Largely made up of books, audio
programs, classes, seminars and workshops, the world of personal
development (PD) is composed of a great many things. Within it
we find the healthy existence of a wide assortment of topics ranging
from personal relationships and increasing productivity to teamwork
and communication to leadership and various “how to” subjects and
the list goes on and on. Needless to say, there's a lot going on
here. But what is rarely—if ever—brought to the forefront of
discussion is perhaps the most problematic aspect of PD items in
general. (I use the word “items” as an all encompassing reference
to any variation of personal development products or
services.)
Though it permeates the entire world of
PD items, the problem to which I refer is a simple one. It is not
necessarily a problem with the various PD items themselves,
but is rather a kind of byproduct which tends to develop as a result
of the consistent use of such things. Specifically, it is the
tendency to avoid or lose focus on the bettering of oneself (which is
the proper end of PD items) in favor of using the information
available in PD items as a standard with which to critique others. In
other words, instead of my seeking to better myself through the
application of a given PD item, I use the said item as the criterion
to judge why the people I observe around me are so very pathetic. “If
only they knew what I knew.”
Consider the following analogy. By
sheer accident, Steve stumbles upon a “people skills” book. He
has never read a self-help book before, but for some reason decides
to give it a chance. Upon completing the book he reluctantly decides
to try a suggested approach with a rather abrasive co-worker. To his
amazement, his co-worker responds positively and over the next couple
weeks their professional relationship improves to the point that
Steve no longer considers his co-worker abrasive at all. Thinking
“wow, this stuff really works!” Steve enthusiastically heads off
to the nearest bookstore in search of another book, and over time,
Steve becomes extremely educated and well-versed in various PD items.
As a result, he grows tremendously and begins to see the fruits of
his efforts in many areas of his life. But—albeit slowly and
subtly—something begins to change. Steve begins losing focus of the
reason he began exploring the world of PD items in the first
place. He begins to lose sight of himself and begins to focus
on the weaknesses and failures of other people. He begins to
see nothing but the disparity between his “abundance of wisdom and
perfection” and the absolute lack of such qualities in the people
around him. The more PD items he consumes the more isolated he
becomes in his perceived greatness. After all, he has spent years
studying such things, he is well-read, well-versed, and lives on the
cutting edge of personal development. What began with Steve's initial
curiosity and later desire to improve himself has slowly and steadily
evolved into a kind of dogmatism. A dogmatism that has resulted in
Steve seeing everyone but himself as the source of all problems.
Thus, Steve's education in PD items is being used as a “measuring
stick” with which to evaluate and critique those around him.
Such situations are not nearly as
uncommon as many would think. To be sure, they are especially common
in the corporate world. Can you imagine working with people, many of
whom perfectly exemplify the given description of Steve? Can
you imagine the finger pointing? The stress of the internal politics?
The self-righteousness? Regardless of where it occurs, such a
situation is no doubt highly destructive to everyone in its
proximity.
But what are we to take away from all
this? Are we to conclude that, because PD items can potentially
result in situations like those described above, such items ought to be avoided? On the contrary, PD items do not themselves
produce such situations, but rather, such situations result from
human error, misapplication and specifically self-deception—things we must always guard ourselves against.
No comments:
Post a Comment