There are many tools that could be used on a daily basis that can assist you in your personal and self-development. Below is a list of the ones that I have found to be the most useful for me. I have found that investing time and energy in each of the areas below have made me more money and the people I associate with can provide you with the same testimonial.
Live Training: Being a trainer and having the fortunate opportunity to get exposed to a lot of training during my life, I think it is still one of the best personal and self-development tools that any of us can invest in. Some people want it for free (and there is a lot out there for free) but usually (not always) you get what you paid for. My best personal and self-development (growth) has come from LIVE on the SPOT coaching from a coach on a particular subject. It’s not how much something costs, it is what am I getting. I have seen live coaching and training turn into millions of dollars for people. YES, millions! Do a study and see. When a person develops a skill and talent at a high level due to some coaching they received, it impacts their income for years and that can be millions of dollars.
Audio/Video seminars: Many times people attend a seminar and they get highly motivated and that high they have while there is gone in a matter of a week few weeks or days. So what you include in your audio/video library can greatly affect your life. Also, many times you can just a purchase a seminar that you couldn’t afford to attend live or just couldn’t find the time to attend live. I also, like to purchase these seminars through some of the personal development resources that sell them. YouTube actually has these on there as well.
Books: Books are probably by far the most inexpensive and most impactful tool for development that I have found. Books on any subject and any category can be found on Amazon or through the public domain. Many audio books can even be listened to on YouTube and you don’t even have to purchase them.
Blogs: There are a lot of blogs out there on a variety of subjects. What I have found for me, is that I could literally have thousands automatically sent to me everyday if I wanted to. However, I don’t need that much information. So I strategically sign up for about five or so and get those for a period of time and then unsubscribe from them and find others. This allows me to keep the message fresh. Find a few blogs that you like. Also, as I state below, twitter is one of my favorite mediums and I follow many people on there that blog and just read it on there when I have time, versus having it sent to my email.
Email subscriptions: There are a few books that I have read that the authors or publishers include a weekly or monthly email on trends on the particular topic or subject that they are known for and you read a book on. Again, these are infrequent but very valuable in my opinion.
Twitter: I am one of the biggest fans of twitter. I do tweet information out a lot, I think I have tweeted over 2000 times since opening my twitter account. But I use twitter for my own personal development because there is so much great content on twitter. Every author, organization, magazine, trade publication, government organization, etc. has a twitter account and they put out lots of great content. If you don’t tweet that is fine, but open an account for your own personal and self-development so you can get lots of great content.
LinkedIn Groups: This is one that is very valuable that I don’t use enough. There are millions of groups on LinkedIn I am sure. For just about any sector of work from realtors, sales people, followers of certain authors, companies, you name it, there is a LinkedIn group associated with it. By joining these groups you can learn what others are doing in your sector and in your business. It is really a great resource. You can get the updates sent directly to your email, or you can make it a point to log in everyday and see what is going on in the group discussions.
YouTube/YouTube channel subscriptions: There is so much information on YouTube it is ridiculous. You can listen to audio books, listen to speeches given in a lecture at Harvard, to listening to a specific person in your industry give a presentation to a company. There is just so much information and you should include it in your personal development arsenal.
Magazines and Trade Publications: I have a subscription to SUCCESS Magazine and I also get a copy of the local Business newsletter here in Louisville. Most of the information in these publications are actually sent out via a twitter feed before the magazine or journal hits the stands, however, getting the hard copy of both is valuable as well.
Action: After getting a lot of the great information you seek and learn, putting it into action is the most important element. Many people attend a seminar or training and put the manual on the shelf and never look at it again. I used to read the books and assumed I had all of the information in my head, I now write about a page or more (depending on how good the book was) in my journal. This allows me to solidify the message and takeaways in my head. Action is the most critical of all personal and self-development.
The people you spend your time with: Lastly, but probably one of the most important is who you spend your time with also adds to your personal and self-development. This particular category can make or break you. So choose wisely, who you spend your time with has the most influence over your success or failure.
These are just a few that I use pretty frequently in my own personal and self-development. Many of the above categories send notifications or updates via email. I have all emails around my personal and self-development sent to a specific email account that is used for this purpose only. This is my way of keeping it all organized. If you have too many emails coming in it can be overwhelming, and I have found that sending everything to one account allows me to keep it all together.
Please share your personal and self-development tools that I may have missed. Andrew Carnegie stated that “A mans great asset is their desire to learn.”
Thanks
Brian Willett
Pennies into Fortunes 
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