lifestyle

The Hard Truth About Personal Development

Contrary to what a lot of the world’s Gurus will tell us, personal development has very few guarantees.

“Follow these simple five steps and you will retire rich in ten years”

“Do as I did and you will be promoted at work in under 2 months”

“Double your speed/endurance/performance with these 3 simple exercises”

The truth is, that no matter how good the theory or technique or tool, it never gives us any guarantee of success.

The primary reason why there is no guarantee is that there are so many factors outside our field of control.  We can do everything in the “7 point plan for success” and still not succeed because those seven factors are not all powerful.  There are things that no human can control and they include illness, accidents, misfortune, and coincidence.  All of these factors and a whole lot more contribute to what we might call external factors.  These external factors cannot, and never will, be controlled fully by someone seeking personal development. 

The second reason that there are no guarantees, is that there are real limits working behind the scenes.  I am all for breaking down premature limits and false ceilings to performance, but there are certain inarguable limits that we come across from time to time.  We are limitted by the number of things we can focus on at one time (although the limit can be raised to some degree).  We are limited by the amount of time we have at our disposal (although this also can be increased by careful management).  We are limited by various genetic and physiological traits that effect some of our performances.  We are limited by the knowledge, experience and confidence that we possess at any point in time.  These limits are real and can’t be ignored.

The third reason that there is no guarantee, is that history does not often prescribe the future.  For someone to tell us that an event or a result occurred in the past does not tell us that it is possible for it to occur in the future.  Our world seems to change faster and more frequently with each new year.  As one string of opportunities opens for the watchful, another number are closing up.  What was possible at the dawn of the internet is no longer possible years down the track.  Often the most spectacular progress is time dependent.  The best opportunities always lie in the future because those from the past have usually been extinguished.

The fourth reason that there are no guarantees, is that only easy fulfillment comes with guarantees.  If I was a manufacturer of toasters I would have confidence that the toasters would easily fulfill the requirements of making toast, so I would be able to offer a reasonable guarantee.  Personal development is in another class altogether.  It is a complex system of interdependent ideas, techniques and actions.  It cannot be mass produced and laboratory tested.  It is pointless to try and provide a guarantee for it fulfilling its claims.  The best you will ever get will be a refund of the purchase price or course fees.  This is not a guarantee but an admission of fallibility.

The fifth and final reason why there is never an effective guarantee with personal development is because there is such a broad range of people hoping to develop.  Personal development is, of course, personal.  Each of us is made up of such a complex arrangement of characteristics that we are all distinctly individual.  As a result, we are all capable in different ways and we are all limitted in other different ways.  For a person to claim that “This worked for me” is perfectly valid and valuable, but for them to then guarantee ”It will work for you too” is a logical mistake.  We were not all cast with the same characteristics and so we will inevitably live different lives.  What works for you might be helpful for me, but until I test it I will never know if it will work for me.

So what good is personal development then?  If there is no guarantee that personal development will work for you, then why would you bother with it?  Personal development is simply a chest full of tools.  If they are used in the hands of a craftsman, they can potentially lead to a satisfying and fulfilling life.  No more and no less.  Any tool depends on the use that the craftsman puts it to.  There is never any guarantee that a particular tool will definitely create something beautiful.  This is out of the tool manufacturers control.  He supplies the best tools that he can and then the rest is determined by the user and the user’s context.

Personal development may not guarantee success, as some would claim, but it is still the best way to progress towards your goals and achieve what you would like with your life.  There is always a risk that you will do a lot of work but may never actually reach your goals, but what a stimulating and rewarding way to spend a life…trying.

Thanks

Tom