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Evaluating the programs of personal growth experts April 30, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Concept of personal growth.
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As we work on various ways to increase our satisfaction with our life situation, many of us reach a stage where we begin to think more critically or analytically about the concepts and programs offered by those people considered to be experts or authorities in the field of personal development.

If you are at this stage, here are seven questions you might want to consider investigating:

(1) Is the program or basic theory being offered a practical approach to actually improving the areas in your life in which you want to see better results? Or do the suggested principles of the program seem to you to be overly vague and hard to pin down?

(2) Do you agree with the basic principles or underlying assumptions of the improvement program being suggested? Or would you have to “force” yourself to act on these principles without really believing in them?

(3) Do the personal improvement techniques being suggested by the expert depend for success on a faith-based or religious set of operating principles? If so, can you accept these principles?

(4) Does the expert’s public personal life-behaviour history reflect the principles outlined in their theories? If not, can you still follow and try to implement the ideas of this expert, despite this inconsistency?

(5) In the case of personal growth experts discussing mental health from a medical perspective and offering advice, do they have the necessary medical educational credentials to warrant them being considered an authority?

(6) Is the program or plan easy to understand with straightforward implementation steps? Is the program believable in its claims?

(7) Do the theories, concepts, and ideas expressed by the authority/expert mesh with your own value system?

Finally, it can be helpful to find out what other people think of the ideas offered by the expert you are considering following. One of the ways to discover this is by looking for third-party unbiased online reviews, criticism and articles about the expert and their personal growth informational materials.

How does the concept of personal development work? April 28, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.
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Although practising the concept of personal development does have the ability to transform us, it will not bring instant success in helping to make us a better person.

We can be greatly inspired by some personal growth informational materials, but inspiration is something that has to be fed every day by constantly working the principles of self-improvement.

For the large majority of us, our minds and emotions do not have the capability to absorb and implement an entire personal growth program all at once.

Rather it is a step-by-step process, and as such is much more likely to have staying power for our entire lives than would a formula for instant personal change, if such a formula existed.

We may indeed feel we “have seen the light” on reading, listening to, or watching some outstanding self-improvement materials, but for the light to stay “on” we have to work at it on a steady basis.

It’s something like when we studied for exams in school. If we “cram” the knowledge of a course into our heads the night before the test, we can be sure we will have forgotten most of the material a few days after the exam.

If we study the course study materials over an extended period, however, we are much more likely to retain it.

We refer to the “process” of personal development for a reason – because as a process it is ongoing. It is a journey, not a fast path to our desired destination of personal betterment.

As we learn ways to increase our self-knowledge and self-awareness, we gradually pick up more and more ideas and tools with which to reach our objectives.

Gradually, instance by instance, we start to see the world and our place in that world differently. And we are able to react maturely and positively to challenging situations as they arise, by applying the principles we are absorbing each day in our personal growth work.

Then, when we are faced with a difficult circumstance, we remember an idea we have learned and we then successfully apply that idea to the situation. Our work on personal growth thereby becomes proactive and practical in our daily lives rather than just an abstract concept.