So how did you find Steve?

[Sonnenblume]

I think I found Steve when I was looking for articles about Getting Things Done - two years ago.

I'm really very grateful as this site helped to open a whole new world for me.

And I also remember the time when Steve was writing his book - he posted some examples of the book cover, and a lot of people suggested he should go for a new age design for the cover, something dreamy

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

Yeah, not many seemed to have found the book first. Not that it matters.

I did actually-Derek Sivers' blog has a review of Steve's book, and so I read the book first. That's how I learned about the blog, and from there, the forums.

[Cochonette]

Most people seemed to google their way here, just like me.

Originally Posted by Berrie

God. I mean, Google.

Same thing.

[cacheborn]

Originally Posted by berrie

god. I mean, google.

[bluedragon]

I googled "how to cook brown rice" and I found an article that explained that really, really well. I actually succeeded in making a pretty good... brown rice . I liked the clarity of the article. Of course, the author had a bunch of other articles besides that, something about personal development and responsibility, so I thought I'd give it a look. And guess what happened then

I don't think i had ever read a blog before. All I knew about personal development was Barefoot Doctor's books (a major inspiration to me ever since), and "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman, but I hadn't really read much else and I was pretty skeptical about personal development in general, and especially blogs, until running into Steve's blog.

[Cloverhart]

I think it was something about intention manifestation after reading Lynn's book, but I found him hilarious, it was a question answer forum and the question was why are you here, and the answer was because I really like bananas, and I was hooked!!

[givejonadollar]

I walked into my room and Steve was hiding under my bed.

I said........Steve.......get out from under my bed.

Then, Steve gave me a business card, and the rest is history.
(yes, I'm joking)

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

For me it's a long story, but I'll keep it brief: Had tried PD books in the past like Think and Grow Rich, and they didn't resonate. Gave up on them. Just stayed at home and worked on Atari 2600 programming, even though it didn't pay much. Then one day Amazon.com suggested Steve's book for me. Never heard of him before. If Steve hadn't been a math/computer science major and a former self-employed game programmer, I don't think I would have given the book the chance it deserved.

When I first opened the book and read about a PD model with universality, irreducibility, and completeness, I thought: Wow! This book was written for math majors!

What surprised me is that few people around here come from a math/comp sci background. (And I'm grateful for the variety.) So that leaves me curious, how did you find Steve?

I believe It was probably through my obsessive google searches on the law of attraction and having abundance etc that I probably came across his blog and then saw all the other articles which I constantly read day by day which was probably a few years ago

Now I am in the steve pavlina addicts anonymous group

[Patricia]

For me, it was back in 2005, I had this friend who I usually had personal development related/philosophical conversations with and he told me about Steve's blog, I guess he had been reading it for a a few months then. I'm not 100% sure, but I guess he made reference to an article on Steve's blog on a subject we happened to be discussing. I loved the content so much I started digging the archives pretty much on a daily basis and started following new posts on a regular basis. I also got hooked on the podcasts. It was all very timely for me because he had articles on things I had been deeply questioning at the time and also when I happened to be going through a pretty transitional phase in my life.

[roxyruby]

Originally Posted by Cochonette

Same thing.

your av is ADORABLE reminds me of my Resting In Peace pet rat sophie. I keep a photo of her on display to remember her & her sweet, loving, beautiful spirit.

[Mabel]

I was at work one day...oh about 3 or 4 years ago.....and I was doing some mind numbing task. I was frustrated with my lack of discipline at the time, so I did a Google search on improving self-disipline and came upon one of the articles in Steve's series of Self-Discipline articles. I read the whole series and then I kept reading and reading and reading....

I don't idolize anyone though I think it is helpful to have a mentor. I first met Steve in person at I Can Do It in Tampa (October 2008) and have attended the first two CGW workshops. I love Erin's stuff too and find it to be a great balance and compliment to Steve's material. I had a very productive reading with Erin in January as well. Given that my last day at the office was on Friday, I feel a review of my entire experience coming on soon.........

[gloci]

About a year ago I started to use google a lot more, and then i googled "how to get up early" or something like that and found his blog. I remember being amazed at the amount of articles he had on his site, and then I gradually started reading them more and more.

I think what really got me hooked was the raw food diet 30 day trial that he did. I read the whole lot in one sitting!

[JeremyNoelJohnson]

I join you in being in the computer technology crowd. I do web development right now for my full time job!

I found Steve while using Google to search for life purpose and meaning and have been aware of him ever since then.

[Wax Frog]

One could almost say Steve found me. Every darn time I'd do a Google search on various of the 'woo-woo' topics that interest me, especially IM/LoA, this site would be the top match, or nearly so. Well marketed, sir, well marketed The article about the million-dollar experiment particularly caught my eye, on more than one occasion...

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by Berrie

God. I mean, Google.

Same diff!

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Originally Posted by brendannz

A friend told me about it.

Same here. Friendly recommendation.

I'm guessing your friend who made the recommendation is a really good friend.

[secrets0stolen]

Someone on a raw foods forum told me about his 80/10/10 trial.

[danas]

I think I googled insomnia one sleepless night in late 2006 and read about his about his polyphasic sleep methods.
Thanks to him by January 2007 I had quit my job and a few months later for the first time in my life I sold a work of art. A year later I was making a living from it
I also learnt about the secret on this forum and EFT and raw food and Byron Katie many great things that have helped me bring myself to where I am today
thank you steve, thank you forum

[James81]

You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer.

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by James81

You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer.

It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.

[James81]

Originally Posted by The Unconquered

It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.

:highfive:

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by James81

:highfive:

:highfive:

One of my favorite movies of all time.

[BeyondtheWrap]

I was originally a lurker in the seduction community, especially during the first half of 2008. I think there was a thread on the FastSeduction.com forum where someone asked how to become extroverted, and someone else posted a link to Steve Pavlina's article, How to Go From Introvert to Extrovert, which I clicked on. That was in May 2008. Then I clicked on some links to other articles on Steve's site. There was a lot of stuff on the Law of Attraction and Polarity at the time, most of which either confused me or made me disagree. I didn't care about raw foods, so I mostly ignored those posts. However, I was interested in things like philosophy, beliefs, and how to live a happy life; that's why I stayed.

After a few months, I began regularly checking Steve's blog and still do. I have been more and more converted to some of Steve's points of view. Like, originally I disagreed with his aversion to jobs; I thought that you should be happy no matter where you are. But I've come to see that my old ways have been a little out of alignment with truth.

Of course I'm not a good example of someone doing personal development. I'm more of a self-help junkie, and my self-discipline really sucks.

And by the way, to the OP, I'm a math major in college right now.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Zach Matley

What surprised me is that few people around here come from a math/comp sci background. (And I'm grateful for the variety.) So that leaves me curious, how did you find Steve?

It's actually a bit of a funny mix... a lot of PD subjects are quite right brained, but Steve brings a pretty good left-right balance into it... unusual for a math major!!

I found his site through a link in a forum about life success. The guy who started it is a now-multimillionaire who used to post on the SoSuave (seduction) forums. The website is down now... lol but I don't need it at all. I'm pretty glad to have moved on from the seduction world.

Love

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by danas

I think I googled insomnia one sleepless night in late 2006 and read about his about his polyphasic sleep methods.
Thanks to him by January 2007 I had quit my job and a few months later for the first time in my life I sold a work of art. A year later I was making a living from it
I also learnt about the secret on this forum and EFT and raw food and Byron Katie many great things that have helped me bring myself to where I am today
thank you steve, thank you forum

What an awesome story He had a pretty huge impact on my life, too.

[The Unconquered]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

It's actually a bit of a funny mix... a lot of PD subjects are quite right brained, but Steve brings a pretty good left-right balance into it... unusual for a math major!!

Maybe for a math major, but not the math/comp sci majors. The ones I've encountered were all ambi-hemisphered (new word!).

[Marc Robertson]

I found out about Steve Pavlina this past Sunday evening.

I was checking out dilbert.com for the strips through the week. As an entrepreneur and electrical engineer, I enjoy seeing Scott Adams point of view on the life of an engineer. As I was looking through the strips, I noticed that the strips also have comments. I look through them for a while and saw a rather aggressive commenter who linked to Steve's "10 reasons you should never get a job."

Like all web links that I get from unscrupulous people that seem deliciously similar to a old van with no windows and states "free candy" on the side, I clicked on it.

After reading the the first few paragraphs, I was engaged. I remember thinking "What an interesting perspective!" From first glance, this many appear something positive. On the other hand, I get that reaction for scams before I inevitably realize it is in fact a scam or marketing ploy. I checked to make sure that he wasn't trying to sell something or present some type of scam. It clearly cleared my quick inspection and I continued reading.

The next reaction that I realized is how closely that Steve thinks to my own thoughts. This is interesting because I am weird. I've been called weird all the way back to my first girlfriend in middle school. I love it.

As I continued reading I noticed that the article made me think. As an engineer, if you don't make me think, you won't get me interested. At this point I was glued. The article brought up issues that I didn't have fully developed opinions of. For example, take the first point. "Income for dummies." Having started my first business last year, I have realized that I put too much emphasis on how much time I work as opposed to how much value that I deliver. Burn. At the job I have, I still work by the hour and get paid by the hour. It doesn't matter how hard I work in each hour, I make the same amount. This is kind of motivation limits someone to working just hard enough not to get fired.

I kept reading.

The next section is about limited experience. I see it all the time. People can only do their small part and that is it. They learn how to do a task and their time from there is turning the crank. I vary significantly to most here. I love learning. I'll learn how to do something or solve a problem. After that, I show it off and move on to the next problem. I can't stand the though of doing the same thing repetitively. That is what directed me to work at a small business. This satisfies a couple of the items on the list, but does not satisfy me. I am a multi-disciplinary person. If I am not doing a variety of work over multiple disciplines that I enjoy, I'm not happy.

I read the whole article and craved for more. I kept reading and really enjoyed the "Personal Development for Smart People(tm)" tagline at the top.

This is actually part of a revolution for me. I have become dissatisfied with engineering. Big companies don't challenge their engineers enough. Even the small ones don't hold my interest for long either. I have become dissatisfied with my social life, or shall I say the lack of one. I have become dissatisfied with my leadership abilities. I have become dissatisfied with the phrase "let's just be friends." The pot of being pissed off at such situations has reached my boiling point. I never seeked out personal development. It simply happened to fall onto my lap...top when I needed it the most. I was simply reading a dilbert.com strip, and that is how I found it. Amazing.

I want a better life than I have now.

Steve's Articles have become a catalyst for change that I needed.
I must say that it has worked, right out of the gate. I am already getting the results in and they are quite good. I can already see the start of significant changes in my life. I can visualize where I want to be in the future and I am excited to get there.

I am at a loss how to adequately say thank you for your hard work Steve. So here it goes:

Thank you for your hard work Steve!

[Lauxa]

I found the Million Dollar Experiment article first. I was reading many blogs at that time and started reading Steve's as well. It must have been early 2006 because I think he was still doing the polyphasic sleep experiments at that time. Then he started up the forums and I liked them even better than his blog.

[Ganesh]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

I googled "how to cook brown rice" and I found an article that explained that really, really well. I actually succeeded in making a pretty good... brown rice . I liked the clarity of the article. Of course, the author had a bunch of other articles besides that, something about personal development and responsibility, so I thought I'd give it a look. And guess what happened then

This is fantastic because Steve has said that the article 'how to cook brown rice' was one of his top articles and kept wondering are there really that many people out there wanting to cook brown rice? I found one now

As for me, it was my search for self-discipline that led me here and it progressed to 'search for self' and finally 'search' and i havent left since then...

[rob white]

I'm an author and am new to the blog/computer world. My niece in college referred me over to this community to see an example of the best ... Boy, was she right! I must admit, the size and depth of this conversation is a bit overwhelming to a newbie like myself.