Where to start?

[Stefanowski]

Hi!
All those articles on self-development, polarity, LoA, Consciousness, Polarity etc. are very interesting and inspiring. But it's extremly difficult to know where to start with "self-development" - for example if one wants to use the LoA.
Should I start to find my polarity? How? Or should I find my level of consciousness? Should I try to use visualization/ intention-manifestations first?
thanks for any advice,
Stefanowski

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

When I first started reading Steve's articles, I went to the Best of StevePavlina.com section and read those. Then I went to the archives and started from the bottom. After that, if I was having a particular problem, I would look for a post that addressed it (or ask someone here to help me!).

Not sure if that's the best way, but it worked pretty well for me. Good luck.

[John P]

Steve was asked this question last year and gave his thoughts
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...rsonal-growth/

[munish]

Originally Posted by Stefanowski

Hi!
All those articles on self-development, polarity, LoA, Consciousness, Polarity etc. are very interesting and inspiring. But it's extremly difficult to know where to start with "self-development" - for example if one wants to use the LoA.
Should I start to find my polarity? How? Or should I find my level of consciousness? Should I try to use visualization/ intention-manifestations first?
thanks for any advice,
Stefanowski

Start with the physical.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...-the-physical/

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by Stefanowski

Where to start?
Stefanowski

To me the most obvious place to start is with yourself. Know who you are, what you want and where you want to go. If you start at where others think you should be, you end up following someone else's agenda.

Everyone is unique and at a different point in their lives. It's up to you to figure where that is and what you want to do with it. There are many helpful people to give you advice once you figure out what you need and want, but it's up to you to do that part. Quite often we give too much power to so called self-help "gurus" who don't know you from Adam. They don't know what's best for you. The way to go is to take responsibility for your own development by knowing yourself first. From there you can decide what you need/want to work on.

[Iff]

Adding to what ZHereford is saying, if you want to know where are you currently at your personal development path, read the article Levels of Consciousness. I know I would start from this one, if I would be here on my first day wondering about stuff.

On from there, you always have the previously suggested possibility of starting from the beginning. Although I would not recommend it for following reasons: a) it would take you way too much time reading through the whole articles at once, b) and it would tempt you to embark on the glorious path of becoming a self-help junkie, and c) you would have to have a pretty open mind and an ability to pick up new things quickly, otherwise you'd get very confused very soon.
An article do read as a newcomer is probably How to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes. When you find out, where you want to end up in the future and what goals resonate with that, and put it down on paper, you can pretty much pick any subject from there on to help you on your journey. And do not worry, if you have doubts about the goals you write down - you can always reword or even completely change them. It is all part of the trip.
And as someone who started his personal development path without writing down his goals as early on as possible, I can tell you I definitely regret that. The more you put on writing down your goals and committing to them, the harder it gets. Procrastination rules, you know.

And I must say, personal development is not a check-list of articles to read (I am sure you already know that). Most of the things I read nowadays, they just either reinforce something I already know, or give me a whole new perspective on something else I already know. There is not much new stuff, so you don't need to read tons of material just to start improving yourself. That doesn't mean there's no point reading them. There is just a few main principles to learn, apply and everything from there on is just for broadening your view of the world and perfecting skills you already have.

Here's a list of some additional things you could devour to give you great and sufficient start on your personal development journey (and I am not going to limit myself with only Steve's material on this one):
Steven R. Covey "7 Habits Of Highly Effective People" (pretty much a compulsory reading, consists of age-old principles)
David Allen "Getting Things Done" (time and action management principles)
Tom Venuto "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle" (one of the best exercise and health related material I have read so far)
Eckhart Tolle "Power Of Now" (maybe more down the road - interesting read but even now I have trouble relating to it)
Richard Koch "The 80/20 Principle" and "Living the 80/20 Way" (a must know for everyone who wants to live and work more efficiently)
Napoleon Hill "Think And Grow Rich" (it is still on my to-read list but everyone is only praising it so I believe it is worth checking out)

I am going to leave you with these names, you should have your hands full for some time now. Just don't forget implementing what you learn in your new and improved life.

[The David]

Start with the physical.

Actually, I'm dead serious.