"Income Rarely Exceeds Personal Development" -Jim Rohn

Scenario A: Imagine you start a job and you don’t know exactly what the requirements are.  You do what’s expected in the moment, try to ask questions, see if you can figure out what it’s all about… You make your way through.  Over time, you figure out what to do to stay afloat, you make relationships… turns out, nobody really knows the exact requirements but you’re all making it work. 

Scenario B: Now imagine that you’re in that same, oddly ill-defined job but you’re taking an active part in learning a skill.  Let’s say, for the sake of this article, that skill is leadership.  You’re taking classes, reading books, you’re practicing the techniques you learn with the people you work with.  You’re bringing value to the workplace every day by sharing the growth you are attaining through your personal efforts and every day you're modeling leadership techniques for those around you. 

Scenario B’s person gets promoted.  Scenario B’s person gets listened to and placed in leadership roles… not because she’s a better person, but because she’s bringing value to the community, she’s proactive, inspiring, whether anyone else knows what their job is about or not, she knows where she’s going and what her core values are. 

Income is commensurate with personal development. 

Skill is only part of getting a job done.  Moving up, getting promoted, becoming the best leader you can be requires personal development.  That can come in many shapes and forms:

1. Books you listen to in the car every day that inspire you to be generous, ask probing questions and manage your emotions in tough situations.  
2. Weekend retreats focused on personal growth and development.
3. Conferences you attend both in your area of expertise and in your areas of passion.
4. Charities you dedicate time and resources to. 
5. Habits you choose to maintain to stay grounded and focused on your goals

Whatever your path, it takes work to get where you want to be, and through work on yourself, you can be sure to reap many rewards, both personally in your depth of connection with others  and professionally in your ability to take on leadership roles and earn more money. 

One step you can take on your path to leadership, personal development and personal mastery is to enroll in an emotional intelligence seminar. Possibilities hosts these every 2 months here in San Diego: http://allpossible.co/level-1