One of the best ways to develop yourself is to go for total immersion. You can do this in many ways but perhaps the very best way is by signing up to a personal development training course. I mean that in the widest context of personal development.
I left school with one ‘O’ level, in art. Not my proudest achievement. I wanted to leave and start to work. After a few years of working life I decided it might be fun to go to college and do an evening class in maths. I’d always enjoyed maths so spending a couple of hours on a Wednesday evening studying GCSE maths seemed like a cinch. And it was. This was closely followed by GCSE English and ‘A’ level psychology. I loved it! You could do a GCSE in one year instead of two. But the real beauty was that I was learning because I wanted to.
Later in life I discovered personal development courses. I remember an old boss of mine giving me some tapes to listen to on holiday. After a few days relaxing I put the first tape on and was transfixed by the content. When I went back to work my boss suggested we should go on the presenter’s two-day course. Excellent, I thought, an all-expenses- paid business trip. I couldn’t believe it when he said that if I wanted to go I would have to pay for it myself – I was furious. It turned out to be one of the best lessons I’d ever receive. Because I’d paid for it I was totally engaged; I wrote masses of notes and tested out every idea I learned.
I still go on lots of courses and I discover something new every time I take the opportunity to learn.
So let’s assume you’ve found a course (or two) to help you with your personal development.
At the time of writing this chapter, I have presented personal development programmes to well over a quarter of a million people. I’ve seen people change their lives in an afternoon and I’ve seen people walk out of a week-long programme barely touched by what they have experienced. How can you get the most out of a course or event?
I opened the conversation with: ‘Do you know why we are sitting here, right at the front?’
‘No’, he replied. ‘Why?’
‘It’s an affirmation that we are here to learn. People who choose to sit near the front tell their subconscious mind that they want the information, so I believe they take more in.’
‘That’s brilliant, I agree with that’, he concurred, before the host stood up to introduce the day.
He began by explaining who was going to be speaking and the timings. Then with a glint in his eye, he added: ‘But before we start the official agenda, I am delighted to announce that we have one of the UK’s leading philanthropists with us today who is going to share with you why and how he gives away over £750,000 a year.’
By now my fundraiser instincts had taken over and I was frantically scanning the stage looking along the speakers table trying to work out which one was this hot shot donor giving away all this lovely money. I knew that, having sat in the front row, I’d be first to get to him during the break.
‘So please give a big welcome to Mr Braun.’
As the crowd started to clap I turned to my new front row friend, winked and said: ‘That’s what we’re here for, to get a lump of his cash, eh?’
That was when he stood up, looked at me in a quizzical way and said: ‘Are you now?’, before walking to the podium to make his address.
So, as a word of warning, sometimes the speakers sit in the front row, too!
Attending a personal development training course will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. I guarantee if you find the right programme for you, every penny you invest will be repaid over and over.
Hands up if you have been totally inspired by what you have learned on a course, then promptly stuck your notes in the second drawer down, never to view them again?
Find one thing you can do immediately after a course to start your momentum towards taking massive action.