In my blog posted titled "STAGES OF LEARNING AND GROWTH" I talked about the 4 stages of developmental growth. At the end I said I would talk about the things I do to reduce time spent in step 2. I call this, "reducing the suck factor."

This is a very personal post to me and something that is very ME. I'm not sure this would work for everyone, but this is what I do.

I hate to "suck" at anything. I really do. I figured life is too short to suck at something for too long and the fact that we don't have to makes this point one of my drivers when learning something new.

I'm a highly motivated person and have found some key things that help me reduce the suck factor:

1. Find someone who does what you want to do, and who is outstanding at what they do, and learn from them.
This means, if you can, learn directly from that person. Once I really embraced this concept I started using it all over in my life.

I find this method good when learning a new skill that is not a "mental" skill (I'll talk about that in #4 below). This works well for things like, martial arts, musical instruments, kiteboarding, snowboarding, salsa dancing, animation (Hey, animation mentor... there's a good idea :)

2. Go in 1,000%!
Again, these things work for me and work well at reducing the suck factor, but if you dilly dally around this will only complicate time spent in step 2.

3. Find your TRUE motivation
in order to create a change in your life you really have to find the real reason WHY you want that change. If you can find a compelling reason that you want that change you WILL find the time to go at it 1,000%. If you want to learn more about how to find this motivation read, Awaken the Giant Within (not the audio version as it is VERY truncated. Read the book. It's HUGE and full of GOLD).

4. Get a coach
A life coach is great at working on personal growth. I find personal development hard to do with a mentor; they typically do not have the time for this. I find getting a good life coach has helped me a HUGE deal at learning important life growth skills.

My criteria for finding a good coach is to make sure they can push me and hold me accountable. If they give me an "assignment" to do and I don't do it and they let me slide, I get rid of that coach and fast. It's like a personal trainer for the most important skills of all.

I've had HUGE good luck at finding great life coaches from The Coach Connection. They meet with you once a week (or more, or less, if needed) over the phone and work with you. I've found that more than once a week is too much and that less than once a week makes me lazy; i.e. no momentum.

These are just a few of the BIG things I do to reduce time spent in step 2. I hope you find these helpful!