Personal Growth…It Starts With Others

Personal Growth…It Starts With Others

Boy oh boy, I cannot begin to express how difficult this year has been so far and honestly I am a little bit pooped.  As a woman with many titles and a lot going on the idea of being an entrepreneur with Young Living was not really an option for me.   After sharing my love for the company and learning about the opportunity with Young Living I said “Why not?” to the business. Little did I know building a business would lead to more personal growth then I was ready for. 

             
Personal growth is a huge part of running and growing a business.  For those of you like me that saw Young Living as an opportunity to work for yourself and build a better life you know what I am talking about.  When I started “working” the business I did what I could, made a lot of mistakes but grew little by little.  When nothing dramatic happened in my business after a year and half I could see how some people get to this place and just give up or say “this isn’t for me”…but I decided to stick it out.  What I didn’t realize is that I had to grow before my business could grow….and guess what?....personal growth is hard.

                
Personal growth is when you can hone in on your talents and strengths to use them for…wait for it….helping others.  Well for those of you who read that and are like “Duh!” then you are in a better spot then I was.  I knew that I wanted to help people, but always viewed personal growth as…Personal, meaning all about me!  Can this focus on others really help grow your businesses? Yes, of course it can!   The question is how do we work on growing in our personal lives to best effect our growing businesses.

                
I was never one for personal development books…which sounds so arrogant…and honestly it was.  I thought I knew myself, sure didn’t need a book to show me how to be me, well I was super wrong about that.  Have you ever been challenged and start questioning how you have been doing things all along? Well that is what has happened to me as I started on the journey of reading personal development books….I should clarify, I honestly don’t have time for recreational reading so I listen to books as I commute.  I know many of you can relate to this so download Audible and get reading/listening.  Find books that speak to you, I started a John Maxwell book and love it, also Dani Johnson’s First Steps to Success was very perspective changing. Getting to this step of reading and building into my growth only happened because one of my leaders put together book studies.  You and a friend can start reading a book together and discuss what you found to be valuable. On top of learning to grow, we have to start actually applying our new found skills and knowledge, easier said than done.

              
One area I tend to be great in is the purposeful thinking….not so much doing.  I have great ideas that rarely see the light of day. I started to really question this tendency as it is affecting my YL business growth.  I would fill my planner with all of these great intentions, but not actually do them (care calls, follow-ups, posts..ect.).  One of my biggest challenges toward my personal growth is to just do what I say I’m going to do.  I give myself one huge task that I really don’t want to do…or I should say I don’t want to follow through on, and I just do it.  I was very nervous about the daunting task of care calls….not sure why checking in with people is daunting but for me I really was opposed.  When I committed to these calls things shifted and changed.  Focusing on doing instead of thinking is where the growth happens, this is still a challenge for me but I am working on it.  Next we have to genuinely focus on others...not ourselves. 

We are in the business of relationships, so reaching out and fostering relationships without expectation of a sale is really what this is all about.  Most of my friends use Young Living and are in my downline, but I never call them to talk about a sale….we talk about life! This is how we become successful in our business; when we can make our goal to reach out to people to foster a real relationship, not entice a sale.  Reaching out to others is letting them know that we are thinking about them and there for them.  This includes family, friends, co-workers and our business relationships.  A message, text, call, or letter can all be a great way to show people that we care.  When your focus is not on you…you are growing.  

I wrote this as I am working hard at building a life of purpose and abundance. Personal development is not easy and honestly I am still working hard at finding myself and my purpose, but I thought I would share a little bit of my journey with you.