google and Yahoo that will help you to obtain nearly any personal development requirements that you may have. There are also many text books and magazine articles that you can get from your local library or book store to help you in this endeavor as well. You will be wise to study those resources which are authored by people with real life experiences in the subject matter rather than a ghost writer who has no real life experience with the subject matter.

DVD’s and CD’s are other excellent resources which can help you with your personal development. The Internet is also a giant resource. Internet online courses and live webinars are very helpful for home based businesses and generally the training is free.

Physical and spiritual personal development:

• It is also important to keep yourself physically fit, healthy with good personal hygiene. You should have an exercise at least three times per week depending upon your age and health condition. A good dietary program is also important.
• You should also consult your Doctor and/or your Health Consultant to find out if there is any medication that you should be taking to manage any potential stress that you may be experiencing now or that you perceive could affect you in managing your business in the future.

Personal development also includes attending seminars and other training events to give you more exposure to new knowledge, techniques, and technical skills needed to manage your business. This type of training not only helps to expand your personal qualities but it also gives you exposure to other people who may later become your mentors.

Ratio of personal development training:

Ideally people should allot or dedicate at least 20% of their time from their daily routine towards personality development. For instance, if people spend five hours for their home business they should allot at least one hour for personal development. That ideal rate should be 5:1. Basically opening up your mind for new learning towards improving your personality will reflect on your business results.

General points to consider for personal development training:

• Focus on your most important needs first. Don’t shotgun a wide variety of subjects at the same time. Lock in on your most important needs first and follow up with others later.
• Start slow and expand gradually according to your needs and necessities.
• Focus on the specific needs of your home based business. Not all businesses need the same knowledge and skill sets. Find out what your needs are and stick to that subject matter.
• Don’t try to learn it all right now. Too much of information will bring chaos, frustration, lack of self confidence and most likely depression causing both your health and your business to suffer accordingly.
• Some home businesses even offer their distributors free personal development training. If so, then this is an excellent way for you to obtain some of the training that you may not already possess.

As a closing note, remember that your personal development is critical to your success in developing your home based business ideas.

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Additional Success Resources