Personal Development a Brief History
ByAt the risk of prompting you to say “DUH,” I will start this off with the obvious… Self-help and personal development is not new to humankind. In his book “First things first” Steven Covey notes that literature on wisdom dates as far back as 2500 BC, some using this as validated of their version of fundamental human needs. Some have looked at the poetry of Hesiod as an early adaptation of eastern wisdom. Writings from the ‘mirror or princes’ genre has a long history in Islamic and western renaissance literature. Of course let us not forget the proverbs from across the ages that embody practical advice for all humankind, for all cultures, and all types of peoples, to follow; whether for success or just for the enriching, soulful feeling of doing what is right to, and for, those we encounter during our stay on this big blue planet.
I have read and heard some say that the current self-help or personal development ‘movement’ was launched by Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) with his publication of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in 1936. Carnegie, after trying and failing at a number of careers became interested in success and its connections to self-confidence, self-esteem and personal values. He studied this topic of years and as a result has sold over 50 million copies of his books on this topic since.
I personally am lucky enough to have an original printing of “The Law of Success” by Napoleon Hill, a protégé of Carnegies. This hardcover book has a copyright date of 1937, with the previous version’s copyright date being 1928. I put all this in here to say again that self-help and personal development is not new. Actually those that want to learn this very personal arena of development and self-help have been listening to those willing to teach from centuries, and those willing to teach will continue to do so as long as there are people like you and I willing to learn.
What is it that you would like to learn in your personal development quest?
What questions to you have that are currently unanswered?
What answers have you found that you have benefited from?
Please take a moment and comment below on the answers to these questions – I am sincerely interested in hearing your thoughts/experiences – take a moment and be a teacher to those willing to learn.
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches and Author of Success Atlas Programs
More From tbrinkmann
- What is Personal Development?
- 5 Ways to become Action Oriented
- Barriers to Personal Growth and Development
tbrinkmann Recommends
- The Power of a Plan (Mike King)
- The Key to Personal Development. Belief (Mike King)
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I would like to learn how to manipulate things and influence the world that I am positively. I would like to learn how to believe in myself even when other people do not, even when other people think I am hopeless, I would like to prove to them that I can only be hopeless if I choose to and that their views about who I am or my character have little or no effect on my person because I can become whom I want to become if I make of my mind and focus on it.
Sounds like you have a solid head on your shoulders. So many let the world or their friend/family define them – Stand strong to your own beliefs, values and dreams – those that can accept this are true friends the rest will either come around or are cannon fodder.