It becomes a lot easier for you to change yourself and change things in your life that are within your control when you start to take full responsibility for everything in your life.

As you start to increase your influence in a positive way, doors will start to open for you and your options will also increase. When you grow, you will increase your influence.

Would you rather wait until you retire to start having fun in your life, to have money in your life and be comfortable? Or would you rather have those things now? I don’t know how old you are but I’m guessing the answer is, you would rather have those things now.

1. Investing In Yourself

Most people around the world would rather have those things now too, but they follow everybody else and invest in retirement, so they can start to have fun, money and comfort then.

They avoid the risk of investing in themselves right now, so what happens is they live a life they are unhappy with, makes them miserable and look forward to when they’re in their 60s so they can retire.

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Why can’t you start living a happy, fulfilling and better life right now? What obstacles are in your way that prevent you from living that kind of life? Would you rather live or just exist like everybody else?

To become your best you, create the future for your life that you want, and make a difference in the world then you need the options and the freedom to be able to do that. However, most people throughout the world don’t look for that in their lives, they want stability and most of all security.

A lot of people don’t like what they are doing in their lives for work, so it makes you think, “Why are they doing something that they don’t like?” The main reason is because they have no alternative, there are no options available to them.

Why don’t they have any options? You might be thinking, and the answer is because they are not focussed on their growth. They are just focussed on drifting through their lives. What do you focus on?

How do you feel right now as you read this article? Do you know where you want to go and what you want to do with your personal growth, or have you come to a stop, and you haven’t done anything for a while?

2. Your Personal Growth

Lots of people throughout the world start out focussing on their personal growth with a lot of strength, but as they come up against obstacles or things get difficult, they stop and focus on something completely different.

I know because I have done this myself many times, but I re-focussed and continued to work on myself.

If you are one of those people who have come up against obstacles or difficult times and it has forced you to stop working on yourself, then you need to re-focus because it’s time for you to make that difference in the world.

If you are unsure where to start focussing again, then start with YOU! Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself what you are going to do to re-focus.

We talked about your options earlier, well your personal growth options are not available while you’re working during the day (or night depending when you’re on shift). Your real personal growth options are only available when you’re out of work time.

While you’re at work you are being told what needs to be achieved and you are set a daily working agenda by your boss, meaning he/she is in control. When it comes to your own personal growth and development, you must be in 100% control.

If you finish work at 5pm on a weekday, then usually your weekday personal growth options are available to you between 5pm to 9pm, and the weekends if you don’t work weekends. It is totally up to you how you invest your time when you are not at work.

3. Sacrifices

It is during these times when you are away from work when you will make the necessary sacrifices and put in the necessary discipline to grow yourself.

If you want to improve where you work currently, how much they pay you, what work you do, and how much you work then the time away from work will determine that. This is all up to you, so what changes do you need to make?

Almost 90% of our results and the influence that we increase comes from the character we develop in ourselves. The rest of the results and influence we increase comes from the competency we develop in ourselves.

So, to improve the options you have in your life, you can either focus on your character development or competency development. What do you think?

When people are taken on in a new job, they are most often hired for what they know, which is their competency. But when they are let go, they are usually fired because of who they are, which is their character.

4. Character Development

For you to do what you want to do in your life, you need to increase your influence with the person who will give the opportunity. The main reason this person would give you an opportunity is due to your character (who you are).

To learn a person’s character does take some time so if you were to have character issues, and they were to learn this then the opportunity would eventually go to waste.

You must ensure that when you are given the opportunity you feel you deserve to create the future you want, that you don’t let it go to waste.

As you develop your character you will start to network with others who have good character, and even great character. So, your influence will increase with these people, and they will multiply your influence into a greater network of people.

This will all happen as soon as you become deliberate about your personal growth and invest 80% of your time into your character development. As you do this you will attract others who have a similar level and greater level of character.

Don’t do what everyone else is doing, don’t just go with the flow. Make your own decision on where you want to go. When you know exactly where you want to get to in your life, your passion to grow and get there will rise inside you.

You will not accept anybody telling you that what you’re doing or where you’re going is the wrong thing to do. You will have nobody to compare with but yourself. Your only comparison will be who you were yesterday, and today you’re trying to be better.

So, for you to do this, deliberately invest the other 20% of your time into your competency development. The areas in your life that you feel you are talented in and have a natural interest in.

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When you work on yourself to develop your character and competency in your areas of talent and interest, you will begin to attract people who have the same interests as you do. When this happens, you will start to see options open to you and opportunities will come your way.

These are waiting for your now to take. It’s not going to be easy, and at this present time you may not be doing what you want to be doing in your life, but you cannot let that worry you. Start where are not, and you will grow yourself into the areas of your life where you want to be, and where you want to get to.

If you are willing to start this work on yourself and you see small changes happening within yourself and around you, you will be on the right path to creating the future you want for yourself. Your career path will take the direction you want it to.

How willing are you to make the right sacrifices in your life so you continuously grow towards where you want to get to in your life?

Keep focussed on the future you want to create for yourself. There will be times when you are offered attractive job roles, more money and a better lifestyle, but if you feel they are not right for you because they are taking you off your path to your future, then it is up to you to make the right decision.

I welcome hearing how this post has influenced the way you think, the way you lead, or the results you have achieved because of what you’ve learned in it. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting below.

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All the best,

Tom (Lead, Grow, Influence)