The true power of the Net comes form the fact that any person with ideas to share can create

their own platform to speak from. Typically this comes in the form of a personal or business blog but it can also be done through social networks, online forums and podcasting. The biggest problem I witness is the lack of follow through and persistence towards personal goals. In general, people have no problem actually setting and planning their goals but they falter when it comes time to turn the goals into reality. One of the most common causes of

this is the lack of accountability.

Think about this form the perspective of your own life for a second. Imagine setting a goal to run a marathon. You could set the goal privately and write down on a piece of paper that you intend to complete a marathon in 4 months time. In this case, you are your only source of

accountability.

Another option would be to declare your goal publicly to friends, family, colleagues, etc There is obviously a built in sense of motivation when you know others are tracking your progress. The anticipated pain of embarrassment may very well be the one driving force that causes you to actually reach your marathon goal!

So how does the Internet help with self development?

When you think of most personal development programs and exercises, pretty much all of the

teachings are geared toward behaviour change in one way or another. Behaviour change is

typically the result of action repetition. Once you have decided on a goal that you would like to

achieve, you can easily use the Internet as a tool for both activity management and personal

accountability.

Example A friend of mine is quickly becoming a widely recognized authority in the Internet Marketing arena. He literally uses his blog as a tool for personal and business development. Brad has a schedule that he follows to the letter. Every Tuesday and Thursday he creates a high value piece of content for his readers. As I have followed his blog for the past year, his skill level has continued to rise along with the size of his audience. Because his readers expect him to deliver new content weekly, he is forced to continually grow and adapt his skill set. He literally has a built-in accountability system that forces him to deliver week after week. He also happens to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs I know and I don’t think this is an accident.

The good news is you do not have to be a technical wizard in order to leverage the

Internet as a success tool. There are plenty of free and user friendly platforms that anyone can

use to build the same kind of system.

Some ideas:

Start a free WordPress or Blogger blog and do a personal 30 day challenge (i.e. write 500

words a day for 30 days to improve writing skills)

Setup a YouTube channel and shoot 1 video per week of yourself practicing your vocal

skills for a music competition

Join an online community and track your personal committments towards a goal

Create a mailing list on your website and send 1 valuable lesson/free gift per day to your

subscribers

It doesn’t really matter what you are doing. The whole point is self improvement. Self improvement is all about making a committed decision and then having your actions follow that decision. The internet is a great way to ensure that your actions follow your committed decision and keep you accountable for everything you want to do.

Whatever your religious or non-religious position about Christmas, old friends come to mind. And as you go through your list to send greetings to, are there any that make you growl? Is there anyone of whom you think, I wonder what happened to them? If there is, don’t let your next thought be, “Oh, well they never get in touch with me, so why should I…?”

Or perhaps there’s someone you don’t know but would like to know better?

A relative you stopped speaking to for some reason, (even though you forgot years ago what the reason was!).

Whoever those people are, they’re still people. And they get afraid just like you. If you don’t want to forgive, well then don’t, but at least ask yourself who benefits by holding onto old grudges? Is it better to be right or to be kind?

And if there is someone you don’t know but would like to, realize if you want to warm by the fire you sometimes have to be the one to light it.

A vision board can be a very powerful tool to use to manifest your desires. It is best placed somewhere you are going to see it often, such as next to your computer monitor, in your bedroom or your kitchen. Some people choose to have more than one vision board, in different locations at home or work.

You should also spend some time looking at the images on your vision board- look at the images at least once a day and visualize having them in your life. Allow yourself to feel good and try to get into the feeling place of having them in your life right now.

What Images should be on Your Vision Board?

Think about what you want to manifest in every area of your life and find an image which you associate with actually having it. For example, if your goal is to own a certain make and model of car, find pictures of the exact car you want on the internet or in magazines. Put the picture on your vision board.

Want to travel? Look through brochures and on the internet and find pictures of the places you want to visit. Want to lose weight? Find photos of yourself at your ideal weight or else find images of people with the figure you want or pictures of clothes you will wear at your ideal weight. If you come across any quotes or poems you find particularly inspirational, or which make you feel good, put them on your board. If you can’t find an image you want, draw it- don’t be put off by thinking you can’t draw!

The images on your board should mean something to you, and should make you feel excited and positive about your intentions. A vision board is an evolving process; you may achieve one intention and need to update it, or you may realize that you no longer want a particular intention. Of course, you may find more intentions to add!

If you want to see examples of vision boards people have created, search Google images for vision boards’. Hopefully you will feel inspired to create your own!

An individual with competence will take what they learn and utilize it to improve their life.

A joyous individual will consider every incident, experience and so forth in life as something they may learn from;

as well this individual won’t allow the bad to weigh him or her down.

The individual will take the bad; see new light and continue to learn from his or her errors.

Just for today, be aware of where you begin and end. Ask yourself if you could physically exist without the air. Or the sun. Or gravity. How about a plant-free planet? When you eat an apple, how do it’s molecules become you?

Where is the “I” that you refer to anyway? You say, “I have a headache,” even, “I have a body” but where is the “I” that has those things? There is a real sense, isn’t there, that there is a you that is looking out from inside your head and from behind your eyes?

In that case, might the real you be something eternal, permanent and just plain wonderful?

Sometimes, we get fearful of change. We bustle about doing our utmost to ensure that life goes on the same, even if it’s uncomfortable, rather than let things change. The reason we do that is because we’ve had disappointments and frustrations in the past, and rather than risk another one of those experiences, we cling.

Can you imagine clinging to a rock face by your fingernails for years and years? Yet that is precisely what so many of us do with life … wishing our kids wouldn’t grow up, or our parents would stay young or employers would never lay people off …

From now on whenever you catch yourself in a “halcyon days” mood – you know, “It’s not like it used to be in my day ..” stop for a moment and ask yourself one simple question. Remember that nothing has ever stayed the same, (ask your grandmother), and simply say to yourself, “What if this was all all right?” Just what if? Let go, let be, let yourself breathe into the newness of the world that you have helped to create, and be proud.

Or perhaps the opposite is true, and nothing of any importance seems to happen. You are just ticking over, trudging along doing the same old thing day in and day out and getting nowhere, either way, you have to consider whether you wish to carry on in this constant treadmill of nothingness or plan to do something about it.

Life doesn’t hand out golden nuggets on a plate. Nor does it give you the recognition that you deserve or the promotion that you might have worked so hard for, and you may have noticed that life isn’t fair. Instead life is a myriad of twists and turns and if you had a well-thought out pathway, it could quickly lead you into a muddy quagmire and suddenly you are facing situations that you are just not prepared for.

If we are not careful, life can control us. We allow circumstances to dictate to us, we accept our lot because sometimes we don’t know any different. We don’t realize that we can actually make significant changes in our lives and carve out our own way in the world, because we are taught that we have to simply cope. Face those challenges and put on a brave face when things go wrong. But what if we wish to excel in our lives? What if we wish to be someone?

If you are experiencing a sense of frustration, of unfulfilled longing, a feeling of discontentment, don’t you owe it to yourself to make some changes?

If yes, then it’s time to take a good look at where you are at and where you wish to be. Grab every opportunity as it presents itself and give your life the massive shake-up that it deserves.