The Icon of Personal Development

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Carnival of Personal Development.  I’m happy and flattered to be able to post this week’s edition.

A note on how I picked entries, and we’ll call this my hat tip to personal development: I picked the first 10 posts that really grabbed me.  There were 68 entrants.  Some were good, some were really bad, and a few were completely off topic.  I read through the entrants until I found one that I felt was directly applicable to my life and I figured if it was applicable to me, then it probably was to someone else as well.  I limited myself to 10 because while reading about Personal Development is all well and good, going out and practicing is even better!

Enjoy this week’s posts!

Want to be a better trainer & leader?  Read Terry Norrington’s Become a Great Leader Using Your Optimism and Motivation.

Since I’m reading a book about Abraham Lincoln right now, I recommend Robert McHenry’s piece on What Abe Lincoln & Charles Darwin had in common.

Gabriel Girl hits the right note on Garage Sales and their cathartic value.  I’m a big fan of cleaning out my place once a year or so, just to get rid of all the clutter that is dragging me down.

Are you worried about someone making fun of you or interrupting you during your public speaking?  Check out Marcus Smith’s Will You Please Shut Up and learn how to maintain control of a room.

It often seems like some people get more done than others.  What’s the secret to being productive?  It’s not that hard, Writing for Your Wealth presents How to Be More Productive.

There is, perhaps, nothing more conducive to a well developed personality than gratitude.  Homemaker Barbi presents The 3 Minute Thank You Card.

One of the ways that we often find ourselves in difficult situations is by failing to act before a situation becomes a problem.  Evolve.Ever presents Be Proactive.

Another way to fall into difficult situations: Procrastination.  Super Sonic Success discusses this very topic in Stop Procrastinating.

After all that reading about being proactive and stomping out procrastination, you need to be a little kinder to yourself.  After all, you can only develop so much at a time.  Quantum Learning presents Have You Never Been Lazy?

End on a positive note.  Things are pretty crazy out there right now, with the world economy in a strange drift.  Momentor’s advice: Control What You Can Control.

Happy Black Friday everyone.  I’m celebrating by sleeping in and spending some time at Powell’s bookstore.  The end of Movember is nearly upon us, and I have been very pleased with the money that has been donated for Prostate Cancer research.  Thank you to you donors (you know who you are).

Here are some great ways to spend some time reading this weekend:

Success with EFT - EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique.  It’s one of those new age hokey things, but this site (and @prosperitygal) make it understandable and accessible.  My wife and I use EFT on a daily basis.  Of course, I can’t mention EFT without mentioning Carol Tuttle.

@somethinggirl put up a blog post of instructions for her husband in case of her death.  It’s sweet and beautiful, in a slightly weird kind of way. Read it and then wonder what you would tell your spouse to take care of after you die.

I think that I neglected to mention that I wrote a guest post for @marcwarnke’s blog Family First Entrepreneur.  It’s all about Lifestyle Design.  If you can’t get enough here, head on over there for more of my writing.

I don’t own a TV. Fortunately I’ve figured out that I can still waste hours of time watching old episodes of my favorite shows.  Thanks to @sammystclair for sharing Surf the Channel with me.

Since I work as a sales manager in real life, I have to fire people more than the average manager does, and @GuyKawasaki’s post on How to Lay People Off was really helpful.