Does anyone acutally use this stuff?

[da1prophet]

IMO, there's a lot to be learned from personal development--organization, motivation, goal setting, etc--but Scumbag is correct. Just showing up does take care of a lot of problems.

Of course he wasn't the first to recognize this--Woody Allen is famously quoted as having said "90% of life is just showing up".

To a certain extent, you can extrapolate Steve's "ready, fire, aim" theory about starting a business to everyday life. While I find a lot of value in this site, its also easy to get so wrapped up in the processes of PD that you forget the goals that got you into it in the first place. In other words, there's a risk that you can make life a "ready..aim....aim....aim...aim..." and never firing situation.

There may be *some* oversimplification is saying that showing up is all you need to do, but on balance its more true than false.

[newdad]

I too, have to agree with scumbag.

I have lived both sides of the pd coin-the learning and the doing. I spent tons of time, trying to find the latest and greatest stategy and wrote down tons of goals, analyzed my problems, created solutions, but when it came down to action I put it off, because I thought there must be a better and more cetain way to accomplish my goals.

When I read Steve's article on 30-day goals I said, "Gee, that's easy." All I had to do is say I was going to do something and do it for 30-days and if I don't like it, then I don't have to do it anymore. I picked two things. I decided to get up early and I decided to exercise for 30 minutes every day. There wasn't any emotion involved. The task was there. I set my alarm earlier and I hopped on an exercise bike.

I liken pd to swimming. We all no, the pool is going to be cold. There are those that dip their toes in the pool, pull them out, stick em back in and hope that they will become prepared for the cold. I have watched people at the pool try this for so long that they decide it's not worth the shock of the cold, so they go back to their towels and resign themeselves to sweating in the sun. Maybe, they hope that the water will warm up if they wait long enough, or somebody will come up with a better way to get used to the cold. I don't really know what they are thinking. I have learned that the only way I get used to the water is if I emerse myself completely. I found the easiest way to emerse myself is to just jump in. A moment of shock and then I'm cool and having fun.

Those of you, still looking for that one solution to solve all your pd problems--just pick one today and jump in. Get some success under your belt and then pick another. Before long you'll be so busy doing what you konw you need to do you won't need to figure out what is the best way to go about solving all your problems.

[thestral]

I've achieved everything in my life by just being out there among the people. I got my last job by deciding to strike up a conversation with the guy sitting enxt to me at the Padres game because I liked his shirt, and by 7th inning stretch I was hired.

I don't believe in massive action, I believe in logical action. When I think of the next step and it does not sound right, I do not take actions in that direction. I have been right every time.

[Liara Covert]

As far as I can see, people will get out of personal development what they choose to get from it. Some people consider it an exercise in soul-searching. Other people consider it struggle or journey to figure other people out. I agree with previous postings that the courage to start something means a lot. I also believe many people benefit from pushing themselves further than they thought they could go to achieve things they didn't know from their potential.