Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post

Zero · 11-15-2006, 06:21 AM

Poor does not simply pertain to how much money a person has, its a state of mind, a way of life that completely consumes you. I lived this life for a long time. Broken home. Manic depressive father. My brother, my sister and myself struggling to survive. I can go on and on about this...

I was the first person in my family to receive a high school diploma, and, after seven years, graduate from college with a 4 year degree. Now, I have a great software engineering job and working on starting my own software development company. Somehow (I still do not know how) I "made it". I broke free of the poor that completely consumed me.

During the time that I was poor, I read books like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", "Power of Focus", "Chicken Soup for the Soul", the list goes on and on. These books were no help. I understood what they were trying to convey, but I could see no way to apply it to my situation. I want to underscore this: these books were useless. How can I think positive when I can't afford to go to the doctor when I am sick? Etc.

I started to read these books again recently, and I get much more out of them now. But, I also see why they were so useless when I was poor. In one of the books the author, Stephen Covey, describes a struggle he had. His son was struggling through school, getting made fun of, etc. He goes on for a few pages about how him and his wife agonized over this for months. A poor person cannot relate to this. The guy is lucky he has a loving wife, a home and time to go to his son's baseball games. My father would have killed to have that situation.

Another book talked about a guy who had a horrible car accident, and the doctors said he would never walk again. But, he thinks positive and works hard, and walks again. Yay. A poor person cannot relate to this either. The guy could afford a car. Afford quality healthcare. This guy had it made.

I have come to the conclusion that the personal development is just not for poor people. More evidence is that some of these seminars that are offered cost more than I used to make in a month. When I was poor, I needed real help, real advice and personal development was not going to cut it. Smile. Think positive. Yeah right.

So, I pose the question: Is personal development for poor people?

11-15-2006, 06:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
Zero Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 12	Is Personal Development For Poor People? Poor does not simply pertain to how much money a person has, its a state of mind, a way of life that completely consumes you. I lived this life for a long time. Broken home. Manic depressive father. My brother, my sister and myself struggling to survive. I can go on and on about this... I was the first person in my family to receive a high school diploma, and, after seven years, graduate from college with a 4 year degree. Now, I have a great software engineering job and working on starting my own software development company. Somehow (I still do not know how) I "made it". I broke free of the poor that completely consumed me. During the time that I was poor, I read books like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", "Power of Focus", "Chicken Soup for the Soul", the list goes on and on. These books were no help. I understood what they were trying to convey, but I could see no way to apply it to my situation. I want to underscore this: these books were useless. How can I think positive when I can't afford to go to the doctor when I am sick? Etc. I started to read these books again recently, and I get much more out of them now. But, I also see why they were so useless when I was poor. In one of the books the author, Stephen Covey, describes a struggle he had. His son was struggling through school, getting made fun of, etc. He goes on for a few pages about how him and his wife agonized over this for months. A poor person cannot relate to this. The guy is lucky he has a loving wife, a home and time to go to his son's baseball games. My father would have killed to have that situation. Another book talked about a guy who had a horrible car accident, and the doctors said he would never walk again. But, he thinks positive and works hard, and walks again. Yay. A poor person cannot relate to this either. The guy could afford a car. Afford quality healthcare. This guy had it made. I have come to the conclusion that the personal development is just not for poor people. More evidence is that some of these seminars that are offered cost more than I used to make in a month. When I was poor, I needed real help, real advice and personal development was not going to cut it. Smile. Think positive. Yeah right. So, I pose the question: Is personal development for poor people?