
The information age. The age of instant gratification and a constant bombardment of messages that often leaves us feeling overwhelmed. In this day and age there is one message that in my opinion has the potential to be just as damaging as any form of negative media out there. It’s called personal development. Personal development is the biggest two edged sword that exists in media. On one hand it can be life changing, inspiring, and necessary to improve ones life. On the other it can lead you to mental ruin that is even worse than where you were before you picked it up. Personal development is supposed to be just that, personal development meaning it’s supposed to make you better. It’s a mechanism that should allow you to handle greater pressures, achieve more, and find greater fulfillment. However in the delta between development and delusion lies the real danger.
Personal Development As A Plus
Personal development is like the news, it’s effective only to the extent you interpret it correctly. That being said it can be extremely valuable as long as it’s used correctly. By this I mean if your personal development is allowing you to face difficult challenges better, reach greater heights in your life and business and allowing you to achieve a greater sense of purpose or fulfillment then it’s well placed and deserves to be continued. If you feel a renewed sense of hope and joy in the day to day, if you can think clearly and make front to difficult challenges with those newly found principles than by all means continue.
Personal Development As A Negative
There is a very specific danger when it comes to personal development that can creep into your mind if you’re not careful. I see this happening more and more the deeper people get into these principles.
The Dodgeball Principle
The dodgeball principle is one that many use and disguise it as personal development. The dodgeball principle is very simple, instead of learning to deal with tough issues you run from them. You don’t actually have the emotional or mental capacities to find solutions. You don’t actually have the moral strength to address anything. So you run. You dodge issues and call it “personal development”. You haven’t learned to thrive under pressure so you console yourself by acting like this kid…
These kinds of messages are two edged as I mentioned earlier. Do you need to avoid those issues to be successful? Yes! The question is how…
While the overall premise is correct that in order to find success you must learn to avoid these pitfalls you cannot make the assumption that you can simply skip over them as if they don’t exist. You’re playing yourself. These kinds of issues exists and always will. The point of personal development is to learn to handle these issues effectively, not to act as if they don’t exist. The second you think you can ignore real life challenges you’ve lost. Just like bodybuilding as am example the point of a workout is to be able to lift more and more weight, not to pretend like a heavy weight isn’t heavy in the first place. The athlete understands that the lifting of heavier weights strengthens his muscles and gives him a greater capacity. He does not walk into the gym and avoid the grueling pain of the lift. That would be counter productive. Likewise in your life sometimes you have to lift the heavy weight, feel the pain, and grow.
So as it pertains to your own life struggles, don’t run from them face them even if it’s tough. Don’t try to dodge real life issues to mask your own insecurities and weaknesses. Some issues in life need to be dealt with and they need to be dealt with effectively that will never change. The idea that you can skip over them is naive at best, pathetic and weak at worst. Use that personal development to make you a more effective problem solver and give you greater capacity to do the right thing.
If you plan to skip your way through life as if nothing ever goes wrong, you’ve already lost

