Credibility of Personal Development Figures

[dor]

David Hawkins got his degree from a diploma mill

David R. Hawkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joe Vitale claims to be a "dr" metaphyscian,

Almost all of them -including Tony Robbins -cite non existent studies like the Yale Goals study (3% made goals 20 years later they were worth more than the other 97%) -clearly indicating they aren't doing any first hand research .

Many misuse misquote quantum physics...

it seems to be a widespread integrity and credibility problem in the self help industry.

I do think this is a major issue for several reasons;

diploma mills: its an insult to people who actually work for degrees and it lends credence to otherwise shaky statements - you're more likely to beleive a doctor about something medical - for example.

fake evidence and science - one's you find out its not true , if you are building your belief system based on it - "i believe LOA because of Emoto's water study" - then it hurts your power of belief when you find out its not true. - and if the speakers continuously lie or say things that arent' true, what's the sense listening to them at all/?

I think stephen covey is credible. I think napolean hill was - and his work stands the test of time,
i like this guy because he actually cites research
"Positive Psychology": The Science of Success vs. Self-Help Snake Oil

anymore??

oh and who ever sent me a negative rep telling me to ^****** off because i brought this up, sorry the truth is so annoying.

[Michael Chui]

Regarding credentials, I've never believed in them, other than that others did, and so it would be helpful to have a set to wave in people's faces as a heuristic.

So if Hawkins, Vitale, Robbins say good things, correct things, then they're credible to me. If they don't--and you suggest some misquote quantum physics--then they aren't credible.

It's already a step back in personal development if you need to rely on gurus' words to decide what to do. Individuals are competent thinkers, and should learn to use their brain to come to conclusions themselves. Others, even gurus, are useful only for providing interesting perspective and inspiring thoughts.

[AndyMartin]

Integrity is integrity, and is completely separate from transcendent experiences. Anyone can have a transcendent experience -- even young children do -- it doesn't mean they have reached the end of development or that they have overcome ego. It means they were looking the right direction to see the existence happening.

But those experiences should inform the life we live, the decisions we make, and how we engage with the world. Integrity is something you have or do not have; and while compromising on one point may not mean you have compromised on anything else, but it makes everything else suspect. Hence, credibility suffers.

[ricky]

The only one I really respect and admire is Napoleon Hill.
With everyone, I try their systems and it works then great, if not, oh well at least I learned something. I have found that every single person, no matter how bad can teach me at least one thing so for that I am glad and blessed.
I lost credibility for Anthony Robbins when I heard a rumour that his wife was divorcing him because she caught him with someone else. That made me think that howcome he could not be faithful to his wife knowing all that he knows. But I still think he's a genius and when put to use, a lot of his systems work.

[dor]

Originally Posted by ricky

The only one I really respect and admire is Napoleon Hill.
With everyone, I try their systems and it works then great, if not, oh well at least I learned something. I have found that every single person, no matter how bad can teach me at least one thing so for that I am glad and blessed.
I lost credibility for Anthony Robbins when I heard a rumour that his wife was divorcing him because she caught him with someone else. That made me think that howcome he could not be faithful to his wife knowing all that he knows. But I still think he's a genius and when put to use, a lot of his systems work.

especially since he had all those techniques about how to keep the perfect marraige.....but its rather like an inventor who discovers something -if edison had affairs that wouldn't make his lightbulb less useful, however the problem here is these techniques are about self imprvoment....on the other hand there are great coaches who are not great athletes.....

[Thomas Jensen]

What I'm amazed about is the number of personal development coaches and life coaches out there. In some cases, they seem like the people who sold the spades to the gold prospectors during the Gold Rush. They are making more money than the prospectors themselves. I think it could be going too far; frankly it's more fun to actually jump in and immerse yourself in life, rather than giving instructions on how to live it.

That's what I like about Steve, in fact. He focuses on providing value and makes it quite clear that if you can't deliver useful and unique content, then you shouldn't waste your time. That's a really important point and a lot of life coaches don't even mention it.

[dor]

PodcastDirectory | Episode: Success Unwrapped #041 - Dr. Stephen Kraus Podcast

this is an interview with the (real) Dr. mentioned in my first post. He debunks 'self help snake oil"