I had more or less stopped reading Steve Pavlina's stuff from just about the time I started this blog. Whatever else you think about his writing, it is a little repetitive. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Repeating the familiar with a new twist is the stock in trade of large parts of the entertainment business. Sometimes even the new twist is dispensed with. But I realised that I had forgotten some of the stuff that I had found valuable, and missed the bits that infuriated me. So I had a look at what he had posted recently and went through and bookmarked some stuff to read in spare moments.
It was only when I was duly reading some stuff in a spare moment that I noticed that I had filed the bookmarks under 'Entertainment'. This is the folder I put stuff in that I think will be well, entertaining. In other words I don't treat Steve's stuff as a reference or a guide. I treat it as a diversion from getting on with the serious stuff of my life. In fact, I noticed that I have consistently treated all the personal development stuff I read in the same way as what I do for fun.
When I read a book that is important to me I tend to take notes, and often write reviews of it. (Usually for my own benefit, but some of them end up in the blogosphere.) I hardly ever do that with personal development stuff. Brian Tracy's book on time management would be the only really big exception to that.
And I think I am probably right to do so. Most of this stuff is basically wish fulfilment. "Follow these steps and you'll achieve these great results". It is a pleasing thought. And sometimes it is useful to wonder about what you are doing and how you could do it better. But most of us know how we could be more successful. Generally it involves working harder. And generally we don't.
Self help products can have a positive effect by helping you focus on what you already know you should be doing or helping you think through your issues. But other forms of entertainment can do exactly the same. If anyone is in any doubt about this, imagine you are about to have an operation. Would you prefer the surgeon had just come back from some refresher on medical practices or a course in mindfulness?
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