RSS FeedsBook Review ~ Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina
25. September 2008
I’ve been a long time occasional visitor to Steve Pavlina’s blog Personal Development for Smart People. I’ve found him to be caring, insightful and a delightfully refreshing change from many of the “major” so called self help or development gurus / marketeers. What continues to draw me to Steve, aside from his perception and insights, is that his growing success and recognition has come as a result of his continued free giving of himself rather than in the old “pay here and I’ll let you in on a bit of the secret” business model. His web site freely gives great value to its visitors and advertisers and is therefore correspondingly successful. Its a model I intend to emulate to some degree myself.
I was happy to discover recently that he’d written a book and was making it freely available to fortunate bloggers such as I for review. Well, I can tell you you’re in for a treat, the book is truly excellent and surely destined to become a “classic” in times hence.
Steve has managed to condense a great deal of material into 154 pages. Pages that will serve you for many years for it is certain that with each re-reading you will gain new insights and aha’s into areas within your life that are in need of further clarification, care and attention.
These are likely aspects which you may have been unconsciously avoiding or that you now recognise need re-visiting for fresh insight. So to this end its fair to expect the reading of the book to feel uncomfortable at times as you are challenged to explore the truth of its key themes and subsequently recognise where you are in denial or failing to apply them wholeheartedly in your life. You may feel little pangs of panic from your lower self as it senses change knocking once more at your door, because, as you’ve likely already discovered, it does not matter how much personal work you’ve done ~ there’s always another level to explore. This reaction is of course a very useful sign.
Steve states that he “… set out to find the common pattern behind all successful growth efforts, to identify a complete set of core principles that would be universally applicable.” and that furthermore “First, these principles must be universal. They must be applicable by anyone, anywhere, in any situation. They must work equally well for all areas of life: health, relationships, career, spiritual growth, and so on. They must be timeless, meaning that they can still be expected to work 1,000 years from now, and they would have worked 1,000 years ago. They must be culturally independent: they need to work for all those living on Earth, as well as for people aboard a space station in orbit. They must work both individually and collectively, so they’re effective for any group of any size.”
The result of that enquiry is the following themes:
- Truth: Accept reality and rid your life of falsehood and denial.
- Love: Improve your ability to connect with yourself and others.
- Power: Build your motivation and discipline to create the life you desire.
- Oneness: Stop fighting against resistance, and make the world your ally.
- Authority: Take command of your life, and learn to make clear decisions.
- Courage: Summon the inner strength to take action in spite of fear.
- Intelligence: Live authentically, and express your genuine creativity.
These themes are further clarified and explored in part one of the book and then looked at from a highly practical standpoint in particular relationship to the following key areas of your life in part two.
- Habits: Create a daily routine that gives you a sense of flow
- Career: Build a career you’re truly passionate about
- Money: Achieve financial abundance without compromising your integrity
- Health: Adopt health habits that empower your physical body
- Relationships: Enjoy loving relationships that help you grow
- Spirituality: Raise your awareness and live more consciously
He offers a wide variety of questions, challenges and practices in relation to these that when answered, tried and explored, have the potential to yield tremendous benefits in your life in terms of becoming more you, more real, and ever more deeply satisfied and fulfilled.
However at no point does he suggest that any of this is likely to be particularly easy, quite the reverse in fact, but he always maintains that the rewards are worth the effort and that with the right inspiration and personal alignment its not so hard to summon the resolve to meet any challenge honestly and courageously.
Steve Pavlina is obviously a very clever man, highly skilled in the use of his mind and applying it logically to any and every situation including mathematics, computer programming, chess, gaming or whatever and he is clearly highly intuitive to boot. To my perception his great strength lies in delivering, intelligent, linear, thought out, rationalised and intensely practical approaches and solutions to the difficulties we all face in creating deeply fulfilling, happy, meaningful lives for ourselves. This he does without any extraneous nonsense or embellishment.
It is a wonderful gift but can feel a little “dry” and that is about the only criticism that I’d level at his book. I felt at times like I was reading an owners workshop manual for life, it is perhaps more practical than inspiring.
I felt there was a huge amount of information about what to do but somewhat less there to actually inspire and motivate you to get on and do it beyond the inherent truth and wisdom calling you to action from the pages. Of course, this should be enough but I suspect that to a populace so currently gripped in victim and blame culture that there may be many who shy away from such positive action.
For those who are ready though its a massive gift and they will likely pick up this book and sigh inwardly…_“oh… at last, at last, thank you…”. I’ll certainly be ordering my hardcopy when I finish writing this.
Another wonderful aspect of his approach is not that he is saying “be like me and you’ll get great results” but rather that he is simply saying use these principals and apply them to You in Your way and You will get the results that You uniquely desire. Its highly empowering.
Pearls of wisdom leap succinctly from almost every page; you are certain to see many books in the future with Steve Pavlina quotations opening their chapters in italics.
Here are just a few to whet your appetite:
Genuine personal growth is honest. You can’t take shortcuts through the land of make-believe. Your first commitment must be to discover and accept new truths, no matter how difficult or unpleasant the consequences may be. You can’t solve problems if you don’t admit they exist.
If it takes years to reach your goal, then so be it. The time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well put it to good use. Years from now you’ll either be where you want to be . . . or you won’t. You can either invest your time in growth or do the time in a cage.
Never pretend to enjoy a job you hate. Never pretend to be happy in an unfulfilling relationship. Never pretend that your finances are strong when they’re really weak. If you want your situation to improve, you must first come clean with yourself and admit the whole truth.
Life is constantly asking: What do you want? You have the freedom to answer that question however you wish. Aligning yourself with truth and love will help you evaluate the possibilities, but there are no compulsory right or wrong answers. There’s only your freedom to choose. Will you answer with silence, or will you exercise your power of conscious choice?
There are few greater joys in life than the experience of conscious communication with another person. No ego games, false fronts, or manipulative tactics are employed. Both individuals simply want to connect with each other for the purpose of learning and growing. Once you’ve experienced such open, loving communication with another human being, it’s hard to settle for anything less.
Loving yourself unconditionally is the result of a conscious choice. You’re free to make this choice in every moment of every day. You don’t need to fulfill any conditions or satisfy any rules. But in order to make this choice consciously, you must get to know yourself. No matter what hidden qualities you discover, you’re still worthy of love.
Thank you Steve, good work. ~ Steve Pavlina’s blog
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