Are the success gurus for real?

Question:
Hey Tom, I want to get into some type of personal developmentprogram but it’s just so confusing with so many gurus outthere claiming to help you achieve your goals. It’s almost like the dietor bodybuilding supplements industry – you don’t know which to buy orif they even work for that matter. How do you know who is for real?

Answer:
Yes, I know how hard it is for most people to sort out the dietand exercise gurus, let alone all the “success gurus.”

A lot of people even wonder whether you even need a “guru” inthe first place or if the whole self help movement is a bunchof phonies.

Opinions are very polarized on the subject.

The word guru has its roots in the spiritual and the firstdefinition you find in the dictionary reflects that: A teacherand guide in spiritual or philosophical matters.

The second definition is: A trusted counselor and advisor; a mentor, I like the word “mentor.” I like the word “coach” too. Whatever you call it, I believe that if you want to achieve thehighest level of success possible, as quickly as possible, in ANYarea of your life, then you will will benefit from a mentor.

You cannot bypass the steps and the work that are necessaryto be successful, but a mentor can help you accelerate your climband stumble less often.

– A coach or mentor sees the potential in you that you do not seein yourself yet.

– A coach or mentor can light a “desire fire” under your butt andhelp you set your sights for bigger and better things when youwere going to sell yourself short.

– A coach or mentor provides you with accountability whichmotivates and helps you stay on track.

– A coach or mentor also provides what Napoleon Hill said wasa prerequisite for success – specialized knowledge.

But if having a coach or mentor is so important, then why do theysometimes get bad press and why do so many people say negative thingsabout personal development gurus, books, tapes, seminars and so on?

Well, for sure, there is bad advice in the self improvementfield just as there is bad advice in the diet and exercise field,in the Investment field and every other field.

But sometimes even the best advice is unjustly criticized…Criticism is often a way people attack others because it makesthem feel better about their own lack of success. Easier to knocksomeone else down than built yourself up, right?

Not long ago, a critic – who shall remain unnamed – wrote a book abouthow the entire personal development industry is one giant scam, preyingon people who continue to buy the next big thing in “self help”just like dieters keep buying the next big thing in fat loss.

Well, as Teddy Roosevelt said in his famous and oft-quoted line,”It’s not the critic who counts…”

Ignore the critics and avoid the pessimists. If you listen to and hangout with losers, you will become one yoursef.

I can honestly tell you that studying personal success and improvementinformation – right alongside my studies of nutrition and exercise science -has tranformed my life in ways I cannot even begin to descibe in a shortnewsletter.

The information I have learned – combined with the fact that I took whatI learned and ACTED ON and APPLIED it – is why I am where I am today.

And thats an important point — ACTION trumps everything else.

There’s a lot of talk these days in the personal improvement worldabout attraction, manifesting, intention, visualization and of course,positive thinking.

I believe in all those things. But those who criticize or dismissself improvement techniques as ineffective are correct if they arereferring to people who “think positive”and then sit back and waitfor success to be mysteriously “attracted” to them or to “manifest”out of thin air.

Success is achieved through attraction + action. There are twosides to the coin.

Affirmations are wonderful, but as Jim Rohn once said,”affirmationwithout action is the beginning of delusion,” or as the old Quakersaying goes, “Pray, but move your feet!”

Some people will listen to a few minutes of an audio or read the firstfew pages of a self-improvement book and theyre tempted to say, “I alreadyknow that.” Other people will criticize personal improvement information by saying…”This is just common sense.”

To the former, I say GOOD! repetition is the mother of learning.

To the latter, I say YES it is common sense. Are you taking actionand applying this “common sense” in your own life today?

Have you read the book about fat loss and yet you refuse to change youreating habits? Have you bought the book about financial success and yetyou spend more than you save and you don’t increase your value to youremployer or customers?

If you are not as healthy, wealthy, or successful as youwant to be yet, then I’d say that those “common sense” messages thatyou have “heard before” haven’t quite sunk in yet have they? If theyhad, your results would show it. As the proverb goes, “By their fruitsyou will know them.”

Maybe you need a mentor to help you with the application of things.

So get mentors! Keep studying… and keep applying, and taking action.Even after you’ve “made it,” don’t ever stop because your awareness ofand ability to use and apply the laws of success will continue to expand.

Nothing beats a personal mentor or coaching program, but a place we canall get started is to seek mentors in self improvement books. That’s whereI started.

I have more than 2600 books in my library – a large proportion of themare self-improvement books. If my sports car were stolen tomorrow, I wouldnot miss it. If I lost my library tomorrow, I would miss it badly.

My Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle book, for example, was veryinfluenced by many of these authors as I weaved principles ofsuccess psychology throughout my book, and the entire firstchapter of Burn Fat Fat is all about goals, self image, motivationand how to program your subconscious mind. I KNOW this has a lotto do with why the program has been so successful for so manythousands of people.

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