When I first aligned myself with my multi-million dollar home-based business, my sponsor told me that along with building a successful business I would experience a journey of deep personal growth and development. Feeling somewhat offended, my immediate thought was, ?I'm already a really nice person! I don't need any personal growth and development!? OK, I confess, my immediate thought was more abrupt than that and I said to myself, ?I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN? PERSONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT!?

Immediately I discovered that I was wrong! Yes, I was a nice person, a trait that I should continue to practice. But being nice is a fraction of what it takes to achieve greatness! To win, to fly, to achieve deep desires and dreams takes unwavering courage, strength, determination, belief, and action, and I learned that all of those qualities were buried deep inside of me and needed to be released. Not only that, I found out that I had a lot of pride (certainly evident in my initial reaction to personal growth) that I would have to shed. And, if that wasn't enough, I was going to have to learn to like ? no, love ? myself. Yikes! I was in big trouble.

So what did I do? You're thinking that I buried myself in self-improvement, right? WRONG! I resisted and resisted big! I wasted time insisting on doing it my way (again pride). But my business was not succeeding and my dreams were put on hold. I was standing in my own way. I slowly began to realize that it was up to me to give my business the momentum and energy it needed to thrive, and in order to do that I had to purposefully bring my courage, strength, determination, and belief to the surface. I had to learn that to love myself I had to grasp that I am deeply loved by my Creator. It was up to me to take action, and personal growth and development was the only way I was going to succeed.

Is there a dream buried deep inside you? Is something telling you there is more to life than what you have been living? Do you want to win, fly, and soar? Everything you need to succeed has been given to you! It's not luck, or leaning on someone else, or what your horoscope predicts. Rather, it is the ability given to you by your Creator to receive wisdom, strength, and courage to take action and be the change you want to see. You have to decide every day what you are going to do with this gift. You can open it and enjoy it, or you can leave it unwrapped and never know the potential that it holds inside. You can go through life barely making a ripple or you can make a huge splash . . . it's all up to you!

I also discovered that in order to achieve one of my biggest desires, to give abundantly to people in need, I was going to have to learn to receive abundantly. But along with my strong conviction to sustain a ?nice? personality was a constant decision to demonstrate humility and resist receiving. However, it turns out that is not humility, once again it's pride! If I am going to massively give I need to be open to massively receive.

Do yourself a favor ? kick your dreams into high gear and embrace personal growth. Surround yourself with books and training by those who have mastered personal development. Daily pray and reflect. Assess what characteristics are not serving you and get rid of them. Walk through your fears. Embrace mistakes and see them as wise teachers. Understand that you are highly valued by your Creator and love what He has made. Allow His love to sink deep into your spirit and you will find the strength and courage to take action ? and SOAR!