As you go about your routine, have you built in time for ongoing personal development?
For me, I take at least 20 minutes a day to get a feel for what other people are doing— people I respect. I call this “continuing education” and the way it works for me is I check in from time to time on people who I know are more successful, more effective, and have a bigger following than me.
For example:
Oprah – businesswoman extraordinaire
His Holiness the Dalai Lama – religious figure
Marshall Goldsmith – thought leader
Michio Kaku – physicist and futurist
TED.org — a great introduction to what smart people are doing worldwide
What are you doing to think better? As an A+ student in high school, I considered myself at the head of the class, but when I entered an Ivy Leage for college, I realized that there were plenty of people brighter than me — so I started to focus on my core attributes and develop a success mindset that goes beyond any kind of limitation for my own abilities and instead builds up the abilities of my community and clients, as a whole. All of us working together achieve more.
What are your core attributes? What are the unique skills and talents that you have in your life? Entrepreneurship, for many of us, means showing up, being focused, finding the right people to help, and identifying and sharing a clear vision.
Who do you “follow” who is just a little bit more than you — maybe they’re more senior, or they’re more networked, or they’re more green, or they’re more sustainable.
Find someone who is performing at a higher level, and find out how they do it and what makes them “tick.”
In my Facebook account, I’ve grouped these people into my “Influentials” list and I review it when I check my news feed. Let’s face it — not everyone has a stimulating status update, but when you get a sense of how these A+ people operate and what moves them during their regular day, you can learn how to achieve on their level.
