Phew! That title is certainly a mouth full. I racked my brain for a few minutes to figure out how to say that more concisely but I just kept coming back to this. It is so true! Over and over again I read about successes big and small that were only achieved when the person expanded who they were. Not only what they knew. Not only how they communicated. Not only how much technical knowledge they had. Not only how fast they could write. Not only how well they could present. But who they were. They elevated themselves.

OK. I know this is not an easy concept to grasp unless you’ve been through this type of personal growth yourself. It’s not something you can really put your finger on or identify as you’re going through it. But once you’ve made a big step change in your life you look back and realize that you had to undergo some incredible self improvement to get to where you are now. And the fun part about all this is that it never has to end. Personal growth and self improvement are ongoing and never ending. You can always choose to elevate yourself. You have the power within you to grow into an even more amazing human being!

So what are the next steps? You’ve decided that being where you are now is not where you want to end up. You want to grow your business to six or seven figures or increase your salary to six or seven figures. You want to change your relationship situation and find your soul mate. You want to be a better parent. Whatever it is that you want to do you need to commit to working on your personal growth. There is no other way to do it. Period. But what are the exact steps to get there. Well, of course, there is no written, step by step plan that works for everyone. But here are some guidelines that you should follow right away …

• Be very clear on where you want to go and what you want your life to look like. Write it down. Make a goal book and keep track of your clear goals. And don’t just settle for your ‘low goals’. Pick goals that expand you.

• Create relationships with positive, like-minded people who will keep you motivated and encourage you consistently.

• Associate with people who are where you want to go. Reach out to network with people who have achieved the kind of success you want to achieve.

• Read like a starving animal who feeds on words … devour book after book in your field and closely related fields, on personal growth and success, on business growth or career growth, on self improvement and self help … read, read and read more. Every day … at least 20 minutes a day. If you don’t like to read then put the books on your iPod and devour them that way. Do it! Make it a habit.

• Do something that totally freaks you out and scares the pants off you every day … OK, at least once per week. You have got to get used to being uncomfortable to get to where you really want to go.

There you have it. Easy as pie, right? Is pie really that easy? J Anyway, these guidelines are really pretty straightforward and you can take action on them today.

The final characteristic you need to have is what I like to call ‘excited patience’. You have lessons that you need to learn, failures you need to make and experiences you need to experience before you can reach your big goals. No quick fixes or short cuts. Some of us have more lessons to learn, failures to make and experiences to experience than others. You must have patience but you must not be complacent. You must take action and continue to move forward. You must NEVER give up.

Here at SuccessBookCase we know the power of connecting and masterminding with like minded people and the power of reading like your life depended on it. That’s why we created our Book Masterminds. Coming up in late October is our Successful Women’s Book Mastermind where we will be devouring 9 … yes, I said 9 … awesome books by very successful women over the course of 6 months together. I highly encourage you to join us for that journey. At the end of the 6 months you will not be the same person you were when you started. I guarantee you; your life will be completely changed. You will be amazed at the transformation and the new insights and successes you will experience. You will truly be elevated.

Check out the details of our next Book Mastermind at … www.successbookcase.com/successful-womens-book-mastermind. We have a 2 for 1 special going on now through Oct 7^th. Don’t miss out on this journey of a lifetime!