Is buying and following personl improvement books, courses, audios and workshops an addiction or a positive sign of someone who is really learning to improve themselves and their place in society?
On the one hand, those who seek to improve themselves must be commended for taking action, learning about how our body and mind works, how we are influenced by society and trying to improve on our lot in life.
But…when does the constant buying of new material on self-improvement indicate a weakness in itself? Can those who own a bookshelf full of personal improvement audios, books and the like be critisized as feeding a dependancy in place of taking action on DOING the things that will really make change in their lives?
True enough, any improvement relies on both knowledge and the application of that knowledge, so yes, action is an important part of improving yourself.
In our latest, groundbreaking book onBeyond Greatness, we put forth radical new ideas about how to achieve more and improve the meaningfulness of your successes in life, but we also make sure they are organized into 5 simple-to-follow steps that turn this newfound knowledge into actionable steps.
Self-Improvement As A Life-Long Pursuit
It always seems funny to me to have anyone suggest that one book, one course, one approach or one piece of information will address all of your challenges or allow you to achieve everything you want…it’s just not true.
Think of any area that you want to learn, grow, or pursue excellence – be it your career, relationships, hobby…we think nothing of buying dozens of books or attending courses, talking to people about a hobby like model airplanes, painting or a favorite sport.
Why do people assume that any one program should have all of the answers when we work on ourselves?
Personal improvement is an incredibly complex topic that is made up of many aspects – understanding the brain, our emotions, our response to stimulii, let alone changing any of this is a fascinating, but life-long pursuit.
If you get one idea out of a book, then you are one step further toward improving yourself – then that book or course has been worth it for me.
This is no different than learning about any new complex concept that you want to improve – business, parenting, how to play music…in the end, those who continually invest in self-improvement information are no different than anyone reading this who has invested in educating themselves about any other topic…except that the investment is in improving yourself.
For that, we should be commended, not ridiculed.
What about you…what do you expect to get out of any one personal development book, audio course or seminar?
Jeff
Pings on Self-Improvement Treadmill…