 |
There are currently 83 visitors online.
|
| |
Are the success gurus for real?
(2433 reads) 
Question:
Hey Tom, I want to get into some type of personal development
program but it's just so confusing with so many gurus out
there claiming to help you achieve your goals. It's almost like the diet
or bodybuilding supplements industry - you don't know which to buy or
if they even work for that matter. How do you know who is for real?
Answer:
Yes, I know how hard it is for most people to sort out the diet
and exercise gurus, let alone all the "success gurus."
A lot of people even wonder whether you even need a "guru" in
the first place or if the whole self help movement is a bunch
of phonies.
Opinions are very polarized on the subject.
The word guru has its roots in the spiritual and the first
definition you find in the dictionary reflects that: A teacher
and guide in spiritual or philosophical matters.
The second definition is: A trusted counselor and advisor; a mentor, I like the word "mentor." I like the word "coach" too. Whatever you call it, I believe that if you want to achieve the
highest level of success possible, as quickly as possible, in ANY
area of your life, then you will will benefit from a mentor.
You cannot bypass the steps and the work that are necessary
to be successful, but a mentor can help you accelerate your climb
and stumble less often.
- A coach or mentor sees the potential in you that you do not see
in yourself yet.
- A coach or mentor can light a "desire fire" under your butt and
help you set your sights for bigger and better things when you
were going to sell yourself short.
- A coach or mentor provides you with accountability which
motivates and helps you stay on track.
- A coach or mentor also provides what Napoleon Hill said was
a prerequisite for success - specialized knowledge.
But if having a coach or mentor is so important, then why do they
sometimes get bad press and why do so many people say negative things
about personal development gurus, books, tapes, seminars and so on?
Well, for sure, there is bad advice in the self improvement
field just as there is bad advice in the diet and exercise field,
in the Investment field and every other field.
But sometimes even the best advice is unjustly criticized...
Criticism is often a way people attack others because it makes
them feel better about their own lack of success. Easier to knock
someone else down than built yourself up, right?
Not long ago, a critic - who shall remain unnamed - wrote a book about
how the entire personal development industry is one giant scam, preying
on people who continue to buy the next big thing in "self help"
just like dieters keep buying the next big thing in fat loss.
Well, as Teddy Roosevelt said in his famous and oft-quoted line,
"It's not the critic who counts..."
Ignore the critics and avoid the pessimists. If you listen to and hang
out with losers, you will become one yoursef.
I can honestly tell you that studying personal success and improvement
information - right alongside my studies of nutrition and exercise science -
has tranformed my life in ways I cannot even begin to descibe in a short
newsletter.
The information I have learned - combined with the fact that I took what
I learned and ACTED ON and APPLIED it - is why I am where I am today.
And thats an important point -- ACTION trumps everything else.
There’s a lot of talk these days in the personal improvement world
about attraction, manifesting, intention, visualization and of course,
positive thinking.
I believe in all those things. But those who criticize or dismiss
self improvement techniques as ineffective are correct if they are
referring to people who "think positive"and then sit back and wait
for success to be mysteriously "attracted" to them or to "manifest"
out of thin air.
Success is achieved through attraction + action. There are two
sides to the coin.
Affirmations are wonderful, but as Jim Rohn once said,"affirmation
without action is the beginning of delusion," or as the old Quaker
saying goes, "Pray, but move your feet!"
Some people will listen to a few minutes of an audio or read the first
few pages of a self-improvement book and theyre tempted to say, "I already
know that." Other people will criticize personal improvement information by saying...
"This is just common sense."
To the former, I say GOOD! repetition is the mother of learning.
To the latter, I say YES it is common sense. Are you taking action
and applying this "common sense" in your own life today?
Have you read the book about fat loss and yet you refuse to change your
eating habits? Have you bought the book about financial success and yet
you spend more than you save and you don't increase your value to your
employer or customers?
If you are not as healthy, wealthy, or successful as you
want to be yet, then I'd say that those "common sense" messages that
you have "heard before" haven't quite sunk in yet have they? If they
had, your results would show it. As the proverb goes, "By their fruits
you will know them."
Maybe you need a mentor to help you with the application of things.
So get mentors! Keep studying... and keep applying, and taking action.
Even after you've "made it," don't ever stop because your awareness of
and ability to use and apply the laws of success will continue to expand.
Nothing beats a personal mentor or coaching program, but a place we can
all get started is to seek mentors in self improvement books. That's where
I started.
I have more than 2600 books in my library - a large proportion of them
are self-improvement books. If my sports car were stolen tomorrow, I would
not miss it. If I lost my library tomorrow, I would miss it badly.
My Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle book, for example, was very
influenced by many of these authors as I weaved principles of
success psychology throughout my book, and the entire first
chapter of Burn Fat Fat is all about goals, self image, motivation
and how to program your subconscious mind. I KNOW this has a lot
to do with why the program has been so successful for so many
thousands of people.
|
Have a question? Ask on our Forums!
[ Back to Index ] |
|
|
|
