This page includes…
This page has many good tips and links. I highly recommend reading the entire page before you click on a link and leave the page.
Many “secrets” are just knowledge that you have not found yet. Many experts happily share their secrets with the world, in books, articles, podcasts, and videos.
There are natural and environmental opportunities. If you agree that an opportunity is a chance to have a positive impact, then our natural abilities and skills are natural opportunities. The more you focus on improving your natural opportunities, or skills, the more likely environmental opportunities will find you.
There are guarantees in life including opportunities, challenges, choices, and each new day is a new trek with new opportunities, challenges, and choices. New knowledge can help you manage opportunities and challenges and make better choices.
Shortcuts in Life
Almost anything you want to learn or overcome someone has written a book about it. Don’t like to read? Many of the best books have online videos where the author shares the highlights. New knowledge from other people can save you years of personal experience. But no one can walk the path for you. You still have to do the work. Consider the Anewtrek YouTube curated playlists… https://www.youtube.com/@anewtrek/playlists
Make sure you click on “View full playlist” in the small print below the playlist name.
Try to find work that fits your specific personality or strengths early in your life. But, if you can’t, know that the more you do good work, improve your skills, and build “career capital,” the better you can position yourself to find future work that feels like a better fit for you. Young adults might not have job experience, but they have a fresh and unique view of the world with a specific personality and strengths, along with an energy most older adults don’t have. Plus, young adults have more time to grow their investments.
Compound interest doesn’t just apply to money, it also applies to our knowledge, health, and relationships. I encourage you to schedule time every week to gain knowledge on important topics to you in this season of your life. It’s always a good season to learn about your health, and relationships (especially Communication Skills). Some experts claim money is the main reason for arguments in intimate relationships. However, our communication habits and emotional fitness determine whether a discussion turns into an argument.
Money management and investing are undervalued skills.. The book, The Psychology of Money, shares many timeless personal finance principles. If you don’t have a retirement fund, you can set up your own. A Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a popular option.You can also create your own stand alone “Cash” investment account, with a stock market investing company like Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, Merrill Lynch, or E-Trade.
Consider doing a personality assessment and the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment. I personally like the DISC personality assessment because it is simple and easy to remember and share, This can help you better understand why some situations or roles feel more comfortable or uncomfortable. Plus understanding the DISC personality assessment will help you better understand other people.
Consider a morning routine that gets you energized and starts each day well. Your morning routine depends on getting a good night's rest, which depends on how we wind down each day. The Miracle Morning is a good read on this topic.
Top 12 Personal Growth Books
Limitless (has tips to increase reading speed and memory)
Mindset
Decisive
The Willpower Instinct
Strengths Finder 2.0
Emotional Intelligence 2.0
Crucial Conversations
The 7 Pillars of Health
The Miracle Morning
Atomic Habits
Grit
Finish
Personal growth and professional growth can be a competitive advantage in any industry.
Top 10 Professional Growth Books
So Good They Can’t Ignore You
What Color is Your Parachute?
The Proximity Principle
Designing Your Life
Linchpin
Mastery
Outliers
Free Professional Growth Courses
If you are interested in some free professional growth online courses consider
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue
https://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
https://pll.harvard.edu/catalog/free
https://online.stanford.edu/free-courses
Professional Considerations
A professional is someone who takes responsibility for their growth and works to improve their skills. You can become a certified professional by finishing an apprenticeship or completing tests of knowledge in specific areas.
If you are interested in an apprenticeship consider the Apprenticeship Finder at https://www.apprenticeship.gov.
Getting a certification not only increases your advantage with proven skills, it shows you can be proactive. Some popular professional certifications that can apply to many different industries include CPR & First Aid, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Cyber Security (like the CompTIA Security +), Project Management Professional, Scrum, Certified Safety Manager, Safety Trained Supervisor, Associate Safety Professional, Safety Management Specialist, Forklift, Certified Professional Sales Person, Customer Relationship Management (like Hubspot, Salesforce, Monday, or Zoho), Digital Marketing (like Search Engine Optimization, or Google Ads, or Facebook Ads).
Side Hustle Ideas
Many people are in positions where they could use a little extra money each week, or month. You never know, maybe a side hustle could become a full time job? Some obvious ones are used goods flipper (buy local on sale items, or garage sale items, and sell online), content creator, handyman, create designs and sell at an online print on demand website like Printify.
There is an entire website devoted to side hustles and has a page devoted to 30 Side Hustle Ideas… https://www.sidehustlenation.com/ideas/
If you have some skills that you feel comfortable helping people with, consider listing yourself on Freelancer, https://www.freelancer.com/, or Upwork, https://www.upwork.com/.
Growth Groups
Many people find it helpful to join, or start, a study group or mastermind group (think group). A study group meets to discuss different chapters of a book. You can have a different person be responsible for reading each chapter and preparing discussion points for each meeting. Or one person can be responsible for reading and preparing discussion points, and facilitate the discussion. This can be done for an hour weekly, two hours every other week, or two to three hours once a month.
A mastermind group is when people get together to brainstorm and help each other think of how to achieve their goals. This always includes some encouragement, and discussion about opportunities and challenges. This can be as simple as answering three questions… What are you currently working on? What do you want help with? What did you learn that others might find helpful, since our last meeting? Then people in the group take turns sharing and building on thoughts about their answers.
When people get together with a sincere purpose to help each other, their knowledge multiplies. This phenomenon is a key message of the personal growth book, Think and Grow Rich, and the leadership book, Multipliers. Here are a couple articles on starting a mastermind group by Upcoach, and Mighty Networks. Of course, they promote their platform to host groups.
Spiritual Growth Considerations
Over 75 percent of the world’s population believes in one of the big four largest religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. This is considering Taoism and Confucianism as philosophies. While they have foundational differences, they share the belief that humans are naturally depraved, or sinful, and in need of salvation, enlightenment, and growth. They also share the values of truth, wisdom, humility, integrity, courage, love, forgiveness, and justice.
Religions are a collection of spiritual beliefs and traditions that help people to live better, receive salvation, or achieve enlightenment. The four largest religions each have their own sacred documents that contain the knowledge for their beliefs and traditions. They have been helping people over many centuries, and continue to this day. Of course, they are led by flawed humans who can misunderstand or misuse their knowledge. Science can also be misunderstood and misused, since it is also managed by humans. However, when science is done well it is basically revealing natural laws.
It seems that quantum physic is providing evidence there is a spirit realm. Consider the theory of unpredictability. This is where quantum particles don't 'behave’ predictably, which Einstein didn't like, and led him to make his famous comment, "God does not play dice." Einstein expected particles in motion to follow a predictable path. Some do, some don't. Consider the quantum physics theory of tunneling, when particles pass through a barrier. The quantum theory of decoherence says natural elements are made of tiny living elements, until mankind puts them through a manufacturing process. The particles in the newly created object stop their vibrating (living) state. Consider the unified field theory, that all energy fields are connected.
The Bible claims over 1,000 times that it is from God, and many characters in the New Testament claim Jesus is the Son of God. The Bible has a lot of helpful practical knowledge, especially in the book of Proverbs. Of course, being made in the image of God, the vast majority of humans are able to figure out how most of the world works as they gain experience. For the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and divine nature; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). If you are interested in some key Bible verses consider https://KeyBibleVerses.org.
Money Books
The Psychology of Money
Rich Dad Poor Dad
The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me
Baby Steps Millionaires
The Millionaire Mind
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
I wish I would have learned about money management and investing early in life. But, it could be argued that it is never too late, because smart investments usually grow. If you want to learn more about investing I have an entire page dedicated to Investing.
The personal and professional growth plans are simple one page plans, as computer fillable pdf files, to help you plan out your days, weeks, and months (no email necessary, at this time).
The goal plan is a few pages and designed to hold an annual goal, and break that down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly goals. Understand that if you fill out an annual goal plan and start working on it. It will rarely go as planned. No big deal, you can make adjustments. It’s still helpful to think through the planning process and use the goal plan as a guide. Some people work better with small goals while other people enjoy bigger goals. There is nothing stopping you from testing out both.
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