Celestine Chua The Personal Excellence Book Review: Why I got it, and how it boosted my turnover by 30%
Every once in a while you come across someone who makes a significant impression on you.
This opportunity is increased via the internet with the power of social media and web 2.0: During my experiment with blog hopping, I came to meet many amazing people and their blogs and websites.
In fact, I’ve come across such a diverse and talented group of people that they each deserve a blog post in their own right (and I hope to get round to it soon). For you who are reading this, I think you already know who you are. For this particular post, I’d like to share with you my review of an ebook written by Celestine Chua entitled “The Personal Excellence Book: Your Handbook to live your best life”.
This isn’t a regular review or critique as such, but more an insight on how this book has helped me increase my productivity, overcome barriers and gaining confidence thus boosting my personal and business performance. In fact, I’ve increased my turnover by 30% in the past two weeks. By the way, I’m not an affiliate of the book just in case you were wondering…….
So who is Celestine Chua?
Celestine or Celes as she prefers to be called is the founder of The School Of Personal Excellence based in Singapore. I came across her blog after reading her guest post on a productivity related blog. What really stood out for me was that I discovered that she had left a high flying career and became self employed and established herself in a personal development business to help others: Something that I’m aspiring to also. Not only that, but in a short space of time, she has been able to achieve massive success too, appearing in top media coverage such as CNN as well as building a loyal list of subscribers, taking public speaking appearances, running workshops and doing 1 to 1 coaching.
The Personal Excellence Book
This is her first ebook that she launched at the end of July. The response was way over her expectation and filled her pre launch quota in an hour.
The book consists of 120 articles in nine categories of personal development: Purpose & Meaning, Awareness & Growth, Passion & Dreams, Goals & Success, Cultivating Life Transforming Habits, Emotional Mastery, People Skills/Relationships, Maximizing Productivity and Inspirational Quotes.
The content is really for people who are working on improving themselves in matters relating to personal development. Of course the information can be used in all areas of life and can be applied to your own specific situation or goals. In fact, I’m going to share with you how I used the information specifically to make improvements in my own business.
Four Key Article Learnings I Used To Boost My Business
“How to break out of recurring patterns in life”
After spending some time to think about my business pursuits in the past few years, I realised that I was falling into a pattern. I had a tendency to get excited about new opportunities and latest ways to make some money. These included trading in shares, real estate and many internet courses I purchased and followed. In the beginning I would always be very motivated about the new course or information I had learned and was committed to working on it. However, I would often carry it out for a while, see either no results or some results and give up on it when another new opportunity came along.
I knew something had to be done about it. I had to stop this pattern as it was getting me nowhere and I had to find a way to stick to a plan and complete it. So I followed Celes’ advice and got to the root cause of this issue and found the solution to address it. There are seven steps involved and without going into too much detail, these are the steps she recommended:
- Identify a problem you want to work with
- List down the 5-10 times you have been in such an incident
- List down the factors for each incident that lead to the outcome
- Identify the commonalities across the factors
- Dig into the cause of the factors
- Identify steps to address the cause
- Take action on the steps
In my case I followed the steps and found that the root cause of the problem with me jumping from project to project was due to not having a clear enough plan. The vague direction I had lead me to become overwhelmed with information overload and caused me to procrastinate. I therefore made it an imperative part of my business to have a detailed clear plan both short, mid and long term. I’ve been sticking to this as also advised by my mentor Alex Jeffreys since the launch of my business since April and I’ve accomplished more work in the past few months than in the whole of last year.
Are you a perfectionist?
Celes talks about the problem of perfectionism and has a detailed three part series on how to overcome perfectionism in 8 steps. I certainly have had this tendency all my life and there were lots of points that made a lot of sense, but in particular these two points helped me tremendously:
- If you’re spending a lot of time on a particular tasks to make it “perfect”, Ask yourself: “Does this matter in the bigger scheme of things?” If not chuck it. A good way to quickly evaluate if you’re wasting your time and energy on something that isn’t going to give you the most results.
- Delegate and let go. I used to have a mindset that made it hard to delegate tasks to other people because I always had the thought: “if you want something done well, do it yourself”.I found it hard to let go because I believed it’s hard for someone to do a task to my exacting requirements. However I learned that you can’t possibly do everything yourself if you are to grow a successful business you need to learn to delegate so that you’re spend your effort working “on” the business rather than “in” the business. Therefore I’ve been focussing my energy on training an outsourcer I’ve hired rather than spending my energy on doing tasks. This shift has allowed me to get twice the amount of work done and for this reason alone, I’ve increased my turnover by 30% this month – and that’s just the beginning.
“7 Reasons why you are not getting what you want (and how to address them)”
It’s almost clichéd that the answer to reaching your goals is to have a proper plan. You may be familiar with the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timeframe) goal setting method. However, I found that in the past this only helped to a certain degree. This was because I was missing two more crucial elements which Celes brought my attention to:
- “Do you know clearly what you have to do next to get this moving along?”
This was where I was getting stuck in the past. I wanted to achieve a goal but I would hit some barriers and not have a clear idea of how to tackle the issue. Just knowing I just need to spend time to find a solution in a clear manner helps reduce wasting time randomly hoping for the answer.
- “Do you have a review session every week to check on your progress?”
As simple as this seems, I neglected to review the plan I had done! It’s so obvious now but having a plan without reviewing it is pointless. Yes, a plan can be measurable but you actually have to make sure you take the time to check on the progress. Now that I’ve been doing that, it’s been a way to leverage myself in making myself accountable for the week’s work.
Celes uses the ESPER framework for goal setting.
I won’t go into detail here, but if you’re serious about having a powerful plan, go check it out. I’m a testimony to the success of it.
Some points that the ESPER framework highlighted in knowing how to review your goals and what to do in certain scenarios:
- If you’re not meeting your goal (the desired result) that you’ve set out or the tasks needed to reach the goal despite having a plan = Need to improve your execution.
- If you’re not meeting your goal but meeting the tasks you’ve set = Wrong strategy/plan. You need to revise the strategy then execute.
- If you meet both your goal and task targets = Remember to reward yourself!
A little reminder for all of us that Seth Goddin talks about is something called “the dip”. There are times you feel you are doing everything you think should be right but you don’t see the results. This is known as the dip, but if you can hang on through that phase, the results suddenly come thick and fast.
“Focus on the What, then the How”
Finally, this particular article made a big impact on me because In the past, I held myself back on my goals due to a lack in confidence on the how. Celes gives a great example on her experience applying for an internship during university. To make the story brief, Celes managed to gain a place for an internship at a highly sought after company. There were lots of competition and lots of barriers in the way including being younger and less qualified than other applicants. Many people would look at the situation and not bother applying freezing up with the thoughts of “how could I do it?” Instead, Celes used the power of focussing on the what. i.e Getting the job and letting the “how” take care of itself, not allowing the doubts and fears seep in and stopping her trying.
What a lesson for us all. I often find this happens when looking at my own internet business. There seems to be so many other people who are already doing such a good job, how am I going be able to add value in this marketplace? But I now know that this thinking is limiting myself. Focussing on the how too much is stopping me going out there and just doing it.
Conclusion
If you haven’t come across Celestine Chua’s blog, I highly recommend you go and check it out. It’s perfect for those who are looking to grow and develop yourself whether it be in business, personal life and relationships. The blog itself has a ton of excellent posts that are so useful.
If you’re like me and like to have a handy resource you can keep and use at anytime, then I highly recommend you getting a copy of “The Personal Excellence Book”. It’s helped me massively and I’m sure it will do the same for you too.
Have a great day!
Bailey, thanks so much for this wonderful review.
I’m very honored and humbled! I’m ecstatic that you’ve achieved such amazing results for yourself in such a short period of time (really, a testimony of your personal power and potential for success) and I believe you’ll experience even more benefits/success in time to come as you continue on what you’re doing now.
I’ll be linking to this review from my book page if it’s okay with you
Celestine Chua´s last blog ..25 Most Inspirational Songs of All Time
Hey Celes,
Thanks for all your work and the great value you’ve given. You can link to the review any time. It’s my pleasure. Hope many more people will be able to apply what they learn through your advice and get great results!
Cheers Celes
Bailey
Hey Baily,
Really awesome review man. Hearing first time about Celestine Chua.
Going to check it out.
Thanks for sharing your insights. Great work baily.
~Dev
Devesh´s last blog ..8 Ways a New Blogger Can Succeed
Hey Dev,
Celes has some top quality stuff. Definitely worth reading her blog and learning from her!
Good to hear from you aswell mate. Hope things are going well!
Bailey
Bailey Ing´s last blog ..Celestine Chua The Personal Excellence Book Review- Why I got it- and how it boosted my turnover by 30
Hi Bailey,
What a superb post and on a topic that is just so important.
Celestine must be quite a lady and I must thank you not just for the post but in particular for giving us, your readers, those 7 critical steps to overcome those nagging issues we all have in our lives from time to time.
Well done mate and again..thank you.
Peter Beckenham´s last blog ..Traffic Explosion…You Can Do This!
Hey Peter,
Great to have you back! Thanks for the feedback and I’m glad the pointers seem to be applicable to others not just me.
Catch up with you soon
Bailey
Hey Bailey,
Wonderful! I can literally feel your passion for the book through the lines of your post and as I am an avid reader of books on personal development myself I am 100% sure that Celestine´s book is going to be the next book I add to my library! I am hooked!
Thanks for an awesome introduction to Celestin´s work. I checked out her beautiful blog and could hardly resist to buy the book right away. Almost 800 pages do scare me though at the moment as I am aware of a big list of tasks I am working on at the moment(among those tasks are a couple of books I haven´t finished yet
Looking forward to catch up with you tomorrow, have a great Sunday evening
Mirko
Mirko Gosch´s last blog ..How Leaving Comments on Blogs Related to Your Site Sky-Rocket Your Business
Hey Mirko,
How’s it going bro? The book is long but it’s one of those you can select the article appropriate to what you’re looking for. More like a resource, so good for busy people like you and I.
Hope you’re working through your tasks well and looking forward to catching up with you tomorrow!
Bailey
Bailey:
This is a great and informative review.
This is the first time I have heard of Celes Chua. I did check out her blog and enjoyed her writing and I signed up for her RSS feed.
Thanks for sharing your insights to her ebook.
- Rick
Rick Byrd´s last blog ..Should We Remove the Dates From Our Blogs Posts
Hey Rick,
How’s it going man? Celes is brill, always full of top tips to keep us on track.
Catch up with you soon mate.
Bailey
Hey Bailey,
I am reading a few books right now, but after this review, I will put this book at the top of my next to read list.
Sounds like an amazing read to be honest and I wouldn’t have know about it if you had not written this superb review, so thanks for taking the time to do that for your readers.
I have the same fears as you I guess, with so much great content out their how can I possibly add value?
But like you, I was limiting myself and I am over it now, it’s time to stop thinking and start doing.
Catch ya soon, Sally
Sally´s last blog ..How Wii Boxing Helped My Internet Business
Hey Sally!
Really great to hear from you. You’re definitely breaking barriers and have been giving TOP value out there. Not only have I seen you grow massively over the past few months, but you are creating your own brand, your own voice and fast becoming a leader. Keep it up Sal, you’re doing great and looking forward to catching up soon
Bailey
Hi Bailey,
Thanks for this review and you are absolutely right, there are so many people out there that we come across that are amazing and have a lot of things to share that can help us too. This is great as not only are you building relationships from it but it is actually helping you in your business and that is powerful. I especially liked what you said about the dip as I’m experiencing that right now too and really need to look into this ebook by Celes as I think it would really help me. It’s great to hear that you are doing so well, keep it up and all the best to you!
Anna
Anna Haller´s last blog ..Finding Direction
Hey Anna,
Really great to hear from you! Yes, this internet marketing jouney has become much more than I expected because I discovered it’s not really just about building some sites and traffic then hoping to make money, but it’s much more about building relationships, learning and being able to give back to others.
What a shift in mindset and direction that has enabled me to increase both my business and personal success!
You’ve achieved so much already and I’m always so impressed at how much you’ve been leading by example. Also your genorosity in helping others out is so respected by myself and those around you too, so thank you! I think it’s human that we go through a dip in our journey but I know you will be able to keep going. So don’t give up and looking forward to your sweet success
Bailey
Hey Bailey,
What a great in depth & sincere review. Thanks for taking the time to do it…I might not have discovered this otherwise!
It’s certainly got me interested so I’ll be checking it out!
Rob
(** RJB **)
Rob Bradley (** RJB **)´s last blog ..Easy Squeezy & 100 Commissions
Hey Bailey,
I enjoyed this review… and am particularly excited by the fact that Ms Chua (Celes, if I may?) was the first person to comment on the post!
Social media really has the power to connect like-minded people, very quickly. I can see that your subsequent post as an INTERVIEW with Celes, so I have no choice but to pop over to listen!
I had the chance to visit Singapore 4 years ago, and simply LOVED IT!
In fact, a CD that I picked up from there on my lst day of visiting, ended up being the music that we played in my wife’s hospital delivery room, during the birth of our first son.
(Look up Corrine May’s “Safe in a Crazy World” CD. Corrine is a famous Singaporean musician, and her music is beautiful.)
But I digress.
Thanks for exposing me to someone who’s doing what I also aspire to.
I’ll add her book to my 2010 reading list.
Bolaji@Rat Race Escape Artists´s last blog ..What do you want to Give- Do & Be The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge- Day 1
Hey Bolagi,
Thank you so much for coming by and thanks for the thoughtful input you’ve been giving.
Celes is awesome and is making things happen big time, one to look out for! Infact, you can see that over a 1000 people are doing her 30 day to a better life challenge – now that’s what I call a following.
I’d love to visit Singapore some time, you’ve just made it even more of a thing I must put on my to do list now.
Hope to catch you again soon,
Take care
Bailey
I really enjoyed listening to this podcast and I was especially captivated by your accents!
I am surprised at the depth of insight and experience that Celes shows in her writing. I love exploring her blog but now I am inspired to purchase the “book” and contribute to her great work.