Book review.

The new book Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina is an empowering guide to a novel set of personal growth principles.  I have read a lot of personal development (i.e. self-help) books that focus on specific aspects of my life that need improvement – e.g. personal finance, health, time management, career development, etc.  As expected, I have achieved varying results depending on my level of commitment to improvement in each area.  Steve Pavlina‘s book takes a high-level view of personal development and discusses core principles that apply to every attempt at personal growth.

Steve Pavlina lays out several principles based on his core principles of truth, love and power.  These three core principles provide the foundation for a number of exercises and an exploration of practical applications in the second part of the book.  The author has an interesting life story that unfolds along side his ideas about personal development.  He illustrates his principles with stories from his own life.  It is fascinating to read how he transformed himself from a felon to an internet entrepreneur and author.  Although the core set of principles are simple, it takes some time and study to wrap your head around the practical implications of Pavlina‘s framework and the relationship between the principles.

At one point in the book, Pavlina describes how he became disenchanted with his Catholic faith.  Basically, the teachings of the Church contradicted his own beliefs about how he should relate to the world around him.  I could not help but think that his principles could form the foundation of a new religion based on the pragmatic pursuit of happiness.

Throughout the book Pavlina returns to the principle of truth as the fundamental principle of personal development.  His emphasis on the principle of truth resonated with me because I have always struggled with my inability to be honest with myself in many situations.  It is very difficult for me to recognize when I am in denial on my own.  In my experience it takes a good friend, spouse or an insightful book for me to recognize my denial.

I am skeptical of anyone who claims to know the secret to achieving my personal goals, but the principles in this book were consistent with my personal experience.  Personal Development for Smart People is an excellent starting point for anyone who seeks to pursue a path of lifelong learning and personal growth.  Steve Pavlina provides a framework for looking inward to achieve life’s most challenging goals.  This book does not offer a set of easy steps to achieving your goals, instead it offers the reader an opportunity to live consciously and become someone who has the courage to tackle life’s hard problems.  This book is for people who are willing to do the hard work to become more effective at building the life they desire.

I highly recommend Steve Pavlina‘s book Personal Development for Smart People to anyone interested in personal development. It is on sale now at Amazon.com.