The Beginning

I realized something recently regarding myself and the self-help industry.  I was listening to someone go over the reasons why self-help books and programs were a negative for her.  I struggled a bit with this because this person has her own programs that she offers.  I was interested in those programs, however, and every time an email would show up in my inbox with a ‘sale’ this person was having, I considered spending the money to join.  Around the same time there were exercise/nutrition programs being offered by a team I follow online.  I came very close to buying their latest, also.  On top of these I was paying a monthly fee to have access to video content on yet another ‘this is how to fix you’ website.  It occurred to me that all of these folks had already followed their own programs (this is the marketing behind getting the public to sign up, right?) and were successful.  But any time that I’d sign up for 30 day challenge, or buy a book to tell me how to improve some area of my life, or consider hiring a life coach…I was paying others to improve their lives.  Paying them for them to do their own programs and succeed.  I was not paying them to succeed on my own. 

Now I’m in no way saying this is the case for everyone.  Many people can follow the steps others lay out to achieve the changes they desire for themselves.  For me, however, I’ve found that any time I spend the money I realize that a lot of the content I’m getting is something I already know or something I could have researched for free.  I could be spending the same money on better ways to improve myself and my quality of life…on scuba diving classes, traveling to places I’ve never been before, that flute that I’ve always wanted to learn to play, a drawer full of elegant lingerie.     

So here’s to a spring of developing my OWN program to turn my life into exactly what I want it to be and to a summer of making it happen!