Personal Development from the movie - Shawshank Redemption (2)

Personal Development

This is a continuation of the post on Personal development tips from the movie Shawshank Redemption see post here  if you like. The mind is where the battle is , the will to succeed or fail, the temerity to hold on or give up, the fire for success or failure and of course the zeal for life or death; all these wars lies in the heart. So keeping a positive mindset is important for your business, you must take practical steps towards keeping your mind positive. Now before I bore you , lets go straight to more personal development tips from the movie Shawshank Redemption.

Personal Development

Be Resourceful; this is one of the most important personal development tip. Wherever you are, whatever you do, endeavour to learn all you can, keep reading and engaging your mind, learn all you can, it may just be what you need to stand out from the crowd, and it may just be your key to success. Andy knew all the tricks on taxation from his profession as a banker, he knew how to channel funds to attract minimum taxation, and so he capitalised on this knowledge when he heard one of the prison guards complaining bitterly about how the money he inherited will be seriously taxed. He told him how to legally evade the tax (although he almost got himself killed in the process) and asked that his prison mate be given beer as his payment. This gave him instant respect from the guards and his mates, because he was resourceful. He was transferred then transferred from the laundry to the Library where he was able to train prison inmates and prison officials, also bringing in money for the Prison. TheVIP attention given to him made it easy for his plan of escape; if he wasn’t resourceful he may never have been able to escape.

Build your mindset: Your environment to a large extent determines how you act in life, because it affects your mindset, hostile situation tends to influence the mind towards negativity, while a pleasant environment could cause you to have a positive mindset. It is important to keep your mind focussed on what your goals are irrespective of your environment and concentrate on those things that gives fire to your positive mindset. Now, Andy decided to focus despite the fact that he was surrounded by so much evil and negativity, even when hope was no longer in vogue (Reddy once told him to forget about hope, saying “Hope is a dangerous thing, it can drive a man insane, it got no use on the inside”). He kept his hopes alive and gave others hope. One dramatic event that happened was when he played an opera from a player in the Library and had it connected to the loud speaker to the embarrassment of the Warden but to the delight of the prison inmate, sure the music was balm to their soul, he enjoyed it till the moment his office was broken into and got himself kept underground for 2 weeks as punishment. He later said he had the music in his head during those 2 weeks. He needed the music for his mind and not just for himself, for others too, he wanted to feel free, that inner sense of freedom. He was always working on his mindset by reading in the library and training others.

Don’t get yourself institutionalized; People get so used to their environment, day job, society traditions etc and are held captive by the laws governing their surrounding ( see definition here) . They are afraid, to leave their comfort zone, are you afraid to leave your comfort zone? Are you scared about the day you retire, are you afraid of the sack letter from your office, and are you afraid about what society think about making good or what they may consider easy money, money too good to be true? Some people sayMLM or Network marketing opportunities are too good to be true. Are you stiff-necked because of what you are use to? It is time to get out and look out side the prison wall, there is a life out their. Brooks who was the Librarian of the prison had been in prison for 50 years before he got his freedom, he was so use to prison life that he didn’t want to leave, he tried to kill an inmate to enable him get another term, so he could stay more years. He later hanged himself; he had lost all hope, and had become institutionalized in prison. Red on the other hand had a hard time coping outside the prison wall, but for the hope given to him by Andy (“Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”)

, he would have committed suicide too; he went on to live instead of dying.

There are many more personal development tips you will find for your mindset on Shawshank Redemption. Go get a copy, I think it’s a very good way to enjoy and learn at the same time. Its time to take action. Have your goals set, have a plan, commit to it, be resourceful by learning and taking leadership position, guide your heart, protect your mindset, and get out of your comfort zone.

To your success!