Are people who talk about personal development nothing more than snake oil salesmen?
There seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding the topic lately. While everyone who writes and talks about personal development may not have the best of intentions, there are some of us out there who care about the message we’re trying to share.
It’s important to know the difference.
There was a time in my life where I was feeling stuck and headed in the wrong direction. I met some people who were into personal development and they introduced me to some books to read.
The first book one of them gave me was Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins. I then went on to read The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz and The One Thing by Gary Keller. Those books changed my life. Personal development helped me go from stuck and depressed to accomplishing many of the things I’ve always wanted to do. Personal development serves a purpose for many people. But it’s not for everybody.
Why can’t we be friends?
Personal development turns some people off, and some have been more than vocal about it lately. People who practice personal development sometimes turn their noses up to people who aren’t productive, chasing success, practicing morning rituals, or reading books.
Why can’t people just like what they like? That’s one thing I never understood about the internet. It’s okay to disagree with what someone believes or practices, but you shouldn’t despise them because of the way they feel.
Belittling others because they don’t share the same vision of the world as you makes you small. Thoughtful critiques are welcome, but personal attacks and judgmental rants don’t serve any purpose.
The people behind these ugly messages claim they want the online space to be more “real,” and have more “meaning,” yet they aren’t sharing any of those types of messages themselves – just hateful ones.
The same goes for personal development practitioners. Some people don’t want to be ultra-successful, wealthy, super productive, or spend a lot of time learning – they’re good where they’re at. It’s okay for people to be content with what they have.
Personal development serves those who are looking to change. It helps those who do want better than what they have right now and are looking for answers.
Instead of slinging feces at one another behind keyboards, perhaps we should all learn to be like Bill:
Now that we’ve decided it’s alright for people to be interested in what ever they’re interested let’s talk about some ways to sniff out a success “guru,” who’s nothing more than a charlatan. Here are some lies that success “gurus,” tell.
You Can Make “Six Figures in Six Seconds.”
Anything worthwhile takes time to build. If someone promises you a quick pay day with little to no effort be wary of them. These are the types of people who sell dreams and profit off of you being gullible. It’s possible to make a great living doing what you love, but it takes time, effort, and patience.
How do you spot an authentic seller and a scammer? You can tell by the results the provide their customers and what people say about them.
Take Ramit Sethi for example – Ramit has created more than a dozen information products on topics ranging from personal finance, careers, behavior change, and yes earning money.
Ramit separates himself from the “gurus” by being authentic. He’s helped people get real results and his fans rave about him. He offers premium courses on building businesses that have actually helped people create profitable businesses.
What you want to avoid are the types who tell you that for only $1997 today you’ll be rich in six months. If they’re selling you a course on how to make money, but that’s the only way they’ve made money, watch out.
By the way, quit worrying so much about being scammed because someone has the audacity to want compensation for providing useful knowledge.
It baffles me that people will pay $100,000.00 for college without blinking an eye (there are several examples of how the ROI on this is terrible), but God forbid if someone wants to charge you $197 for their course they’re trying to pull a fast one on you. Wake up and grow up.
You Only Have To Work 4 Hours A Week
The point of the four hour work week was not about working four hours a week. It was about automating or removing excess minutiae from your life so that you can spend more time doing things you enjoy. People have taken the concept of the four hour work week and ran with it.
They’ll tell you that you can create your own online store with no inventory, no money, no work, and make a killing. They talk about sexy buzz words like “passive income.” Do people make passive income? Yes. Do they make passive income without doing any work beforehand? No.
You’re told you can “hack,” your life so that it’s easier, but every successful person will tell you the same thing — you have to work hard to get where you want to be.
You Have To Be A Morning Person
I wake up at 6 a.m. every day to write. That’s when I’m the most focused and productive. That’s what works for me. You don’t have to be a morning person to be successful. Some people work better in the evenings. Some people do their best work in the middle of the night.
The routines themselves don’t make you successful. The consistency of the routine does. If you’re looking to hone your craft, I do suggest working at it consistently, but it doesn’t matter what time of the day you do it.
You Can Do Anything If You Put Your Mind To It
Success gurus will tell you that you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it, but that’s not true. The chances of you succeeding are higher if you’re persistent. But sometimes no matter what you do the outcome won’t go your way. And that’s okay.
You have to find your shit sandwich worth eating — meaning you have to find something that’s worth going through the miserable feelings set backs present. If you write two books that flop, will you write a third? Colonel sanders failed at several businesses and didn’t find success with KFC until he was in his sixties.
In the long run you’ll find success to some degree. But positive thinking alone doesn’t guarantee you anything.
You Have To Quit Your Job
Everyone’s trying to escape their 9 to 5. If you don’t like your job and you want to do something else, by all means get to work on transitioning out of it. But you don’t have to quit your job to start your company. Get your side hustle on. Work 9 to 5 at your job and work 5-9 on your side business.
There are several good reasons to keep your job while you work on your side business:
- You need income.
- Having a job you hate motivates you.
- Working a 9 to 5 makes you use your time wisely.
So no, you do not have to quit your job right now, buy a one way ticket to Brazil and become a “digital nomad,” overnight.
The Truth About Personal Development
There are people out there who are trying to make a positive change in the world and there’s nothing wrong with them trying to make a living by doing so. There are also snakes, sharks, and charlatans who smell blood in the water because the internet entrepreneur space does provide profitable opportunities.
Just be smart. Do your due diligence when you come across certain people. You’re smart enough to decipher their intentions. People who are in it for the wrong reasons aren’t that hard to spot.
I get the discontent some people have with the industry because of the bad apples, but it’s not cool to shame other people that you’ve never met or had a conversation with.
Let’s all learn how to be adults. How does that sound?