Let me start the new year (and decade) by wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2020 and hope that your dreams and aspirations become a reality.

For years on end, like many others at the start of January I had always had the very best of intentions to make the new year a better one than the previous. The list of desired improvements would include the mandatory list of; lose weight, earn more money, spend more time with family etc. etc., but as always, I would falter and my plans would be in ruins within a matter of weeks (if not days!).

“The goal of this human adventure is to see what all we can become with all we have been given” – Jim Rohn

My “eureka” moment however came to me some 8 years ago, when I was introduced to the concept of personal development. I started listening to recordings and read books by leaders in this field such as Jim Rohn, Darren Hardy Robert Kelsey and Brian Tracy. Since then, I can honestly say that I am a different person and have been striving (with reasonable success, even if I say so myself) to improve, both professionally and personally and set myself targets and goals for each new year.

Sure I still fail to do things that I said I’d do, forget to ring my Mum, work in my office way beyond a sensible hour and neglect to go the gym as often as I should, BUT, the positives that I have benefited from by investing some time, effort and a little money in developing my existing skills, learning new ones, changing bad habits for good and allowing myself to dream a little and set some goals for the future – these range from tidying out the cupboard under the stairs, to paying off my mortgage early – cannot be under-estimated. I certainly wouldn’t be the person I am today, without this help!

If you are someone who feels they are underachieving, or could get more out of life, but need some structure and guidance, give it a go and see where it takes you. You’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Music for You only exists, because I engaged in personal development and the ideas and inspiration for pushing the business ahead came from many sources, including the ones shown below. I must stress however, that the improvements and changes I have implemented are not just business related and cover my personal and lifestyle aspirations too, which have also benefited greatly as a result.

I would seriously advocate the following authors and publications:

Lee Duncan – Double Your Business pub. Pearson/FT Publishing

Darren Hardy – Living Your Best Year Ever. This is a journal which is my absolute must-have book each year now. I review my previous year’s achievements and then plan my goals and targets for the new year, with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly reviews of my progress along the way. I can’t recommend it enough – it also comes with 3 CD’s so you can learn as you go in the car, gym or even in bed! – but don’t be put off by the price. If you can implement the methods in this book, you would pay double and not give it a second thought! And no, before you ask, I’m not on commission for this recommendation.

The Brilliant series of books – can be found in all good bookshops such as Waterstones and WH Smith

Robert Kelsey – Get Things Done pub. Capstone

I hope that these suggestions have inspired you to be more proactive in making things happen for you this year and for those of you that do bite the bullet, that it makes as positive and significant a difference in your lives, as it did mine.

As a parting thought, I’ll finish with the wise words of former US President, Thomas Jefferson:

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”.

If you’d like some more advice on resources that I’ve found helpful, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at andrew@andrewjonesmusic.com